How To Collaborate with Sales for a Marketing Campaign?
Sales and marketing plan
Bringing together the sales and marketing teams can help organizations maximize their conversions. Leads move seamlessly from the marketing side to the sales side of the buyer’s journey, receiving an excellent customer experience throughout. The key to creating a more cohesive unit lies in improving communication between each group and working to function as a single team. Here are some ideas to bring everyone together.
- Align your goals
- Know your Key Performance Metrics (KPIs)
- Get everyone on the same page
- Track progress
- Revisit and plan
1. Align your goals. Before beginning your marketing project, bring the marketing and sales teams together to discuss goals. Outline both short-term and long-term goals. This will give everyone a concrete start point and a standard by which they can evaluate themselves at the end for an idea of how well they performed.
2. Know your KPIs. To properly target your goals, each team will also need to outline their KPIs. Know how you will track progress towards each of your goals and how you can compile this progress and report on it.
3. Get everyone on the same page. Before everyone can work together, you must make sure you have a common vocabulary. Discuss and come to a firm agreement regarding what qualifies as a sales qualified lead, the point at which a lead should transfer from marketing to sales, and what the expectations will be once that transfer happens.
Outline and record these common terms and expectations in a glossary document for everyone to access. Maintaining this consistent form of communication will make it easier for everyone to function as one team.
4. Track progress. The marketing and sales teams should also establish how and when they will come together to make a common report. Establish a set schedule that will bring the two teams together to discuss their progress thus far. Discuss the previously outlined goals, KPIs, and how performance aligns. Know what data will be presented and keep the communication lines open to help the team work as a united group.
5. Revisit and plan. In addition to your reporting cadence, you also want to set a schedule to review, plan, and potentially revise the goals and KPIs. Examine how the teams perform, where the weaknesses lie, and what can be done to correct them. For example, if the teams notice a large drop off in leads around the middle of the funnel, discuss how the two teams can work together to nurture these leads to keep them warm through the transfer to sales and better prepare them for a potential purchase.
By going through these steps you will help your marketing and sales groups feel more as though they are part of a single team dedicated to bringing in more customers. Communication will improve and it will become easier for them to accomplish common goals.
