The Relationship Between Sales and Marketing

The relationship between sales and marketing is symbiotic. At least, it’s supposed to be. The link between these two departments is complex, yet integrated and relies deeply on each other. What used to be separate silos need to be one functioning system; two sides of the same coin working in tandem to meet one strategic goal.

Sales focus primarily on generating revenue and converting leads, while marketing focuses on creating awareness, generating leads and building relationships that enable generating revenue.

How Sales and Marketing Work Together

Marketing can be seen as the starting block for sales. Teams of marketers work together to generate leads by using a variety of channels such as online platforms, social media and traditional media. Various integrated marketing campaigns are used to generate awareness and interest for both the business and its products or services. When potential customers show interest in the different products or services, these are called qualified leads that are captured and forwarded to the sales team.

Once the sales team receives these leads, it’s up to them to turn interest into products sold. This might look like cold calling and product demonstrations, but it also takes the form of presentations and case studies being presented to the interested potential customers.

Both departments rely heavily on customer data and persuasive communication. Both need to have a thorough understanding of what the other does so they may work together as a larger system.

What Does This Mean for SMEs?

As a business owner, it is your job to foster good relationships between teams. This means encouraging effective communication, collaboration and working together.

Foster Cross-functional Collaboration: Leadership must break down barriers between the sales and marketing teams. Teams must be guided so they are able to align and collaborate.

Establish Unified Goals and KPIs: Business leaders need to establish the unified goals and metrics that indicate the goals have been reached. These goals should reflect the shared objectives that the teams need to meet together.

Implement Integrated Technology Solutions: Technologies that improve customer interactions, collaboration and automation, help data sharing between the two teams and facilitate their collaboration.

Outline a Unified Customer Journey: Outlining a unified customer journey indicates how the customer is expected to move through the various elements of the sales funnel, from marketing to sales. This enables you to improve every customer touch point.

Cultivate a Culture of Continuous Improvement: The success of any relationship lies in its continuous improvement. For sales and marketing teams, it’s vital that there is continuous improvement and striving towards better collaboration.

Common Misalignment between Sales and Marketing

Due to various reasons, such as sales and marketing sometimes being seen as the same thing, common misalignment easily happens. Here are some of the frequent misalignments that occur.

Mismatched Expectations

The disconnect between the sales and marketing teams occurs in a situation where the department has mismatched expectations in the form of disagreement over what the lead time is or what processes should be followed.

Poor Reporting

Reporting helps a team plan for capacity and prepare for handover. A marketing individual may, for instance, need to communicate to the sales team what a lead is, if it is qualified or not, what the particular person is looking for and when. This vital information enables the sales team to do their job effectively.

Poor Communication

Poor communication results in teams not communicating between them about incoming clients, project briefs or information requests. In short, they don’t tell each other what is happening.

Not Understanding Roles and Responsibilities

Because of the overlapping nature of certain roles and responsibilities, it is easy to confuse who is in charge of which tasks. For this reason, it is vital to have these duties clearly defined. This avoids confusion and prevents any duties from being missed because it was assumed that someone else would handle it.

Sales and marketing go hand-in-hand. Without the one, the other struggles to effectively execute its task. Yet, these two departments are easily confused – they can be interpreted as one and the same by outsiders. Business owners need to take charge by communicating the different roles and responsibilities of each department and fostering cross-functional collaboration.