The Synergy Post

 

How to create the nearly perfect Marketing and Sales unison Part 2

Previously we ended our article on HOW to successfully marry your sales and marketing departments. To recap, we have established that for these two departments to successfully work in unison, they have to realise the different aspects of each department.

The three key areas where the most progress can be made: defining of goals, communication and the involvement in the departments respectively.

So where do we go from here?

As each department have their own goals and strategies to ensure the growth of their company, their goals are very different. The sales department are concentrated on bringing in as many new sales orders as they can. More often than not the sales guys are ruthless in their sales strategies. At the end of the day all is fair in love and war. The marketing people on the other hand normally take a milder approach in their goal game plan. Be that as it may their main focus is to get as many new leads as possible. Their tireless efforts know no bounds and many hours are spent researching new marketing trends.

A great way to over-come this hurdle is to a have notice boards in all the common areas of the office where marketing and sales can write their goals on. Comparing goals will also give insight into their respective departments. This will also help them understand just how different they are, but yet so important.

Communication is important, but not always feasible seeing that the sales guys are mostly out of the office seeing clients. This is where the right CRM solution might make a difference. Marketing creates the leads that they post a CRM solution where the sales guys can easily access this information. The sales guys in turn will give feedback within this solution on which deals were won or not. This means back to the drawing board for the marketing department to work on drip campaigns for the deals that the company has lost. Opportunities that are created in a CRM solution by marketing will automatically alert the sales department so that immediate action can be taken. Sales appointments can be done immediately that will assist the marketing department to monitor proposals that are sent to the clients. Feedback can be created in the system as well, helping the marketing department with their campaigns.

While communication will always be a challenge, automated communication will not, CRM functionalities allows for sales and marketing to communicate anywhere, anytime.

While the two departments are busy doing their own thing is it important for these two departments to know the ins and outs of both departments. If the two departments are more involved in each other’s work, they will understand what it takes to keep that department afloat. The company’s ROI will be a group effort in a sense.  

Sales and marketing should be encouraged to sit in on each other’s meetings, to share their views and to possibly help working on new strategies and game plans. Sales and marketing might even be as daring as to share responsibilities within the two departments.

As mentioned earlier, no two businesses are the same. Each business has specialised game plans and strategies tailor made to their specific needs. Individuality is great it should be encouraged, especially within different departments of a company. The secret to harmonious cooperation within your sales and marketing departments is to realise the different ways these two departments do business. While realising these differences you need to encourage open and free communication within these departments. Open communication breaks down barriers and encourages the need to explore different opportunities.

The marrying of your sales and marketing departments will and should be an on-going effort, just like a real marriage. It is about give and take, tolerance and team work.