Here's How to Break Down Silos Between Sales and Marketing

Brought to you by WBR Insights

Marketing and sales teams rely on each other to perform their roles. However, many are still working too disparately to be truly effective.

All successful marketing efforts end up with the sales team. After all, the only way to truly measure whether your marketing strategy has been effective is to see it translates into real business. Similarly, most, if not all, of your successful sales will have begun life in the marketing department, where content, social media, emails, and other assets convert leads which can then be passed along to sales to close.

With these two departments relying so heavily on one another, it seems strange that so many are still operating in silos. However, with a little effort, the walls between sales and marketing can be brought down to the benefit of both teams and the company's bottom line.

Marketing Success

As we've already touched on, while it's great to look at a new marketing campaign and call it a success because it got loads of views, shares, likes, or other forms of engagement, this all means nothing if it doesn't translate into increased revenue for the business. This makes marketing far more challenging than simply counting the numbers and declaring it a success.

The same goes for sales. Back in the day, the sales team would be the font of knowledge for the business. It was their role to inform potential customers about all the benefits of the product or service and use their knowledge and persuasion skills to convert those prospects into paying customers.

However, today's customer is more informed and savvier than ever before. It's likely that before they've even spoken to a sales representative, they have already researched your company and product - and those of your competitors - and are coming to the conversation knowing exactly what they need and what they are willing to pay for it. A high proportion of the prospects your sales team speaks with are already in the consideration (or middle-of-the-funnel) stage before they pick up the phone.

This means that marketing people must think like salespeople and vice versa. It's no longer good enough to think of these two arms of your business as separate entities, but instead as a single team working towards the same goal.

SMarketing

This new ethos of treating sales and marketing as one entity means you can track your sales funnel from first contact right up until the deal is closed.

Silos occur because each team is so focused on their individual role that they scarcely have time to consider the bigger picture. Marketing teams run their campaigns and engage with prospects up until the moment a lead gets passed on to sales - at which point it may as well not exist anymore as far as they are concerned. Similarly, sales picks up the lead at that point without a care where it came from - lead quality aside, obviously.

To change this siloed approach, sales and marketing must be brought together and given the appropriate tools necessary to facilitate communication and collaboration. This could include anything from collaboration tools such as Trello or Slack to organizing team-building activities which will help both teams coalesce into a single goal-orientated unit.

There must also be a single leader responsible for seeing the whole SMarketing operation. This person must make sure the two teams are working effectively with one another while tracking the combined sales and marketing data to accurately measure the success of both. The leader must also be responsible for ensuring that any and all technology being deployed is being used to its fullest.

Finally, all teams must get together regularly in combined meetings to discuss strategy and any pain points which have come to light. Sales must be fully versed on the marketing side of things, and marketing must do the same for sales. For example, if marketing is passing bad leads to sales, it's up to the sales team to explain the reasons what it is that makes a lead good or bad so that marketing can make sure all leads are of an actionable quality.

Final Thoughts

Breaking down the natural silos which spring up between sales and marketing is no easy task. It takes a dedicated effort by all levels of the business - not just the people on the front lines, but all tiers of leadership as well.

However, those businesses which can effectively align sales and marketing and have them working harmoniously towards the same goal will see more and better leads being generated, and more of those leads being converted into real business.

Breaking down silos between sales and marketing is set to be a hot topic at Future Pharma 2019, taking place this September at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf, MA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.