A divide can often exist between marketing and sales teams. One department advertises information and brings in leads, whilst the other converts them into paying customers.
One attracts. One closes.
But the two shouldn’t sit independently of each other. They can and should work closely together.
How Sales & Marketing can work together
With advances in technology and the introduction of a wide variety of marketing and sales enablement techniques, it’s never been easier for sales and marketing to work together.
Technological processes like lead scoring, automated communications, workflow and collaboration tools mean that the marketing team can directly see how the content they create can help sales reps.
Similarly, sales reps can easily identify where there are problems in the pipeline and ask marketing for support to overcome them.
But to do this effectively, both teams need to adopt the technology that’s available and work together. It requires good communication and a cooperative approach, so that both teams can:
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- Understand the current challenges
- Make sure content is easily available
- Tailor content to prospects
Our 3 ways to close the gap between sales and marketing are:
1. Create content with Sales Rep input
Your sales team are on the front line, dealing with potential customers and helping them to overcome the hurdles to buying every day. They know the objections that stop a lead from converting. They know the questions and queries they’re asked time and time again.
Marketing might not already know this information, but once they do, they can create a solution: content that answers questions, or content that combats objections.
Sales reps don’t need to try and overcome problems every time they arise when they have the right content at their disposal. This might include:
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- Case studies to show real-world effectiveness
- Competitor comparison charts to show superiority
- ROI calculators to show the benefit of investment
They key is for sales and marketing teams to communicate with each other. Encourage marketing to sit down with sales reps, asking about and listening to their experiences, digging deep into the challenges they are facing.
This insight is invaluable. Sales should also feedback on any content that results from the conversations, to make it as effective as possible.
2. Streamline content access via your CRM
Whether you’re using Salesforce or Zoho, Pipedrive or Hubspot, you need to make sure the content that marketing has created is easily accessible by your sales department.
They shouldn’t have to ask marketing for it – and have to wait – and nor should they need to go looking.
Many CRMs have pre-defined templates available, but you’ll want your content to sit ready at each stage of the funnel, so that your sales reps can quickly share what they need.
Sales Enablement software can give your reps this access. Marketing can upload new content (or replace with more up-to-date versions) into specific areas of your pipeline, carefully crafted to overcome any objections associated with this stage.
Sales Reps can send the right content, to the right segments, at the right time.
3. Personalise content at every opportunity
In an ideal world, prospects will move through your pre-determined pipeline stage by stage, with content perfectly aligned – using sales enablement techniques – to each part of the funnel.
But sales sequences don’t often flow in a sequential way. Many prospects ‘bounce around’ or do things in their own way. That’s why it’s essential that you create tailored content.
Working together, your sales and marketing teams can do this. Sales can create different buyer personas, based on the way leads behave or the characteristics of the potential customer.
Marketing can then create and personalise content specifically for these buyer segments, adding content that’s highly relevant and targeted to these individuals.
With Sales Enablement software like Data Dwell, you could even allow sales reps to create and edit their own content, especially for an individual prospect. That way they have an environment where they can upload, remove and tweak content that’s bespoke for the lead in front of them.
Communication, Collaboration and Effectiveness
By working together, sales and marketing teams can use sales enablement techniques to transform the content they share with prospects in their pipelines – and increase their conversion rates.
Technology and software like Data Dwell can help facilitate this. To see how Data Dwell could improve the content in your sales funnel, start your free trial here.
