Align Your Sales & Marketing Activities: How to Beat Your Competitors to More Leads & Sales

When it comes to speaking to manufacturers, we rarely find that their marketing and sales strategies are aligned. Having consulted in this space for over 20 years, I have it from both ends of the buying cycle and so thought it might be useful for others who are facing this challenge in their business.

I want to share my thoughts on why achieving this alignment is easier said than done. Sales and marketing departments often operate in silos, leading to miscommunication and inefficiencies. This lack of communication can be attributed to differing perspectives, objectives, and performance metrics, which often result in each department blaming the other for lack of results. But this really needn’t be the case.

Continue reading my article with case studies around this topic, and suggestions on how to roadmap marketing and sales alignment in your business. Finally, we’ll explore how marketing automation can make a huge difference.

The roles of marketing and sales are different, so both will have different perspectives.

Marketing teams are primarily focused on generating leads, building brand awareness, and nurturing potential customers through various stages of the buyer’s journey. Their success is often measured by metrics such as website traffic, lead generation, and engagement rates. Marketers invest significant effort in creating content, running campaigns, and using data analytics to attract and retain potential customers.

Sales teams, on the other hand, are driven by quotas and the need to close deals. Their success is measured by metrics such as conversion rates, sales revenue, and customer acquisition. Sales professionals focus on engaging directly with prospects, addressing their pain points, and convincing them to make a purchase. They rely on immediate, actionable leads to meet their targets and are often under pressure to deliver quick results.

It’s an age-old question, ‘why do sales and marketing often blame each other? Sales and marketing leaders have spent way too much effort trying to blame each other for downturns in revenue and often take sole credit for upturns. Let’s see what both have to say.

Marketing teams often feel that their efforts are not appreciated or effectively utilised by the sales team. These are 3 common complaints I mostly hear from marketers:

1. Sales Follow-Up: Marketing generates leads through various campaigns, but they often feel that the sales team does not follow up on these leads promptly or adequately.
2. Feedback Loop: Marketers need feedback from sales to understand which leads are valuable and why certain leads did not convert. A lack of feedback makes it difficult for marketing to refine their strategies and improve lead quality.
3. Lead Nurturing: Marketers believe that sales teams sometimes overlook the importance of nurturing leads. They may feel that sales are too quick to dismiss leads that are not immediately ready to buy, without giving them the proper nurturing to convert later.

Sales teams, conversely, often feel that the leads provided by marketing are of poor quality or not sufficiently qualified. This is what I hear from the sales team:

1. Lead Quality: Sales teams often receive leads that are not ready to make a purchase or are not a good fit for the product. This leads to frustration and wasted effort.
2. Marketing Campaigns: Sales may feel that marketing campaigns are not aligned with the actual needs and pain points of potential customers, making it harder to close deals.
3. Metrics and Accountability: Sales teams are judged by their ability to close deals, whereas marketing is judged by different metrics such as lead generation. This disparity can lead to a lack of accountability and cooperation between the teams.

Importantly, this isn’t about assigning blame. It’s about fixing broken processes so that your business can hit its growth targets going forward.

Marketing and sales are two separate teams with a shared goal – drive revenue. When both teams work collaboratively, driving revenue becomes way more achievable. But what else can be achieved?

Sales and marketing departments in many manufacturing companies often operate in silos, leading to miscommunication and inefficiencies. Align these teams to create a seamless flow of information and resources, ensuring both departments work towards common goals.

Collaboration between sales and marketing teams results in a comprehensive understanding of customer needs. Marketing can leverage insights from sales to create targeted campaigns, while sales can use marketing’s data to personalise their approach, leading to a robust customer engagement strategy.

Both teams should collaborate to set shared objectives, such as increasing lead quality and improving conversion rates. These goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to ensure clarity and accountability. I’ve outlined some common goals, and where both marketing and sales can collaborate.

As a managing director of a leading B2B marketing agency, I’m always asked how I align sales with marketing. Each business is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy, but here’s what I generally recommend:

Both teams should collaborate to set shared objectives, such as increasing lead quality and improving conversion rates. These goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to ensure clarity and accountability. I’ve outlined some common goals, and where both marketing and sales can collaborate.

Invest in integrated technologies like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPs). These tools enable seamless communication and data sharing between sales and marketing, ensuring both teams have access to real-time information about leads and customers.

Establish regular meetings and communication channels between sales and marketing teams. Weekly or bi-weekly alignment meetings help both teams stay updated on progress, share insights, and address issues promptly. Creating cross-functional teams for specific projects can foster collaboration and innovation.

A unified buyer persona ensures both sales and marketing target the same audience with a consistent message. Collaborate to develop detailed buyer personas that include demographic information, pain points, buying behaviour, and decision-making processes.

Marketing teams should create content for all stages of the buyer’s journey, with input from the sales team to ensure relevance. Sales teams can provide insights into customer questions and objections, helping marketing create more targeted and effective content. Here’s some examples.

Implement a lead scoring system to prioritise leads based on their engagement and likelihood to convert. Both sales and marketing should agree on the criteria for scoring leads. Develop nurturing campaigns to keep leads engaged until they are ready for sales.

Leverage data and analytics to measure the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts. Regularly review key performance indicators (KPIs) such as lead conversion rates, cost per lead, and customer acquisition cost. Use this data to refine strategies and identify areas for improvement.

It’s all about working together. Combine these recommendations into a solid sales and marketing strategy and you will see results.

DealHub: Improving Attribution and Inbound Leads

DealHub, a revenue technology platform, faced challenges in tracking and attributing their marketing efforts accurately. By implementing 6sense, DealHub was able to match 80% of their web traffic to specific accounts and saw a significant increase in inbound lead attribution from 30% to 85%. This comprehensive attribution model allowed for effective budget reallocation and a better understanding of the customer journey.

Sports Information Services: Improving transparency throughout the business

Our client Sports Information Services (SIS) took us up on our managed marketing automation service, Sonar. We applied dynamic lead scoring around their sales objectives, which meant the sales team had a pipeline of warm and ready leads to convert. For marketing, it completely transformed their lead generation strategies. Delivering the right message to the right person at the right time, successfully nudging prospects through the buying cycle.

Stanley Black & Decker: Reducing Sales Cycle Length

Stanley Black & Decker, a global provider of tools and storage solutions, used a B2B marketing automation platform, to align their sales and marketing teams. By integrating their systems and focusing on list segmentation and dynamic content, they reduced their sales cycle length by 30%. This alignment improved their market share and led to more efficient collaboration between the teams.

Honeywell: Enhancing Customer Experience through Alignment

Honeywell has integrated its sales and marketing efforts to provide a seamless customer experience. The company uses a unified CRM system that allows both teams to track customer interactions and preferences. Regular training sessions and workshops help ensure that both teams are aligned on customer needs and product features, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased sales.

IBM: Integrating Sales and Marketing for Business Solutions

IBM has successfully aligned its sales and marketing teams to focus on business solutions rather than just products. By creating cross-functional teams that include members from both sales and marketing, IBM ensures that campaigns are aligned with customer needs and market demands. This approach has resulted in more effective marketing strategies and higher sales conversions.

You may have noticed that a lot of these businesses benefitted from cloud tech to align their sales and marketing. A few of these were marketing automation. This tech, integrated into their sales and marketing strategies provided a platform for greater collaboration. Ultimately enabling them to enhance lead quality, improve conversion rates, and drive more sales.

Sonar is our own marketing automation platform. It’s a managed service delivered to you and its perfect for aligning sales and marketing together. With a built in CRM and dynamic lead scoring capabilities ensures your teams are in sync with a pipeline of ready leads.

1. Improved Lead Quality: Automated lead scoring and prioritisation ensure that sales teams focus on the most promising leads.
2. Enhanced Visibility: Real-time data sharing and analytics provide insights into lead behaviour and engagement.
3. Streamlined Processes: Integration with CRM systems ensure smooth transitions from marketing to sales, reducing manual effort.

1. Targeted Campaigns: Personalised content and automated workflows based on detailed buyer personas and lead behaviour.
2. Better Attribution: Advanced analytics and reporting tools for tracking the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
3. Increased Efficiency: Automation of repetitive tasks allows the marketing team to focus on strategic initiatives.

Sonar improves alignment between marketing and sales by ensuring both teams focus on high-quality leads through automated lead scoring and prioritisation. Real-time data sharing and advanced analytics provide unified insights into lead behaviour, while integration with CRM systems and automation streamline processes and increase efficiency, allowing both teams to operate strategically and effectively.