That's how Marketo described this problem, and I just had to share.
If your business is like most, you know sales and marketing don't always see eye to eye. Aligning sales and marketing is one of the toughest thing to do in an organization.
That's because they're different — the roles and the people.
But one thing is the same: the end goal.
Both teams want to earn business. But not just any business. The kind of business that is fulfilling with the kind of customers who value the company and who are willing to put money on the table.
That's why it's important for both teams to learn a little about each other.
Salespeople move fast. Marketing projects are more long-term.
Sales and marketing have different time lines, deadlines, and goals to meet along the way.
One way to mitigate frustration and help both teams work together is by creating a Service Level Agreement.
"In an SLA, the level of service is defined and agreed upon by both parties; in this case, the SLA is the agreement that Marketing will deliver a certain number of leads at a certain quality for Sales each month, and that Sales will work a certain number of leads the Marketing generates each month."Alison Savery, HubSpot
This agreement ensures everyone is on the same page and allows the marketing side to strategize to meet that goal.
Marketing Team
Inbound marketing is the best way to generate quality leads for the sales team. This mitigates the typical frustration that sales has with marketing.
Inbound marketing tactics such as blogging, social media posting, and email marketing take online users down the funnel.
Blogging and social media help attract the people who are searching for information that can help them solve a pain point or question. Landing pages and calls-to-action help convert visitors into leads, and email marketing helps nurture that lead along until you have a well-aware, qualified lead for sales.
Sales Team
Once a lead is in the hands of your sales team, the contact will already be aware of the company and what it has to offer. The contact has already read many blogs and is engaged on social media, making them more likely to trust the company.
All that's left to do is close!
Of course, nothing's ever that simple, but the process is in place, the agreement is clear, and both teams can work toward meeting the end business goal.
