For achieving business goals, it is crucial to align sales and marketing activities in B2B. These two areas should not be viewed as separate but should work together and in harmony. It’s not always easy.
This article examines the five main problems that could arise during the alignment between the two departments and offers some possible solutions.
Marketing and sales
It is crucial for sales and marketing to communicate with each other. This bond has been so important that a term was even invented to describe its perfect synergy: Marketing.
It’s a complex process that is as important as it is important: departments face many challenges to ensure the success of collaboration and achieve the set goals.
Information transfer between sales and marketing
Although it may seem trivial and easy to pass information between departments, it is not.
A lead has been qualified as a Sales Qualified. Marketing must inform the sales department and be ready to close the deal.
This phase is characterized by the creation of:
- Shared Qualification Criteria and the decision to make the best time to transition the lead from sales to marketing
- An approved, shared mechanism to manage the passage of LED between the two departments. This could be done with the help of a single tool.
These are some possible solutions:
- To establish lead lifecycle parameters, have a productive and constant dialogue between both teams
- Create reports to determine when the sales department should intervene in each phase of the cycle
System disruptions
Many times, companies have multiple systems and tools that can be used to retrieve user data. The more tools you use the more data will become fragmented, making it more difficult to analyze and read.
In this instance, the solutions are:
- All Teams operations can be grouped into one tool.
- If this is not possible, analyze to determine the root causes of data collection and synchronization problems
- You must ensure that the tools you use can help you achieve your goals
Inconsistent data collection
The existence of various tools, as mentioned in the previous point, is closely linked to the collection and maintenance of fragmented data in different databases. Also how much is social media management cost these days?
These situations can be solved and a data-driven business can be created.
- Combine all systems and review data acquisition processes
- Learn how to incorporate automation to create more defined processes and maintain clean data
Are you looking to learn how to align the sales process with the reference markets and establish a marketing department?
Set non-aligned goals
The sequence of events in a conversation between sales and marketing is usually predictable. After this qualification, the account will take over the situation and close the deal. Sometimes, it may even win it.
What if people who download the content aren’t ready to purchase yet?
On the other hand, if the sales team is assessed based on how many MQLs can be converted into tangible opportunities, there will naturally be friction in the system.
The marketing objectives and those of the sales staff are not compatible.
These are some solutions possible:
- Regular discussion and learning sessions should be initiated with the other members of your team.
- You will gain a better understanding of each team’s work so that you can make decisions that affect your pipeline
