We’re bridging the gap between marketing and sales
McCarthy & King Marketing develops marketing programs that are designed to enhance the performance of both marketing AND sales.
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Sales & Marketing CollaborationIt seems so silly and unproductive, but the truth is marketing and sales don’t always get along. While they may, on the surface, seem to have similar goals, they often suffer from turf battles over leads and communications. It doesn’t have to be that way. With our Sales Lead System, we offer a marketing communications solution that directly supports every step in your sales process. See how you can turn your lead and sales program into a collaborative and productive process.
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Six ways to bring your sales and marketing teams together
Your marketing and sales teams have two different jobs that when performed cooperatively can produce to some very good results.
For the longest time, there was a clear division of labor between the two departments. Marketing would generate leads and sales would follow them up.
But today, the roles are overlapping and, in some cases, integrated. New leads that come through the door are not automatically sent over to sales. No, marketing now uses a lead nurturing process that cultivates those leads until they are “sales-ready.”
All of which leads to some internal changes that could create stress at many organization.
Here are six suggestions to help you develop a more collaborative sales and marketing program:
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1-Get everyone to understand the response quantity/quality tradeoff
There is an inherent tradeoff between lead quantity and lead quality.
It goes something like this: If your marketing programs are producing high volume lead generation, chances are the quality of those leads will be lower. Conversely, if you are focused on only quality leads, your volume will be sacrificed.
This is an important concept that both your marketing and sales teams need to understand.
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2-Get them to agree on the definition of a sales lead
This is a critical part of the lead qualification process – knowing when a lead is really a lead.
You can define a lead by determining the prospect’s budget, authority to buy, need for your product and timing of the decision. You can also look at the prospect’s actions or behavior to define a qualified lead.
The key though is to get both sales and marketing to agree on that definition.
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3-Get them to agree on the definition of a discarded lead
Your organization has spent a lot of money generating sales leads. And we all know that some of those leads will never become customers.
But discarding a lead after making that investment should be done carefully and reluctantly. It’s important to get both teams to understand and agree on when a lead can be discarded.
Because email follow-up is so inexpensive, fewer leads are being discarded these days.
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4-Create a feedback process
As leads get turned over to sales, marketing should want to know how those leads are working.
There should a process in place to account for each and every lead to indicate whether the lead was closed, discarded or still active. And, if still active, at what step in the sales process.
This can done with a marketing automation system or manually.
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5-Schedule a feedback session
After the sales team has had a chance to follow up on all of their leads, a meeting should be scheduled to once again bring the two teams together for a feedback session.
You should have the numbers by this time – number of leads, qualified leads, closed leads, active leads and discarded leads – but this meeting should be more general feedback along with suggestions for improvement.
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6-Stay in touch even after the lead goes to sales
Even after sales takes over a lead, that prospect should continue to get promotional support from marketing. This could include an email newsletter, an occasional postcard or promotion email blasts as needed.
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Learn more about the Sales and Marketing Collaboration
If you’d like to bring sales and marketing collaboration to your organization, call Bob McCarthy at 508-473-8643 or bob@mccarthyandking.com.
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Working with us
If you are interested in working with us, we offer two types of service engagements – monthly Programs and individual Projects.
Programs are best used for continuing work involving multiple marketing activities. Projects are a good way to get started and get acquainted.
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Resources related to the Sales Lead System
Article – The big picture of lead generation