CRM Technology Can End the War between Sales and Marketing
The competition between sales and marketing needs to end; it is essential for both the divisions to work together in harmony for the success of the organization.
Marketing folks blame sales people for being lazy while sales people get back by propagating that the marketing department isn’t producing substantial leads. This kind of competition is ubiquitous in the business world – organizations are moving towards marketing automation to put an end to this war. You can too bring an end to this issue by contemplating on the following points for better marketing and sales coordination.
Clear customer definition
You first need a clear definition of your customer by studying the client’s interaction with your organization. This means that you need to have a record of all the interactions they have with the sales and the marketing division. Look into the information stored in CRM – his social clicks, the number of times he has visited your website etc.
When both the departments have similar insights about the customers, they will work together to set common targets. A marketing automation tool is imperative as it will provide you with one customer view by linking CRM to marketing channels.
Effective communication
You will need a common definition for effective communication between both the departments. Put in writing exactly what kind of leads are needed for business growth; set responsibility for putting leads in CRM. Set clear definitions for Sales-Qualified Leads and Marketing-Qualified Leads so that precise action is taken by departments in the given time frame.
Set new aligned goals
The marketing and sales department should have aligned goals. Use the same metrics to measure marketing and sales performance. Measuring sales by opportunities would make it compulsory for you to measure marketing by opportunity. A good practice in measuring success is checking the amount of MQL leads generated and the amount of MQL leads that convert into business.
Notify sales
The sales department needs to have visibility on the influence of the marketing department; sales needs to be notified whenever a potential client download’s the product guide. They can be notified via email notifications or CRM notifications.
Help sales people out
Sales people are usually very busy because of the numerous tasks at hand; they need your support desperately. Come up with new campaign ideas to give them a better idea about the importance of the marketing department.
There are many ways to help them out. For example, you can keep them updated via notifications on the deals they fail to close so that they can save their valuable time or you can setup a campaign which will cater to people who say that they would buy your product “later on.”
Sales and marketing folks should view themselves as people of the same team; people who work together to achieve a common goal. I would love to hear your feedback on twitter @ParamntSynerges.
