Driving
Top-Line Growth

Aligning Your Sales & Marketing Department

Sales and marketing alignment is key for successful business operations.

Join our in-depth discussion regarding the importance of departmental alignment when it comes to generating significant, measurable business growth. Knowmad’s William McKee and Sandler’s Tim Ledwein explore common challenges faced by sales and marketing professionals and the best ways to create alignment between these two departments. 

A Crucial Step in Growing Your Organization

In years past, sales and marketing departments acted, in large part, separately from each other. Marketing professionals created collateral to entice potential customers, and then salespeople handled engaging with and acquiring those potential customers. When there was collaboration in the past, poor communication, and unclear expectations often resulted in decreased effectiveness for both teams. 

In today’s highly competitive, complex marketplace, there’s no room for misalignment among these two departments, so getting everyone on the same page and acting as a unified team is essential for every company’s success. Operating separately minimizes growth and opportunity. Working as one optimizes a company’s potential. However, it’s important to align these two groups in a purposeful manner, providing clear objectives, procedures, and expectations for each member of the team along the way. 

Research Findings From Sandler 

The Sandler Research Center conducted a research study to better understand the complex relationship between sales and marketing departments, as well as the level of collaboration typically seen in today’s business environment. Here are the main discoveries they uncovered in their recent report:

  • 10 percent reported optimal alignment and strong communication between their sales and marketing teams
  • 61 percent reported either that their sales and marketing teams had never collaborated on establishing an ideal customer profile or had not yet completed such a collaborative profile
  • 44 percent stated that they were unable to give an estimate of any future point in time at which their sales and marketing teams would be optimally aligned 

Misaligned goals and efforts between these two groups result in a decreased ability to profile, identify, attract, and retain ideal customers, ultimately leading to decreased sales and a less favorable bottom line. Unfortunately, many companies have yet to align their sales and marketing efforts, which means they’re missing out on an immense opportunity to optimize their sales. 

Common Challenges for Sales and Marketing Teams

Aligning your sales and marketing activities is easier said than done, and it requires a careful, methodical approach. Here are the most common challenges that businesses experience with regard to this undertaking:

  • Lead Generation: Does the marketing team know what characteristics make a qualified sales lead?
  • Accountability: Does the sales team often ignore marketing leads because of the poor quality of past experiences?
  • Lead Nurturing: For companies with long sales cycles, are automated processes in place to nurture leads that aren’t yet ready to be handed off to a salesperson?
  • Measurement: Does the company use closed-loop reporting to track and improve the effectiveness of sales and marketing activities?
  • CRM Adoption: Is the CRM easy to use? Does it provide useful sales intelligence? Does it help marketers improve channel selection and messaging?
  • Artificial Intelligence: Does the company utilize artificial intelligence tools, such as HubSpot, ChatGPT, GoCharlie, MarketMuse, Seamless.ai, and Grammarly, to optimize communication and streamline content generation? 

Watch the Full Webinar On-Demand

Before getting started, we highly recommend checking out our on-demand webinar to learn more about how you can optimize your sales and marketing activities while creating mutual value for both your team members and customers. Aligning your efforts translates into a more seamless, nurturing client experience, which is great for the businesses you serve and your company’s balance sheet. In the webinar, key members of the Knowmad and Sandler teams deep dive into the future of business optimization and provide winning tips for making the most of your company’s resources. 

Get Help From the Experts

At Knowmad, we’re experts at helping companies, ranging from industrial manufacturers to professional services institutions, optimize their marketing and achieve significant results. It’s not enough to simply do— we help companies act with purpose and maximize their ROI. If you’re searching for a marketing partner that specializes in helping organizations like yours accomplish bigger, better things than ever thought possible, it’s time to get in contact with Knowmad. 

We have a long track record of success in helping our clients maximize their bottom lines and increase their return on any marketing expenditures. We’re proud to help our clients achieve their goals, no matter how ambitious. Our expert web designers, content strategists, and digital marketing specialists will utilize winning marketing strategies to communicate the value you bring to your industry. We can help with the following:

When you partner with us, the sky is truly the limit for your organization. It’s never been easier to grow your business, attract and retain customers, and increase your profits than with the Knowmad team of experts. If you’re ready to get started, request a proposal today, and let’s discuss your company’s needs, preferences, and goals. 

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