Closing the Gap Between Marketing and Sales
B2B marketing must be tied to sales to survive.
Good marketing helps generate inquiries, create awareness and credibility, build relationships, and get a company on the short list. A good sales team closes deals.
In many cases, however, marketing creates campaigns to generate leads for sales, but often those materials aren't focused on producing leads that the sales team considers qualified. In addition, the metrics for judging marketing lead generation are often based on quantity, not quality.
This kind of poor internal alignment could be all it takes to get a marketing program, agency contract, or entire marketing department shut down. To survive, marketing must cooperate with sales to align goals, strategies, tactics, and metrics.
A 2007 study by the Industrial Performance Group indicated that sales teams spend just 38 percent of their time selling and 62 percent on "non-revenue-generating" activities. One major reason for this: the sales and marketing disconnect that exists in many companies.
A 2008 CMO Council study called "Closing the gap: The Sales and Marketing Alignment Imperative," reveals that 56 percent of sales, marketing, and channel management professionals report that their companies do not yet have any formal programs, systems, or processes for unifying sales and marketing.
According to sales consultant John Neeson, the national average for closing sales is just less than 27 percent. Of course, that means some companies are closing more than 50 percent, while others close almost none.
To move your company to the right of the bell curve, you must implement a sales-centric marketing methodology built through a collaborative effort with sales. But go into the process with realistic expectations. Changing a cornerstone business process is painful and typically slow.
Here are some general guidelines that will help your two teams toward a bloodless transition:
Start speaking the same language
Clearly state the company's unique selling proposition. Define and differentiate "qualified lead" and "sales-ready lead" based on agreed criteria. Use BANT (budget, authority, need, and timeframe) as a starting point for identifying leads.
Set the bar
Goal setting must address sales, marketing, and corporate needs. Use metrics that matter to the CEO and CFO to ensure C-suite backing. Goals must be based on analysis of prior performance. If you don't have any data to analyze, then collecting data is a goal. Some goals will be financial, others performance based.
Completing this step can be difficult for companies that use marketing agencies. Most agencies want to be judged by their creativity, not their sales success. Sometimes this challenge begs the hard question: "Is my agency committed to my success or its own?"
Say all the right things
B2B purchasing is a process and price is not always the most important factor. Research must guide messaging for each customer engagement stage and delivery tools. Early-stage education is vastly different from late-cycle nurturing.
Fill the cracks
Good leads are too hard to come by to allow them to slip through the cracks, yet B2B companies typically lose or ignore 75 percent of the leads they generate. A closed-loop lead lifecycle is the only way to stop this. The two danger areas are 1) the handoff between marketing and sales, and 2) the lead that isn't closed by sales.
The handoff is dangerous because it is often a blind heave over the cubical wall (figuratively speaking). Handoffs need a documented process complete with a history. Once received, sales must document where the lead went, the action taken, and results. Any lead not contacted or not closed should be cycled back to marketing for further nurturing.
Judge and be judged
The most overlooked aspect of any program is analysis and modification. Schedule separate and joint reviews right when you set goals. Doing so commits everyone. Include interim reviews for fine tuning.
All together now
While B2B businesses tend to follow well-defined buying cycles, numerous decision makers are involved and the process is complex. When a B2B company targets prospective customers with a sales-centric marketing approach, it gains a better understanding of customers' attitudes, fears, preferences, and expectations. This allows companies to close sales without excessive price cutting. It all starts with bringing marketing and sales into a cooperative partnership, and using an agency that specializes in and understands your market space. A company can expect an increase in sales productivity when it makes its marketing and sales departments equally responsible for the bottom line.
source: http://www.1to1media.com/
B2B marketing must be tied to sales to survive.
Good marketing helps generate inquiries, create awareness and credibility, build relationships, and get a company on the short list. A good sales team closes deals.
In many cases, however, marketing creates campaigns to generate leads for sales, but often those materials aren't focused on producing leads that the sales team considers qualified. In addition, the metrics for judging marketing lead generation are often based on quantity, not quality.
This kind of poor internal alignment could be all it takes to get a marketing program, agency contract, or entire marketing department shut down. To survive, marketing must cooperate with sales to align goals, strategies, tactics, and metrics.
A 2007 study by the Industrial Performance Group indicated that sales teams spend just 38 percent of their time selling and 62 percent on "non-revenue-generating" activities. One major reason for this: the sales and marketing disconnect that exists in many companies.
A 2008 CMO Council study called "Closing the gap: The Sales and Marketing Alignment Imperative," reveals that 56 percent of sales, marketing, and channel management professionals report that their companies do not yet have any formal programs, systems, or processes for unifying sales and marketing.
According to sales consultant John Neeson, the national average for closing sales is just less than 27 percent. Of course, that means some companies are closing more than 50 percent, while others close almost none.
To move your company to the right of the bell curve, you must implement a sales-centric marketing methodology built through a collaborative effort with sales. But go into the process with realistic expectations. Changing a cornerstone business process is painful and typically slow.
Here are some general guidelines that will help your two teams toward a bloodless transition:
Start speaking the same language
Clearly state the company's unique selling proposition. Define and differentiate "qualified lead" and "sales-ready lead" based on agreed criteria. Use BANT (budget, authority, need, and timeframe) as a starting point for identifying leads.
Set the bar
Goal setting must address sales, marketing, and corporate needs. Use metrics that matter to the CEO and CFO to ensure C-suite backing. Goals must be based on analysis of prior performance. If you don't have any data to analyze, then collecting data is a goal. Some goals will be financial, others performance based.
Completing this step can be difficult for companies that use marketing agencies. Most agencies want to be judged by their creativity, not their sales success. Sometimes this challenge begs the hard question: "Is my agency committed to my success or its own?"
Say all the right things
B2B purchasing is a process and price is not always the most important factor. Research must guide messaging for each customer engagement stage and delivery tools. Early-stage education is vastly different from late-cycle nurturing.
Fill the cracks
Good leads are too hard to come by to allow them to slip through the cracks, yet B2B companies typically lose or ignore 75 percent of the leads they generate. A closed-loop lead lifecycle is the only way to stop this. The two danger areas are 1) the handoff between marketing and sales, and 2) the lead that isn't closed by sales.
The handoff is dangerous because it is often a blind heave over the cubical wall (figuratively speaking). Handoffs need a documented process complete with a history. Once received, sales must document where the lead went, the action taken, and results. Any lead not contacted or not closed should be cycled back to marketing for further nurturing.
Judge and be judged
The most overlooked aspect of any program is analysis and modification. Schedule separate and joint reviews right when you set goals. Doing so commits everyone. Include interim reviews for fine tuning.
All together now
While B2B businesses tend to follow well-defined buying cycles, numerous decision makers are involved and the process is complex. When a B2B company targets prospective customers with a sales-centric marketing approach, it gains a better understanding of customers' attitudes, fears, preferences, and expectations. This allows companies to close sales without excessive price cutting. It all starts with bringing marketing and sales into a cooperative partnership, and using an agency that specializes in and understands your market space. A company can expect an increase in sales productivity when it makes its marketing and sales departments equally responsible for the bottom line.
source: http://www.1to1media.com/
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