By Linda Lindsey, President, BMA Atlanta
You'll learn about these marketing tools, marketing techniques and marketing tips in this article:
1. How to get your sales and marketing teams talking again;
2. How to set realistic expectations and deliver sound results.
The disconnect between sales and marketing is an age-old problem. Sales representatives believe that most marketing efforts are completely ineffective and marketing, many times, does not acknowledge that without sales reps, they wouldn’t have a job. When these two groups are at odds, it is the company who usually suffers. This article outlines five strategies to integrate sales and marketing.
1. Integrate the Sales and Marketing Channel Plans
Start your annual budget process by conducting a joint sales and marketing planning meeting.
Sales and marketing are intertwined and the discussions should center on areas of overlap such as lead generation, sales tools and customer promotions. Lay out your annual plan based on accomplishing joint goals. Working together you can hash out a realistic plan for growth.
Set specific milestones and key performance indicators for the top 10 priorities. Be sure the plans you are preparing are realistic and measurable – if it’s not measurable, it’s not worth doing. Meet at least once a month with sales management to review the progress, identify critical issues and develop countermeasures for any hiccups that arise.
2. Redefine a “Lead”
Nothing breeds resentment faster than a sales rep receiving yet another list of “leads” with contacts who are no more inclined to buy than someone picked randomly out of the phone book.
Agreeing on the definition of the following three words can be a quick win toward integrating your sales and marketing teams:
• A Suspect is a company or individual who meets a predefined sales criteria.
• A Prospect is a company or an individual who meets a predefined sales criteria and has received marketing materials.
• A Lead is a company or an individual who meets a predefined sales criteria and has received marketing materials, and has requested more information about your company, products or services.
Note which contacts receive marketing materials in your database, but don’t alert the sales rep until a prospect has turned into a lead.
3. SPIF the Sales Management to Keep Your Database Clean
To be effective, marketing campaigns need accurate messaging and delivery. The perfect marketing message delivered to the wrong address or the wrong person is a waste of time and money. So, how do you keep your contact database clean? Set specific measurements for each campaign and reward the sales manager for meeting or exceeding those goals. For example, you can base your SPIF on the percentage of direct mail pieces returned or the number of hard bounce emails.
I set aside between 5 and 10% of my overall marketing budget to SPIF the managers. I found that my response rates tripled when the sales team followed up on the leads. You may be wondering, “Why SPIF the manager and not the sales rep?” In my experience, a sales rep only performs tasks encouraged by their manager. SPIF the manager and you’ll always get what you need.
And, remember, you don’t need to be super creative when designing the SPIF program, just ASK the managers what they want and design your program around those suggestions.
4. Streamline Sales & Marketing Communications
Simple, effective communication between sales and marketing is critical. Don’t “market” to your sales reps. Sales reps are busy and they don’t have time to read six paragraphs riddled with industry buzz words or marketing-speak when the actual message can be delivered accurately in two sentences. Keep your sales communications brief, timely and relevant.
Don’t bombard the sales reps with constant communication. Part of your integrated sales and marketing channel plan should include a communications component. Ask yourself what information you want to communicate to sales during the year and define how you will deliver those messages.
5. Give Your Reps a Reason to Call on Customers
Over the years, there has been one constant request of me from sales reps: Give me a reason to contact my customers. Sales reps constantly struggle to find new and meaningful reasons to contact their customers. The longer the product life-cycle, the more difficult this process becomes. Find an effective way to deliver this information to your sales force and provide it in a way that makes it simple for reps to pass it along to their customers. Set up an email drip campaign called, “Conversation Starters” and search news feeds for industry information, regulation updates, useful statistics or advances in technology. Include a section in the email for company specific information such as press releases or product awards.
Institute communication drips for every stage in the product life-cycle and empower your sales reps to choose the communications they want to send. Sales reps know far more than your segmentation about the recipient of your direct marketing material. Leverage that knowledge and let the sales reps be in control of what specific communications their customers receive.
Linda Lindsey has been in the marketing and advertising arena for more than 18 years, and currently serves as the President of the Business Marketing Association, Atlanta Chapter. An Atlanta native, Linda has firsthand knowledge of the "no-holds-barred" marketing advances that have driven businesses to try bolder, more profitable techniques to win new customers. Linda's broad range of expertise includes developing and executing marketing programs for technology companies, nonprofit organizations, start-up companies and women owned businesses seeking to be heard through the immense media clutter. Linda was awarded a 2007 Direct Marketing Association ECHO award and was recognized as a Diamond Contender for the "best of the best" for her demand generation campaigns
How to Get Sales and Marketing Talking Again.
