Sales Managers should be the link between the sales and marketing departments. It’s critical for the Sales Manager to ensure that both departments communicate with and understand one another.
According to Forrester Research, only 8% of B2B companies say they have a strong alignment between sales and marketing, which means 92% have a serious problem (source: Corporate Visions).
Communication is key; we've put together a few pointers to ensure cohesion in the workplace:
- It’s best to bring the two teams together from the start in order to collaborate on key messages and avoid conflict. Involve both teams in decision making processes and manage expectations in order to achieve your goals together.
- Tell your marketing department about any projects your team is working on; ask them to support the sales efforts with targeted campaigns. For example, if you’re pushing a particular product or feature this month, make sure marketing can back it up with a mailer, social media post or blog. Likewise, talk to the marketing team to find out what they’re working on so that your sales team can support them by mentioning relevant campaigns in their sales calls or emails.
- Decide early on who is in charge of lead nurturing and reporting. The battle over lead generation is a big one. Aside from commission, recognition remains a high motivator in any area of business so it’s important to have a clear way of defining who to give credit to once a deal has closed.
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