How to Unite Your Sales and Marketing Teams

culled from:www.inc.com
They go together like peanut butter and jelly. But sometimes they just can’t find their way to the same sandwich. Your sales and marketing teams must be a united group to fulfill their individual functions to the best of their ability.
If you’re struggling to pull your teams together, it’s time to implement some unifying strategies.
Uniting Your Sales and Marketing Teams
1. Ensure Both Teams Have Realistic Expectations
One of the most important elements in getting your sales and marketing teams on the same page is to get them together. If everyone is in-house, schedule a regular meeting with both teams. Do this however frequently you feel is necessary. If many of your people telecommute, set up a video conference with everyone. Initially, have each team define their expectations. Then wean them of ideas that don’t fit or won’t work.
Make sure that every meeting includes the latest information on how all efforts are working. Include time to celebrate wins. Of course, ensure that both teams are up to date on product changes and improvements. Let everyone get to know your buyer persona(s) and how to leverage them. Encourage cooperation in every possible way, so both teams feel like they’re achieving goals together.
2. Integrate Sales and Marketing Data
When you collect the information everyone needs in one place, it’s much easier to analyze important data. You can integrate your information streams by using a service to pull data from various apps you’re already using and keep it all in one place. Choose data software or services designed to provide quick, easy access to all relevant data sets at once. This way, you can get everything from big-picture to very detailed views of your sales and marketing initiatives.
For example, DataHero collects data from marketing tools, such as HubSpot and MailChimp, and from sales tools like Salesforce or Highrise. It allows you to quickly and effectively analyze that data, create visualizations of data comparisons, and inform decision making for both sales and marketing. No need to pull in a data analyst.
By bringing all the data together, salespeople can learn much more about a lead and marketing people can spot trends and gauge exactly what’s working and with whom. Pulling all your data into one visual report simplifies troubleshooting for everyone and informs future campaigns.
3. Use Project Management Software
If you were intimidated or unsure about trying it in the past, you should look again. Project management software is more user-friendly than ever. Many software packages feature a robust set of integration options so you can link to other apps you’re already using. And some of the best project management software is available with a free plan — perfect for small businesses.
Whether you have a small business with just a few people handling your sales and marketing, or your company has dedicated sales and marketing departments, project management software can work for you. Giving your team a place to work on projects with real time collaboration and information sharing empowers them to communicate more effectively.
Perhaps more importantly, with everyone working in the same system, you can reign in growing projects before they get out of control.
To take it one step further, you can combine Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and project management software. You’ll be able to further flesh out customer profiles while allowing everyone access to all the customer data when and where they need it.
For your sales team, this can mean the difference between closing a sale and losing it. They’re able to access information about a customer. They can gather things such as purchase history and interactions they’ve had with other salespeople in your company before ever speaking to them. Your marketing staff will appreciate the sales input in customer profiles to inform their lead generation planning in the future.
If you put the time in, your people will know they are working toward a common goal and not working against each other. Marketing will generate more informed leads, giving sales just what they need to close more deals.
Though it may not happen overnight — encouraging unity between your sales and marketing teams will help your bottom line.