In many companies, marketing and sales departments have a long history of not getting along. Even though they may have the same mission- to attract customers and increase revenue- they have little to no interaction toward fulfilling that same mission. They fiercely protect their independence and seldom coordinate their actions. 

But when a lead enters your buyer’s journey, they are going through different phases. You attract them and turn them into happy clients. This requires collaboration between departments. Marketing forces take care of attracting and converting, then passing the lead to the sales team to close the deal. If the lead becomes a customer, it’s the company’s job to keep him happy.

However, without a partnership, the leads will fall through the cracks, and you will lose potential buyers. The marketing teams notify the sales teams when a lead is ready to be closed. That’s why it is crucial to have a smooth communication line between them, or it could cost your business.

What are some of the benefits of the two departments collaborating?

• You get a better customer experience. 

It is the heartbeat of any functioning organization, and it is vital to the success of a business. Nothing frustrates potential buyers more quickly than an irrelevant piece of content or inconsistent communication. If you don’t establish a single engagement plan between different teams, your brand will come across as disorganized.

• More qualified leads. 

Salespeople often get hundreds of leads from marketing; however, none are high-quality leads. Why does that happen? Because the two departments have different KPIs. If they establish a collaborative relationship, their efforts will be aligned, and as a result, better leads will come through more quickly and in higher volumes.

• Clear feedback. 

By establishing an open line of communication, they create opportunities for further refinement of their strategies. They both can make suggestions to each other so that they achieve their goals faster and more effectively. The more receptive they can be to these suggestions, the more it will positively affect your bottom line. 

• Better integration of goals.

 It can be pretty tempting for these teams to get hyper-focused on their metrics and their own metrics only. This kind of tunnel vision can be costly for an organization. However, the collaboration helps them establish goals that incorporate the organization’s overall mission. 

• Better employee morale. 

It is a no-brainer that a harmonious relationship establishes positivity in the workplace. If your employees trust each other and work together towards the same goals, it will increase their productivity with no added cost. 

However, It can be pretty challenging to create this type of collaboration. If you want to make the sales and marketing teams BFFs, you need to overcome some barriers. 

• The most common barrier is the marketing’s lack of knowledge on all things related to sales. They usually are in the dark regarding the sales numbers, where they were on quota, their goals, etc. That’s why they need to attend sales meetings, pipeline, or strategy meetings.
• On the other hand, there is an unconscious bias against marketing. Almost all other departments believe that it is just a black hole where all money is wasted. However, the entire organization needs to understand that marketing is a huge revenue driver, especially if it creates a partnership with sales.