There is a great love story to tell about sales and marketing. They are two different teams with an odd level of uniqueness between them. When tied together, these two can make bridges and scale walls. An organization can achieve great things with the power of Smarketing.

Let us look carefully at how these two areas are merged into one.

What Is SMARKETING?

Smarketing refers to the integration of sales and marketing teams with a common goal in mind. A company can achieve this coordination by having the two teams communicate and correspond with each other as frequently and directly as possible.

Moreover, It’s been a common practice for marketers and business owners to use marketing strategies to attract potential customers. After luring customers to the product and/or services, the sales team comes in to further describe the brand and its advantages. A salesperson presents a solution to the customer’s need. As a positive response, the customer then makes the purchase. In Smarketing, this process is made even better.

The aim of both the sales and the marketing teams must be aligned with the overall goals of the organization. These goals, as agreed on by both groups, have to be measurable. There should be a mutual accountability regarding the outcome.

The Advantages of Smarketing

Smarketing is more than just a term. It results in synergy and the continuous improvement between sales and marketing teams. Thus, this integration ultimately leads to the success of the organization as a whole. Here are the top advantages of Smarketing for your business.

Alignment of Goals and Strategies

An organization’s mission and vision statements; along with the goals and values which people adhere to are the guiding principles of a company. These principles are also further broken down into unique sub-goals and sub-strategies for each team to execute.

Marketing automation aligns these goals and strategies by creating interest and sourcing out possible leads. Sales convert these prospective clients into buying customers. Alignment of goals and strategies make it easier for both teams to understand each other. Likewise, both teams will achieve their objectives efficiently.

Understanding the Target Market

Both the sales and marketing teams interact with customers in their own way. These groups have a different understanding of customers. Moreover, each team experiences various levels of the sales process. When working together, the sales and marketing teams will have a better understanding of the target market.

Additionally, these teams will have more access to customer insights, which in turn, will result in knowing what the target market really wants. Moreso, this creates a more meaningful relationship with customers.

Ultimate Customer Experience

Create that ultimate customer experience by meeting or exceeding the expectations of your customers. A business must ensure that anything they promise will be delivered on. Of course, one way to achieve this is through the collaboration of sales and marketing through Smarketing.

More Qualified Leads

With a better flow of information from sales to marketing and vice versa, each of these teams can provide feedback to each other. This includes data from an untapped market, sales-ready leads, or missed queries. These leads are potential buyers that still need nurturing.

The alignment of sales and marketing makes the sales process easier and probably shorter. As the sales process improves, this reduces the risk of lead abandonment. Therefore, more potential customers are given attention and turned into qualified leads.

Faster Return on Investment

The result of an effective cooperation between sales and marketing is more revenue, higher net income, and a faster return on investment. Therefore, it’s essential that sales and marketing people work well with each other. These teams are the ones who bring the cash flow in. If they perform better together, they can attend to the needs of customers better.

How Does Smarketing Work?

First of all, sales and marketing should speak a common language; they should also walk a common path towards the same objectives. The two should have the same goals, target markets, buyer personas, and overall journey in mind. And most importantly, these teams need to agree on the message they want to convey to their customers.

Additionally, these teams should also understand what each of them is tasked with doing. A salesperson and a marketer must support each other all the way through. These are the specific roles of the two teams:

The Role of Marketing

The primary goal of marketing is to create a first good impression. Furthermore, marketers need to promote the brand and make that brand the top-of-mind in each potential buyer.

Apart from that, here is a list of marketing’s role in Smarketing.

• Come up with a creative definition of the 5Ps of marketing.
• Own and direct all content marketing strategies.
• Tell great stories that will leave a lasting impression on customers.
• Handle all forms of marketing medium and platforms.
• Study the behavior of the target market regarding various factors.
• Gather customer insights, study trends and analyze user preferences.
• Develop a product distribution system.
• Execute marketing strategies to suit strategic goals.
• Measure the results of strategy implementation.

The Role of Sales

This department is where all the income comes in. Here, the sales team generates income and revenue as this is the primary goal of the organization. The team should consist of a well-trained company spokesperson, who is also a great marketer of the brand(s) they sell.

Here is a list of notable sales team roles in an organization.

• Increasing brand awareness and driving company sales.
• Looking for sales opportunities with current and potential customers.
• Presenting product details and convincing the audience about their benefits.
• Developing a rapport with new and existing segments.
• Coordinating with customers to build a relationship.
• Filling in the gap between customer needs and products that answer those requirements.
• Building trust among new customers and enhancing relationships with current ones.
• Measuring sales results and giving feedback to marketing and the rest of the teams.

After identifying and understanding each other’s roles, the teams can discuss their strategies and come up with a win-win agreement.

There are various instances when marketing people and sales agents have problems. Sometimes, marketing offers very promising product claims through marketing campaigns. However, when the sales team handles the sales end, the features are not what has been promised. Both teams have to collaborate. Ultimately, these two groups should keep the best customer experience in mind.

Another essential consideration in Smarketing is the use of valid data. The power of sales and marketing integration is diminished with the absence of accurate figures. It is necessary to base all actions, decisions and implementation plans on a valid source of information.

Let us define valid as reliable, timely, accurate and fit for purpose. All of these details must also be accessible so that a business owner can make the best decisions possible.

What Should Sales Share with Marketing?

1. Client feedback and customer insights. Salespeople have face-to-face encounters with customers. Thus, they are the ones who receive all first-hand information about what the customers think of the products and the company.
2. Sales process. Marketing needs to understand the sales process set by the team. This information is vital so that marketing can draft the correct message appropriate for each stage of the sales process.
3. Ideal customer profile versus the created persona. At some point, there are uncaptured target customers, who are missed by marketing and could be actual buyers. Therefore, sales need to inform marketing who these buyers are so that they can update their customer databases and make the appropriate marketing initiatives.
4. Other avenues to generate sales. Salespeople know where the customers are and what platforms they use to get information about products. They know where, how, when and why they make that purchase. These different avenues are where sales are often generated.

What Should Marketing Share with Sales?

1. Sales qualified leads and hot leads. Sales qualified leads (SQL) are leads who went along the sales funnel and are now ready to make a purchase. Hot leads refer to customers with a genuine interest in buying.
2. Marketing Plans and Calendar of Events. These are accurate and relevant events that will bring customers in and create interest in products and services.
3. Data from Competitors. The entire organization needs to know how it’s performing and where the company stands. Marketing can provide a list of competitors and their comparative performance so that sales can use this to push for more sales.
4. Creative, yet practical, marketing campaigns and promotional strategies. Customers behave in a certain way and their needs and preferences can change over time. Thus, marketing has to continue making unique yet practical marketing campaigns. These initiatives include brand awareness campaigns, advertising, digital and content marketing techniques, promos, among others.
5. Marketing Collaterals. These collaterals are marketing tools such as fact sheets, flyers, brochures, presentation kit, etc.

Lastly, effective Smarketing will only happen if there is an open, effective and honest communication. In addition, sales and marketing teams must communicate in a two-way process of listening and speaking.

Communication is the glue to all the other factors on how Smarketing works; effective communication fosters relationships among all those involved. So, to clearly define what is communication, here are the seven Cs of communication for your reference:

• Clear – There must be clarity of goal and message.
• Coherent – It is essential to have sound logic and reason.
• Concise – The message has to be short yet to the point.
• Concrete – The message must be valid and supported by facts.
• Correct – Deliver messages which are well-timed with no grammatical errors.
• Complete – There must be the completeness of information.
• Considerate – Understand your market and show empathy.

Smarketing Best Practices

1. Have an orientation for new members of the sales and marketing teams. Introduce product and service definition, define processes, resources, and roles to provide clarity.
2. Meet regularly, but ensure it’s productive. Too many meetings make everyone busy but not productive. Sales and marketing can involve a large group of people. Providing updates and the sales process is essential. So meet regularly – once every two weeks, monthly, or whenever necessary.
3.  Meetings should not be authoritative but rather directive and interactive. Avoid dictating rules and procedures. Instead, give direction, transfer knowledge and best practices. Also, engage people, let them share their ideas, suggestions, and reactions.
4. Be open to feedback. Giving feedback is not equivalent to criticism. Feedback is information about responses, reviews, and results which are used to improve someone’s performance.
5. Give your teams something exciting to look forward to. Do this by motivating them, offer incentives, rewards, and recognition. These things do count!
6. Get customers excited. Inject promotional offers, discounts, or package deals to capture more interest from your target market. Furthermore, make sure to always deliver on what you promise.
7. A marketing specialist can work side-by-side with salespeople and attend a sales negotiation or meeting. Additionally, it is a great learning opportunity that can provide ideas for content, campaign, promos, etc.
8. Bring marketing members to sales meeting; introduce them to clients and let them discuss the marketing plans for the company. These projects can often be beneficial to clients. Make your client and your marketing team collaborate.
9. Be active on Social Media. Encourage people at work to share your company’s content.
10. Always have fun! Get to know your people. Go out, engage them in team building activities, organize lunches, or celebrate successes. These activities will make people feel more comfortable with each other.

Wrapping Up

Nothing beats sales and marketing. When these teams are fully integrated, everything is better. It becomes easier for an organization to understand how consumers think and their decisions based on the consumer buying process. Business owners can now address the needs of each customer. Moreover, Smarketing will result in revenue growth and faster return on investment.

Do you need to synergize your sales and marketing teams? DevriX will show you exactly how to integrate your processes through Smarketing.