Sales and marketing are often at loggerheads. Blame game is common between both the departments. Marketing finds fault in the way sales follows up on leads and sales throws the ball back by saying that the lead quality isn’t good enough! So where does the buck stop? Experts suggest a system that integrates both these departments so that they get to know how they can complement each other well.
So here are some tips to get both teams:
Getting marketing to get on sales calls: Much of the misalignment and complaints can be taken care of. Set up one particular week when marketing gets to listen to sales calls; if you make an event of it, it won’t seem like an invasion and everyone will take it in good spirits. Like maybe a call week each quarter or during a promotional campaign that needs monitoring & optimisation.
Open your marketing meetings to the sales team. These meetings will give them more perspective about many details involved in the campaign. They will be in a better place to pitch in their calls. By knowing the insides of the campaign they will know what marketing is actually rooting for and make propositions on their calls accordingly.
Sales councils have started gaining popularity. These councils are made of some people from the sales team who represent the sales team in meetings with marketing. 4-6 meetings a year will be enough feedback for the sales team on things like lead generation campaigns, product development and sales effectiveness. Marketing also gets to know these sales reps and can get them to go a market/site visit.
Meetings with customers will clarify a lot of things and will help identify the loopholes better. Some field visits with sales will help them connect one-on-one with customers. Both sales and marketing can work together on trade fairs and explore more opportunities for employees to connect with customers.
