Why it is important for Sales and Marketing to be aligned? Actually, all of the marketing targets should be rooted in helping the sales team achieve their goals. According to MarketingProfs, companies with aligned sales and marketing teams experience 38% higher sales win rates as well as 36% higher customer retention rates.
Goal Setting time is the moment when the highest metrics are reviewed and targets are set. It is a perfect time to touch base on cross-departmental items like lead quality and visibility on promotions and events.
4 Reasons Sales and Marketing Must Align:
To Determine Key Cross-Department Metrics: We start with company revenue goals. This should be delivered to (or decided on) by the head of sales. The number will inform the quantity of demos/sales calls that are needed to reach said goal. Sales and marketing need to be really clear on conversion rate expectations. It is all just simple math. And if you don't have any historical data-- make your best guess.
To Decide on the Most Impactful Marketing Activities: All leads are not reacted equally. When sales and marketing are aligned, it's important to discuss lead source/ quality. Running a channel performance analysis is really helpful to see where your leads came from and how much they cost. Together you can determine where to "double down" with consideration to which channel produces the "most ready leads." With this, sales will have great insight into some blind spots that need fixing. For example, when they get onto sales calls-- are there any themes where prospects are confused about certain topics or aspects of the business/product. This is so helpful for improving communication.
To Understand & Confirm Forecasting: It's really useful to model the sales/marketing funnel all the way to closing. This will help both departments track how prospects are moving through the Client Value Journey and provide visibility for improvement and open discussions during the course of the quarter. It makes it easy to implement small tweaks quickly. For example, if show rates are getting low for booked calls... following that trend on the full funnel allows for quick mitigation and course correction.
To test, learn, and improve together: Closely monitoring your sales/marketing funnels against your forecasted production is the best way to improve quickly. I suggest a weekly meeting to discuss leads, lead quality, and where things could be enhanced along the journey.
In order to "go faster"-- which is a highly regarded value among founders that I have worked it, it is critical to unite sales and marketing efforts, open lines of communication, and hold each department accountable for their results. Only then can startups begin to understand what works more quickly and are able to invest in the marketing activities that really move the needle forward.
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Victoria is a Marketing Mentor to early-stage founders. She has built compelling brands around the globe and has worked as a marketing director across several verticals. She is passionate about helping women think BIGGER about their businesses and giving them the tools to grow. She'd love to connect on LinkedIn or email her at hello@ugliboss.com.