Sales and Marketing, it’s time you started getting along

In most companies the relationship between sales and marketing is poor. A recent survey found 87% of employees used negative language to refer to the other department.

This rupture is costing businesses significantly, with HubSpot reporting that the misalignment costs $1 trillion a year in missed revenue. Primarily, this is a result of 79% of potential leads not converting, because, of those leads passed from marketing to sales nearly 73% are never contacted.

But enough about the problem itself let’s focus on firstly how to successfully integrate your marketing and sales departments, and secondly the biggest benefits you will notice.

How To Integrate

• Appointing someone responsible for revenue management.

The reality is marketing and sales share the same goal, profitably maximising revenue. Therefore, it would make sense to place both departments under one manager responsible for generating revenue. Companies such as Coca-Cola and Fed-Ex have Chief Revenue Officers who oversee sales, marketing, service, and pricing.

• Shared metrics and rewards

Both sales and marketing can share several metrics to assess performance. Alongside revenue itself, examples include lead conversion rates, profit per customer and number of new customers. By integrating the metrics used, and simultaneously the rewards, employees will have good reason to work together effectively.

• Standardising the hand-off system

With 73% of leads not being contacted by sales, it is critical to address this if you are trying to ensure sales and marketing work well together. A CRM system should allow for a succinct hand-off process with lead scoring, lead assignment and a shared database of contact information.

The Benefits

• Increased revenue

HubSpot found that companies with well-aligned sales and marketing departments had a 27% faster three-year profit growth rate, closed 38% more deals, and achieved revenues that were 208% better than companies with disjointed marketing and sales. Little more needs saying about the huge benefit to revenue a good relationship can have.

• An efficient sales department

With improved communication about lead conversion, comes the opportunity to refine buyer personas which can help to improve the quality of leads that land at the feet of sales.

• Improved marketing materials

As sales can provide feedback to marketing, common sticking points for prospective customers can be addressed in new marketing materials such as eBooks or blog posts. This will help reduce customer issues and improve conversion rates.

The relationship between sales and marketing is essential for a business’s success, and the steps for integrating these two departments are minimal considering the potential benefits the in store for those companies that are willing to give it a try.