Aligning Sales and Marketing: Types of Relationships
Undefined relationship
How is the relationship between your sales and marketing teams? Is there communication? Are there defined responsibilities? Are people friendly? Even if they are friendly, it doesn't mean there won't be conflict.
Let me tell you a little story. This is About Joe and his brother Nick. Joe and Nick are very close. However, left with no structure, their relationship can go sideways. When they were in high school, their mom had a great idea that they should share a car. Joe was a senior and Nick was a sophomore and they had very different ideas of what share means. Nick thought it was a 50/50 partnership and Joe thought it meant that when he's not using the car, Nick could take it out for a little while. They had no guidelines in place and one morning on the way to school, Nick sat in the driver's seat and Joe opened his door. Joe told Nick to get out and that he was driving. One thing led to another and before Nick knew it, Nick was on the ground knocked out cold. Nick woke up to see Joe crying, thinking he killed Nick over a car. Well, as you can see, when a relationship is undefined, things can go very wrong.
The sales and marketing relationship is so vital, because they are the growth team of your business. And if there is no relationship, you don't have a growth team, you have a growth problem. I've seen a lot of different types of sales and marketing relationships. In my experience, most sales and marketing teams fall into one of four life cycles: undefined, defined, aligned, and integrated.
Companies who experience the highest level of growth have fully integrated sales and marketing teams. And the ones who aren't fully integrated end up looking a lot like two teenagers who are trying to share a car. When the relationship is undefined, sales and marketing grow independently and are consumed with their own tasks and agendas. Most of the time, there's a disinterest in what the other is doing until conflict arises. Meetings between the two teams are usually unplanned and unproductive because they spend most of the meeting resolving the conflict rather than using the time to be productive.
If you find yourself with an undefined relationship between your sales and marketing teams, it's essential that you work to move them toward being defined.
To determine if your teams are based on an undefined relationship, answer the following questions:
Are your sales and marketing teams living in completely different bubbles?
Do your sales and marketing leaders have established feedback loops?
Are there shared goals between the two teams
All tools have a defined role. You wouldn't use a screwdriver on a nail, that would take forever. You would use a hammer, because that is what hammers were made to do. Sales and marketing having a defined relationship makes sure you always have the right tool for the job.
Defined relationship
Independence has been put on a pedestal in the workplace. And I get it. Who wouldn't want to be free from the influence and control of other people?
Unfortunately that attitude has played a major role in the sales and marketing misalignment story. Most sales and marketing relationships are undefined. Often the two teams grow independently of one another and are only concerned with what directly affects their bottom lines.
The key here is to recognize that you have an undefined relationship and take the necessary steps to get defined.
So how do you move from undefined relationship to defined?
Step one, have an expectations meeting with your sales and marketing leaders. Having a defined sales and marketing team begins at the top. In order for teams to truly have clarity, leaders have to make sure they have it first. Setting up a leadership meeting and outlining clear role expectations should be at the top of your list as a leader.
Step two, set up rules and processes. People work best within clear structures. They help streamline operations, improve decision-making, and boost performance and creativity. Setting up guidelines will also help to eliminate disputes and teams will know the expectations. Make sure you communicate these benefits to your sales and marketing teams. Convincing your team of the benefits will get easier as they start to see alignment. Marketing teams will get better returns on their leads and salespeople will have higher close rates.
Step three, sales and marketing teams need to have clarity on who does what. This is a major step toward defining your sales and marketing team relationship. When I was a sales manager, I used to make sales and marketing cheat sheets. Basically this outlined a typical sales and marketing funnel. It showed who owned what from the top of the funnel to the bottom.
Following these impactful steps will give your teams the clarity they need to minimize conflict and to maximize their efforts.
Aligned relationship
Have you ever heard the statement, stay in your lane? Look, I get it. Staying in your lane prevents wrecks. But it can also create them.
When we take the time to define the sales and marketing relationship, we can quickly see there's a need for overlap just as much as there's a need for defined lanes. Once your team has a defined relationship, it's time to take the next steps toward being aligned.
Step one.
Your lanes need to be flexible. Fully aligned sales and marketing teams know their defined lanes, or roles and responsibilities. But because common understandings exist, your teams can now be flexible.
This is important because successfully aligned sales and marketing teams do more than coexist. They help each other grow. Aligned sales and marketing teams are much more open to sharing information, responsibilities, the wins and the losses.
Step two.
Sales and marketing teams should speak the same language. It's interesting that two teams can exist in the same building, and work for the same company, but speak completely different languages;
Marketing. "AB testing, BOFU, MOFU, TOFU, buyer persona, "CTA, CTR, CAN-SPAM, LTV, CAK."
Sales. "ABC, BANT, discovery call, quote, close one, close loss, "cross-sell, up-sell, down-sell, pipeline!"
Yeah, no wonder these teams traditionally have friction. In my experience, sales teams that can speak marketing, have much higher close rates. This is mainly due to the fact, that they are speaking the same language from the top of the funnel, to the bottom.
It's not good for a customer to enter into a conversation with marketing, at the top of the funnel, and end up having a completely different conversation with sales at the bottom. Have your sales and marketing teams learn the language used across the entire customer life cycle. When you see sales and marketing speaking the same language, you will also start to see them close deals together. Yes. If you want to see big upticks in your sales numbers, have your sales and marketing teams tag team sales conversations. Your sales team has never had a better wingman.
Step three.
Share training and execution. When your sales and marketing teams are speaking the same language, it's time to start thinking through what joint training looks like. These meetings can be standing, but in my experience, the best meetings were ad hoc and informational. New lead magnets, new products, new marketing assets, new sales scripts, new buyer personas and testimonials. All of these updates are incredibly important pieces of information, that both teams need to know to be successful. Now that you see the possibilities, it's time to take action. I think the best next step is to schedule your first shared meeting with your sales and marketing teams. But, don't just schedule a meeting to have a meeting. Make sure you use the first meeting for both teams to get on the same page.
Take time to align on language, and make sure there is cohesiveness in the conversation from the top to the bottom.
Integrated relationship
When your sales and marketing teams are aligned, they are finally in a place where full integration is possible. Full integration, like alignment, will see sales and marketing teams work together, but there are some key differences.
Integrated sales and marketing teams collocate. There's something to be said about proximity and in my career most sales and marketing teams are physically and sometimes mentally on different planets. And yes, as a sales leader, I'm fully aware of how loud sales floors can be. Gongs, terrible house music, Red Bull, but integrated sales and marketing teams have a new shared culture. They create a space that works for both teams because an increase in interaction typically leads to better work.
So here's your next steps, step one. Create a space for your sales and marketing team and while setting this up, think about the following. What would it look like for your sales and marketing teams to colocate? Is that even possible? If not, what opportunities are you creating for sales and marketing to engage? Step two, appoint a sales and marketing liaison. Who in your organization speaks both sales and marketing? Who do you feel has built rapport with both teams? Who has the flexibility to be both relational and analytical? And they need to be really patient because believe me you have to be. Fully integrated sales and marketing teams are a big investment, but it's one that I've seen pay off over and over again.
