Sales and marketing teams are among the most data-driven, metrics-focused employees in any company. They’re also the least likely to work together effectively. The disconnect between sales and marketing happens for a variety of reasons. In many organisations, there is no clear understanding of who owns what data or where it is stored. Marketing works on tracking prospects but then have no visibility when the leads are worked on by Sales. Unfortunately, this type of disconnect isn’t uncommon; it’s just one example of how these departments can evolve independently from each other.

Even the best-run sales and marketing teams won’t close many more deals if their data isn’t shared and organised properly. Sales people need to be able to quickly identify the prospect whose needs they can satisfy with the product they’re selling. This means they need to be able to easily find the right person — and quickly move that person through the sales funnel, from unqualified prospect to closed deal. Marketers, on the other hand, need to know which prospects to focus their attention on at any given time, and how best to position their product to win those prospects over. This can be especially challenging when working with B2B products, since these rely on the needs of buyers at other companies.

How can you improve your CRM and process to improve this problem?

The first step toward improving this problem is for sales and marketing leaders to clearly define who owns what data and where that data is stored. This can be accomplished through an audit of your current systems, identifying pain points and discussing potential solutions. Next, sales and marketing teams need a clear understanding of how their data will work together. This means deciding on a single place to store all prospect information, regardless of what stage of the buying process they’re in. Finally, sales and marketing should decide on a sharing protocol. This ensures that both teams have the right permissions to access the right information at the right times. Also it’s important to align communications and tone of voice, something especially important to Marketing, but perhaps not to sales. This is where automation can work brilliantly as it gives Marketing control of communications and helps Sales out with the information they need to sell.

How can these improvements help Sales and Marketing be more effective?

Sales and Marketing teams can’t close more deals if they can’t find the right leads and they can’t be confident in their ability to do so. By bringing the data stored in their CRMs into a single location, teams can avoid having to look in multiple places for the information they need. This can help reduce time spent looking for data, as well as reduce the likelihood of data being entered incorrectly. A single database for lead data can also help improve marketing attribution by making it easy to see which methods and campaigns win over each lead. This means marketing teams can more easily prioritise their efforts and make adjustments as needed.

Simple Steps to Improving Collaboration Between Sales and Marketing

By following these two steps, sales and marketing leaders can help their teams improve collaboration between their departments. First, establish ownership of key data points. This means determining which fields and which information in each team’s CRM is essential for the other team to see. This can help prevent one team from accidentally hiding important data from the other team. Next, build a shared understanding of your customer base. This can be accomplished by having sales and marketing review a sample of each other’s leads, with the goal of understanding the buyer’s company, the products they sell, and the department they work in. This can help ensure that each team understands how to best position their product and what information is most relevant when engaging with prospects. Finally, decide on a single platform for collaboration. This can be as simple as using a shared Google Sheet or Excel file that both teams can access and edit through to a full marketing automation solution like ActiveCampaign or Hubspot.

What are the benefits of connecting sales and marketing process together

By bringing sales and marketing data into a single place, teams will be able to share more information and make more informed decisions. This can lead to more effective sales cycles and marketing campaigns, and a general increase in the overall health of both teams. For example, sales teams can see what marketing campaigns are generating the most leads and adjust their efforts accordingly. Similarly, marketing teams can see which leads are most likely to convert and shift their focus to the people who will close the most deals. By connecting their sales and marketing efforts, teams can look forward to a future full of even more successful campaigns and sales cycles. Crucially marketing can understand which marketing is closing the best deals, giving solid data on return on investment and enabling optimal growth.