Crystal Clear Communications Blog

In marketing workshops with business to business (B2B) marketers, one persistently asked question is: How can Marketing and Sales work together well?

Often, Marketing and Sales fight like cats and dogs over every scrap of resources.

Yet in other companies, Marketing and Sales become allies who work together to win customers and revenues. That’s the path to maximize results and job satisfaction.

The most effective Marketing and Sales teams do three things as allies:

1. They share ownership of business objectives such as revenue and customer growth.
2. They gain deep insights by sharing customer information and research.
3. They create toolboxes that meet customers’ and the sale force’s needs.

Shared ownership leads to wins

In many companies, the Marketing department or an outside agency cooks up a marketing strategy and message, then throws it over the wall to Sales – seeking approval.

Often, Sales beats up that strategy and message, then throws them back over the wall to Marketing.

Instead of throwing stuff over the wall, collaborate with Sales by building a big tent. Convene Sales and other principals (research and development, product management, customer services, legal) to co-create the foundation of Marketing together.

Dare to share partly completed work and solicit Sales input when it’s in draft form. Here’s how to co-create work that’s even better than before, including your mission, strategy and message:

• One-sentence marketing mission
• One-page marketing strategy
• One-page Message Map.

When you co-create your mission, strategy and message together, you gain the up-front buy-in that Marketing too often lacks. That’s because of the “Ikea effect,” the fact that humans place disproportionately more value on things they helped to create.

As Marketing generates demand and prospects, make sure you give Sales credit at every turn. Salespeople crave recognition for their successes – plus the monetary rewards that come with successes.

Give your salesforce access to the metrics that matter to them. Clear, agreed-on metrics are a great way to keep the peace between Marketing and Sales, my business partner Ariana Nikitas observes.

Gain unique customer insights 

As you co-create your Marketing foundation, gather the best available information and research on your customers. Who knows customers best is likelier to win their business.

Gather up all your existing data on customers, industries and titles. Add demographics, firmographics and customer satisfaction data. Provide an analysis and overview.

Then, perform buyer persona research to gain 5 unique buyer insights. You’ll figure out what buyers want, how they make decisions, what sources of information they depend on, what obstacles they encounter, and what third-party social proof they’ll seek.

Much of what buyers and buying committees do is invisible to Sales or Marketing, Gartner found. As you see below, only 17% of a buying committee’s time is spent meeting with all the vendors … buyer persona research helps you see what else buyers are doing when they’re offstage, out of sight.

Most of buying committees’ work is invisible to Sales and Marketing.

In the graphic below, check out all the advantages you gain with buyer persona research: higher conversion rates, more click-throughs, more content adoption, and faster close rates.

Buyer persona research enables you to know your customers best.

Build your marketing toolbox

Work hand in hand with Sales to maximize customer and revenue successes. Three areas where Sales and Marketing need to be strongly aligned are demand generation, sales enablement, and account-based marketing (ABM).

Demand generation finds prospects 

As you generate inquiries and leads, focus on high-quality, marketing-qualified leads. Don’t overwhelm sales with a large quantity of underqualified leads.

When possible, assign a demand generation manager to prequalify each lead, so that every single marketing qualified lead (MQL) is truly ready to hand over to Sales.

Balance the brand’s need for demand generation with the need for brand awareness. Customers buy from brands they know and trust, but demand generation alone cannot build that trust. Work to attain the right balance between brand building and demand generation, Ariana Nikitas advises.

Sales enablement sharpens skills 

Learn everything possible from your most successful salespersons. How do they present to a brand new prospect for the first time? How do they hold on to incumbent customers?

Record these pitches, then teach these same skills systematically to other salespeople.

With your knowledge of the most successful pitches, you can provide exactly the tools that Sales needs to win customers. Here are more sales enablement ideas from Ariana Nikitas.

Work with sales to determine which roles people play on buying committees. Then you can create and share challenger content, the kind of thought-provoking content that advances your brand with the mobilizers who drive buying committees’ decisions.

Pursue the biggest customers

Account-based marketing (ABM) focuses on winning a number of large accounts – either one to one, one to few, or one to many, depending on your business.

To start using ABM, take the time to walk in customers’ shoes with sales – so you understand where customers are and what exactly they need.

Once you’ve achieved a level of customer intimacy, you can create content that’s a love letter to each customer. Make your content mirror the ongoing sales conversation.

Consider a creative “pufferfish strategy” – cozy up next to customers and make your brand look big. That’s how challengers take business away from incumbent vendors.

With a sense of shared ownership, unique buyer insights, and the right toolbox, Marketing and Sales can increase your results and your happiness with each other.

Once you form a strong enough alliance to win new customers routinely, you’re opening the door to even more revenue growth through Marketing and Sales.

#demandgeneration #ABM #salesenablement