“Sales, meet marketing. Marketing, meet sales.”

In many organizations, this sums up the relationship between the two roles. Within investment promotion agencies, it’s not that different either. As a partner that works with both sides quite often, we always find it shocking when the two aren’t aligning their strategies side by side. It makes so much sense, but so few organizations do it well.

Yet, if both sides can put aside their “territories” in favour of open communication, your city, region or country stands to benefit in the end. From awareness to lead generation, then lead development to closing, if the process works more seamlessly, the end user (companies or talents) enjoy a better experience. Here are five practical ways to get everyone playing to the same tune.

Align Performance Management Goals

Does sales know what marketing’s goals are? What about the other way around? If not, this is the place to start. And if you’re the leader of an organization, perhaps giving both departments skin in the game on the other’s KPIs could be one way to make each of them accountable to one another. One example: Instead of measuring the marketing team on how many marketing quality leads they generate (a volume-only metric), how about measuring how many convert into projects or investments?  Both departments should have a clear understanding of what they are trying to achieve and how they can support each other in achieving those goals.

Exchange Marketing Data and Executive Insights Regularly

Marketing and sales should have access to the same data and insights, and work together to analyse that information. This can help both departments to make informed decisions and identify opportunities for growth. Does marketing know how the CRM is set up? Does sales have input on messaging and target audiences? By sharing data and insights, marketing and sales can also create a better understanding of the customer journey, and make changes to their strategies accordingly.

Coordinate Campaigns That Are Executed Side-by-Side

When marketing and sales work together, the end user can receive a consistent message throughout their journey, which can increase the likelihood of them advancing further through the cycle. What’s a practical way to do this? Share prospect lists with one another. Tools nowadays allow for the targeting of specific prospects via advertising at the company level in a GDPR compliant way. For all those sales people concerned about what this means – no, this won’t scare away that executive you are working with. In fact, marketing can help increase exposure to other decision-makers on the executive team, helping you close that deal faster.

Provide Market Feedback In Real Time

Marketing and sales should have open lines of communication and provide feedback to each other regularly. This can involve sharing information about what is working well and what can be improved, and working together to make changes accordingly. Is the sales team sharing that the last three companies have mentioned the same pain point, which marketing can now address in future campaigns? Is marketing noticing any signals about target markets, industries or job functions that could be fed back to the sales team? Feedback is fertiliser!

Make Content Better Through Constructive Dialogue

Contrary to some opinions, marketing isn’t the department that just creates collateral, shiny decks or a trade show booth when needed. They’re an ally to sales, not a transactional tool when there is something needed. Marketing and sales should work together to create content that is relevant and valuable to customers. This can involve sharing information about executive needs, creating content that addresses those needs, and sharing that content in the proper forums. For marketing teams, are you always creating materials that you feel the sales team doesn’t use? That’s the perfect prompt for a discussion to learn why, figure out how to adjust the approach and build something together that’s valuable for all.

There’s no doubt that the best performing economic development groups are fully aligning marketing and sales for optimal results. But it doesn’t come easy and can’t happen overnight. From our experience, it’s at least at least a one-year process before the light-bulb goes on. Be patient, stay open minded and approach the collaboration with a “how can this work mindset.”

Interested in learning more? Our account-based marketing solution is a great way to start (see how it has worked for Select Greater Philadelphia). Our team brings scale to your marketing and lead generation efforts by aligning these two critical functions on our end, which has the trickle-down effect of carrying over into your organization as well.