It’s the beginning of a new year, and most companies are building plans to drive increased sales and revenue growth. With that goal in mind, it’s normal to hear the rallying cry for sales and marketing alignment.
The concept is hugely important. When sales and marketing work well together, they can create incredible momentum and results. But alignment might not be exactly what you think it is.
What Sales and Marketing Alignment Isn’t, and Is
Sales and marketing alignment isn’t about uniformity, or doing or saying the same things, as they have fundamentally different roles:
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Moreover, alignment isn’t a one-time fix you can achieve with a single meeting, model, or initiative. It’s a dynamic, ongoing process that evolves with your business, market, and customer needs.. True alignment requires collaboration across strategies, processes, and execution.
Lastly, alignment doesn’t mean eliminating tension between the teams. Marketing pushes sales with long-term strategies and ongoing planning, while sales grounds marketing in immediate customer realities. Alignment is about managing this dynamic, not avoiding it.
The Tangible Benefits of Alignment
When sales and marketing are aligned, the results speak for themselves. Companies that achieve strong alignment can expect:
How to Build Sales and Marketing Alignment
Achieving alignment takes intentional effort. Here are some key steps:
Co-develop and formalize customer personas: True sales/marketing alignment centers on the customer. Both teams are working together to demonstrate understanding of customer needs, address their challenges, and deliver value throughout the customer journey.
That’s why it’s so important for your teams to build detailed profiles of your ideal customers, including their pain points, goals, and decision-making processes. This understanding ensures your efforts resonate and build trust with real people, not abstractions.
Map the customer journey: Identify the key stages and define the specific roles and activities of sales and marketing at each stage. Marketing and sales must orchestrate their efforts to ensure a seamless transition between stages, building trust, conversion, and loyalty.
Align on shared goals: Set overarching objectives, such as revenue or customer acquisition targets, that both teams contribute to. Then establish team-specific KPIs that connect back to those shared goals.
Create feedback loops: Facilitate regular, structured communication. Sales should provide insights from the front lines, while marketing shares data on campaign performance and lead quality.
Craft consistent messaging: Develop a unified narrative/framework that sales and marketing can tailor to their specific contexts and buyers. Marketing content should pave the way for seamless sales interactions, and vice versa.