Sales needs marketing. Marketing needs sales. It’s an amazing relationship, but sometimes individual goals and siloed job functions put these two groups at odds. But, when both departments are working toward the same business goals, it’s such a great opportunity for these two groups to work together to achieve business goals together, but also help each other in other ways.
So, we went to one of the experts in sales enablement, Pam Didner. Pam, author of Effective Sales Enablement: Achieve Sales Growth Through Collaborative Sales and Marketing, also has spoken at many CMI events including Content Marketing World and Intelligent Content Conference. We’re so glad we could spend an hour with Pam.
We had a great #CMWorld Twitter chat with Pam, and while it seems that we all know WHAT we should be doing from a sales and marketing collaboration standpoint, it seems that there’s a lot more work to be done. Two of the questions – and their responses – are highlighted below. For more tweets and responses from the discussion, check out our Twitter Moment.
A2a: At the end of the day, businesses can only survive if they can make a profit by selling products and services. To close the deals, Marketing, business units, customer supports, and sales all need to work together. #CMWorld
— Pam Didner (@PamDidner) December 4, 2018
A2: Sales enablement is not just about investment capital and ROI. It is also about human capital and ROC – Return On Collaboration! Great things happen when people collaborate and these things can become game changers. #cmworld
— Wayne Hendry (@ideakid88) December 4, 2018
A2: As a person who’s had to deal with a sales team that didn’t know the service, I’d say it simply improves customer experience. A team that’s knowledgable enough to at least get a customer where they need to go is more useful and enjoyable. #CMWorld
— Click Ctrl Marketing (@ClkContrl) December 4, 2018
A4b (cont A4a) Another example: Train sales on social media: marketing is usually on the forefront of digital. It’s important to share the knowledge to get sales up to speed. Be part of sales onboarding and continuous training. #CMWorld
— Pam Didner (@PamDidner) December 4, 2018
A4a: Start by putting in the time to come to a shared agreement on what constitutes an MQL, SQL, etc. Then collaborate on mapping the buyer’s journey. This will build the foundation for a better path forward for both teams. #CMworld https://t.co/xY8YI95JtM
— Erika Heald | Content Strategy (@SFerika) December 4, 2018
A4. To empower sales, marketing can:
1️⃣ Regularly update sales about new content
2️⃣ Hold internal meetings to explain new content releases
3️⃣ Build a content library
4️⃣ Include content links within email templates
5️⃣ Save time with content synopses or summary decks #CMWorld https://t.co/d6T5o1Sxsr— Uberflip (@Uberflip) December 4, 2018
A4: Simply meet. Schedule time to sit down and discuss opportunities for collaboration and divvy responsibilities. Make sure you have access to the same metrics and CRM so you both can track progress. No matter what – communicate! #CMworld
— Patrick Delehanty (@MDigitalPatrick) December 4, 2018
What are some tips you have for your sales and marketing teams? Let us know in the comments below.
Would you like to learn more from our community members aside from our Tuesday gatherings on Twitter? Join us at Content Marketing World 2019! Registration is now open! We hope to see you next September in Cleveland!