Marketing and sales have always had an odd relationship, as they can both be synergistic and antagonistic — all at the same time. It’s not uncommon to hear marketers say that, when business is good, sales gets the credit, but when business is bad, all fingers point to marketing.
And if you ask a salesperson? They may tell you that marketing spends far too much time and energy driving “squishy” brand objectives that don’t directly make a difference to the organization’s bottom line.
It’s a constant back and forth between things like quality and quantity, marketing-qualified leads and sales-qualified leads and brand marketing versus direct response. The conundrums are vast and, if left unchecked, they can create a dysfunctional relationship between two of your organization’s most important departments.
It should come as no surprise then, that many highly successful companies have mastered the art of bringing the marketing and sales functions together. In doing so, these strategic companies are able to drive initiatives forward with alignment and efficiency that directly contribute to better business results as a whole.
Here are four ways you can unlock your business’ full potential and maximize results by better aligning your sales and marketing teams:
1. Use the customer journey to identify the main business objectives for your sales and marketing teams.
The customer journey creates an overview of how customers move through your sales process. Rather than looking first at your priorities and outlining objectives for how to motivate customers to meet your goals, the customer journey allows you to consider the customer first, then identify your team’s objectives based on how your customers want to move through the process.
CLICK HERE to continue reading the Forbes article by Trever Ackerman, Chief Marketing Officer of WellBiz Brands, Inc. and Fitness Together®.