How Sales & Marketing Can Create a Winning Synergy
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Synergy within companies ensures that everyone is pulling in the same direction towards the same goal. Aligning the sales and marketing teams means seamlessly engaging, informing and retaining customers through content, conversation, and sales conversion. Strategies within the departments should be built on solid foundations, as marketing studies leads and sales converts leads into customers.
On a recent AdVic “Salesforce Simplified” podcast, Fangled Tech CEO Andrew Deutsch spoke to the success that teamwork can bring to any company.
How would you advise sales and marketing teams to go about building and executing a strategic, go to market playbook?
“I would inform and make sure that they understood that it is a team approach to developing that strategy. The marketing team will be responsible for truly looking at the qualitative study of who that customer is. What are the personas? And there may be multiple types of customers that you’re dealing with. But in looking at each of those, what are the actual problems that they have that you can solve? What are the challenges, what are the needs, the desires? And then look to the organization as to what do we make and do, and how do we behave in ways that actually matter to that consumer? And then involving the sales team in the development of the strategy so that when they go out, they can speak to the actual things that matter.
“An example, imagine you’re a car manufacturer and you as the engineer who happens to be the CEO decides that all customers out there are excited about the fact that we use thicker steel and quality paint. Things that you think matter. When actually your consumer for the model car that you make is more interested in safety for their family, reliability, and comfort. So there’s a disconnect. Now you’ve got your salespeople out on the word of the CEO, talk about steel and the customers don’t relate. Well, if we knew that there was this niche in the market that wanted those things that we just described, and the marketing team gets that feedback from the sales team, then they’re equipped with the messaging and all the work that marketing does to the world and the audience. Now, the salespeople can speak to that, to the customer who’s the fit. I know it’s a little contrived way of bringing it around, but it’s about the team. It’s not about just making the sales guys go out and do their job.”
Bottom Line:
- Unify across teams.
- Study and understand the customer.
- Develop strategy around customers needs.
- Frame questions around brand alignment to customer interest.
- Translate strategy to the sales team, so that they can communicate essential information to customers.
So, it’s really a synergy that needs to be built between Sales and Marketing departments…
“Look at construction of a house. The designers design a house… And, of course, the guys who come out to dig the hole go, the guys who designed it don’t know what we do. They dig a hole. Then, the next crew comes in and they have to build the foundation. The foundation isn’t right because the guy who dug the hole isn’t right, according to them. And then the next guys who do the framing blame…. So, each is passing it to the next. Well, what would happen if in the design process of a house, you knew who was going to be doing the building and you brought them in and shared the plans with them before you finalize them? Wouldn’t it be great if everyone along the way understood what they’re going to need… and then you start building?
“It’s that way in a powerful business, too. If you listen to teams where marketing and sales are constantly butting heads, the sales guys will tell you, ‘the marketing guys create these programs that can never be implemented because they don’t know anything about our customers.’ And the marketing team is saying, ‘those sales guys, they’re just doing what they want to do. If they would only follow our plan.’ And that’s when the truck hits the telephone pole and everybody gets hurt.”
Bottom Line:
- Each member of the team should know and understand their part of the project.
- Work together as one for the goal of the bottom line.
- Sales and marketing teams on one accord to execute the goal.
Are there any new tools that you’re excited about these days that would be of interest to sales and marketing teams to be aware of?
“One that we’ve brought to market, and again, it isn’t our software, but we provide the training is, is a system. And this is great being an audio podcast because people will have to check it out afterwards called the Virtual Presenter Course*. We found ways to answer the question, how can you be present in the room in a Zoom meeting when you can’t physically be there? How can you be more interesting, impactful, all of those great things in a sales meeting or presentation? So we’ve developed training to use this open source software that’s out there so that when you’re in a Zoom meeting, you can properly do a PowerPoint presentation, walk through a video, demo a website. Rather than being that little head in a box off to the corner, you can be actively in the window while you’re doing that.
“What we found is that salespeople that are using this tech are keeping people interested are much more memorable than that boring guy who isn’t quite focused and doesn’t understand how to give a presentation well and loses his audience. So that’s one tool that we’re advocating for.“
Bottom Line:
- Virtual Presenter Course
- The Virtual Presenter Course trains salespeople to effectively present virtually.
During AdVic’s podcast chat with Andrew, we also touched on CRM implementation, AI, and turning sales teams into selling machines. Listen to the whole episode here.
And if you’re looking for CRM solutions for your company to help create a better synergy between your sales and marketing departments, AdVic has a solution, so let’s chat today! Fill out the quick form below, or click here.[gravityform id=5]
*Note: The link offers AdVic Salesforce Blog readers an already-applied $50 off coupon at checkout for the Virtual Presenter Course.
