Marketing and Sales....Let's Be Friends
According to Carol Krol, writer, speaker and marketing expert, "Sales and marketing departments, which ought to work together in a symbiotic, supportive way, too often get bogged down in turf wars. There is a significant lack of trust in the tools that marketing departments provide their sales teams, evidenced by the fact that many salespeople reportedly re-create their own materials. Typically, they spend 40 to 60 hours a month re-creating customer-relevant collateral material."
You may have experienced the common miscommunications that can occur among Sales and Marketing departments. Yet when they work together for a common goal, it results in increased market penetration, smarter product launches and higher sales revenue.
So what are the issues? And how can they be solved?
Strategize together. Marketing departments sometimes feel like their strategy skills aren't used when developing sales materials. They want to be involved from the beginning developing campaign goals. And the same goes for the Sales department. They want to have input before Marketing forges ahead with collateral. Marketing will have buy-in, Sales will have an effective tool they can use – and everyone will be happy with the results.
Work toward the same goals. Does having common goals mean sharing the same revenue responsibility? This shift can be controversial. Historically, Marketing and Sales have had separate budgets. Sales are traditionally responsible for bringing in company revenue. But many businesses are now starting to require both departments to be responsible for overall company revenue, which can be an effective way to boost teamwork.
Share the results. When both departments understand how a campaign performed, it's easier to make improvements. A regular meeting among departments can be established where campaigns are discussed, including sales and lead data.
One Practical Solution....Newsletters
An email newsletter to prospects and customers can help Marketing and Sales. It provides all the marketing benefits you would expect, such as branding, education and regular communications while tracking actionable sales information. The reader tracking data helps sales understand prospect timing based on readers' actions within the newsletter.
The newsletter is a tool where everyone wins. Customers receive quality information, marketing gets their message out and sales can track prospects and customer interest.
To see examples of customized email newsletters and find out how an email newsletter can help your Sales and Marketing efforts, visit Proven Systems. We produce high-quality, value-driven newsletters that deliver measurable and immediate results. |
