A sales & marketing match.
Recently a question has come up about how sales and marketing are different. This had me thinking about the vital relationship between the two distinct but interconnected roles in any business.
HOW ARE SALES & MARKETING DIFFERENT?
Marketing and sales are both parts of how an organization acquires and converts leads, often leaving some entrepreneurs wondering if they are the same process in their business. If you are a small business or a solopreneur, then your tasks for sales and marketing are often done by the same person; however, there are some key differences between the roles that are important to understand. It is even more essential to ensure that sales and marketing functions are aligned and integrated systematically to bring the best results for conversion to your growth process.
Generally speaking, the process begins with marketing, which aims to attract and nurture quality prospects by creating and distributing content across various tactical channels. Specific marketing tactics bring a lead through the customer journey, build trust, and eventually become a sales prospect.
Sales further nurtures a qualified lead. Within this part of the organization, a relationship is built based on the customer's needs, and sales provides solutions to address those needs. As the sales process moves forward, marketing tactics continue to reinforce the value proposition of the business and support sales efforts along the way.
BETTER TOGETHER
When sales and marketing are collaborative, no matter the size of your organization, both functions are enabled to be more successful and profitable. Integrated sales and marketing functions can reduce the cost per sale, the time to purchase, and ultimately the bottom line, which is an absolute win-win!
When sales and marketing work together, the quality of leads improves because sales can help marketers identify the ideal customer persona, allowing marketing to work on attracting more of those buyers. Additionally, as relationships are built with existing customers through sales, marketing can better understand evolving customer needs and pain points, allowing marketing to create content to better address customer questions or improve engagement.
MAKING A MATCH
Now that you understand the difference between sales and marketing and the importance of the functions working together, here are three ways to strengthen the relationship between sales and marketing to support efficiency, profitability, and accelerated growth.
Build your sales and marketing process together to visualize how they are connected.
Consider building go-to-market or growth strategies with sales and marketing functions working together at the same time. Making these plans together creates a foundation of alignment right from the beginning.
Combine your funnels.
Have you ever noticed that the sales and marketing funnels follow similar (or the same) steps? Then why is that we hear comments like “this is handed off to sales” or “that is in marketing’s court?”. Sales and marketing both have roles to play across the customer journey, so building the funnels together allows for shared understanding and process alignment.
Work together.
When sales and marketing are built and managed in silos, creating an aligned and integrated system across the functions is challenging. Even if your sales and marketing efforts are done by the same person, try considering them as part of a connected system rather than separate tasks. If you have individual roles, try a team-based approach where sales and marketing create a positive learning loop.
At Method & Motion we are fractional Sales VPs, CMOs and marketing managers, and always think about the integration of sales and marketing when creating our go-to-market plans. If you need help designing your sales and marketing functions in your business, say hey! We’d love to get both sales and marketing working together for your business.
