According to Watson, the natural assumption in many companies is that marketing is the problem, but in most cases, he believes, sales is generally equally responsible. He strongly advises marketers to pay attention to the research.
Tracking the number of marketing outreach programs via e-mail, advertising or trade shows that a prospect is exposed to prior to the sale is crucial. Additionally, says Watson, marketers should research the buying processes for their target audiences and then map their campaigns to those processes. In one company Watson worked at, he conducted focus groups with customers in different cities nationwide to determine the steps they took in deciding to make a purchase. From that, a five-stage buying process was identified that sales and marketing could then work from to target prospects more effectively. The end result, according to Watson, is that the right messages were sent to the right people at the right time in the buying process.
Watson also suggests the constant review of how leads are distributed to the sales team. Since leads are generated sporadically, he says, referring to the influxes typical after trade shows or large advertising campaigns, the customer relationship and other systems used to bridge the flow of leads might be tweaked to a “shark tank” approach. This entails putting leads into a pool where they can be matched to the correct sales representative and ensure that certain sales reps are not inundated with more leads than they could possibly follow up on. Watson’s firm, BLUEROADS, sells a software application with the shark tank feature for sending leads to channel partners.
“At the end of the day,” says Throldahl, “it is crucial for sales to be educated on what marketing is doing and vice versa.” According to Throldahl, this should even include marketing activities that are not tied directly into the sales process like branding, as the results eventually drag along to sales.
Overall, unifying the marketing and sales teams is an initiative that rarely makes it as a serious item onto management’s agenda. The common rifts between the two groups seem expected, but clearly, careful attention to this detail can become an area of upside potential when searching for new revenue.
TAV
Joining Forces
Unifying sales and marketing can create additional or new revenue as processes for developing new business are tightened.
Technology alone cannot solve the chasm between the two groups; technology is just an enabler.
Marketing and sales should have a constant and continued feedback loop; operating in silos creates gaps in performance.
