Have you ever noticed that the people in sales and the people in marketing often seem to be on the opposite sides of important discussions? It\u2019s almost the default position, regardless of what industry you choose, or what company within that industry you look at. These two teams often find themselves at odds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We could spend all kinds of time studying why <\/em>this is the case. But as someone with experience in marketing who has created good relationships with a fair number of sales teams, I\u2019d like to suggest a more pragmatic approach. I want us to look at the steps we can take that will transform <\/em>this dynamic. Here are five strategies that I\u2019ve personally found effective for improving communication and collaboration between marketing and sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step one: Build trust by reaching out often. <\/em><\/strong>Whenever there is a lack of contact, there is the possibility of a lack of trust … and where there is no trust, there is a potential for a downward spiral in the relationship. We all know what this kind of spiral looks like once it has picked up momentum between marketing and sales. The marketing team is in one corner working hard, making major investments of time, attention, and money to bring in leads, and convinced that those leads are not getting the follow-through that they deserve. Meanwhile, the sales team is in the other corner convinced, for whatever reason, that the leads they\u2019re getting are low-quality. Two silos, two self-fulfilling prophecies \u2013 and little or no meaningful communication. This a very costly downward cycle, one in which perception plays a huge role in determining the outcome. If someone believes a lead is low-quality, they\u2019re much less likely to follow through on that lead! So as results head in the wrong direction, fingers get pointed, the blame game intensifies, and the people involved decide they don\u2019t have much reason to trust those on the \u201cother side.\u201d What\u2019s the answer? Regular, meaningful communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is where it gets interesting. I believe it makes the most sense for the people in marketing to start <\/em>and continue <\/em>that ongoing dialogue, even if salespeople seem at first to have no interest in it. Why? Because a) we\u2019re the ones who need the information from the front lines in order to do our jobs at the highest possible level, and b) salespeople are, by definition, less interested in tweaking the assets that marketing comes up with, and more interested in moving deals through their pipelines. That\u2019s what they get paid to do. So, we can\u2019t blame them for not scheduling the time. We need to schedule the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We in marketing are the ones who can best start the discussion about more effective collaboration. We can best sustain these discussions over time and build up trust as we go along. How? By breaking through the silo. By being absolutely transparent about what we\u2019re doing, why we\u2019re doing, where we need help, what we already know, and just as important, what we don\u2019t <\/em>know. Which brings me to …<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step two: Listen to the customer. <\/em><\/strong>Most people in marketing are aware, in an abstract sense, of the importance of heeding the famous \u201cvoice of the customer\u201d … but they may miss out on their very best opportunity to get the latest and most important expression of that voice: discussions with salespeople! Reaching out to salespeople regularly <\/em>is the best way to uncover important, time-sensitive, market-specific information that we didn\u2019t have before. So, we need to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Salespeople, not marketers, are the ones who are in constant contact with buyers, influencers, and end users. Salespeople are the people who have invaluable first-hand insights about what the latest shifts in the market are, what the buyer\u2019s hot buttons are, what\u2019s working, what isn\u2019t, and what\u2019s needed next in the buyer\u2019s world. Just as important, they know what the cast of characters in the decision-making process looks like: which people with which titles have which problems. They often know about this stuff before the competition does! So why in the world wouldn\u2019t <\/em>we be in regular contact with the people in sales, so we can find out what they\u2019re hearing? We need to know what their prospects are telling them. Otherwise, we are flying blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step three: Know the sales process. <\/em><\/strong>Here\u2019s a syndrome I\u2019ve seen play out too often: the people in marketing believe their job is to provide leads into the top <\/em>of the funnel \u2026 but they have little or no idea about what happens in the middle and lower <\/em>parts of the funnel. They literally cannot describe the company\u2019s sales process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s a big mistake. We need to be engaging with salespeople at a deep enough level to understand exactly what happens to leads once they enter the sales process \u2026 and we need to make good data-driven decisions side by side <\/em>with the sales team, so that we are sure we are supporting that sales process, every step of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step four: Grow a thick skin. <\/em><\/strong>When we start conversations with salespeople, we are likely to hear something along the lines of \u201cThis, that, or the other thing you did didn\u2019t work.\u201d We may even pick up some intensity about what salespeople feel wasn\u2019t working for them. A lot of marketers take that kind of feedback personally. Guess what? We can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not about us. It\u2019s about getting the best data. We have to be willing to say, \u201cThat\u2019s great that you\u2019re telling me that. I need to know that. I need to know what didn\u2019t work, and I need your help in figuring out why <\/em>it didn\u2019t work, so we can come up with something that\u2019s more effective. That\u2019s the only way we\u2019re going to be able to adjust the metrics and optimize the spend, so that we\u2019re targeting the right people at the top of the funnel, and you\u2019re getting higher close ratios at the bottom of the funnel.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Salespeople learn not to take pushback personally. We can, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Step five: Don\u2019t read too much into the failure of one idea.<\/em> <\/strong>Failure can happen on both sides. Sometimes we will launch an initiative that simply doesn\u2019t deliver. We look critically at what happened, we learn from it, and we try again. By the same token, <\/em><\/strong>sometimes the sales team will share a piece of information, or pass along a brainstorm, and we\u2019ll incorporate their feedback into a campaign, and then we\u2019ll see that the idea didn\u2019t pan out. The numbers didn\u2019t justify the change. Does that mean we should tune out all future ideas from the sales team? Of course not \u2026 but too many marketers act like it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n