Marketing is undergoing some of the most profound changes it has seen in the past two decades. These transformative shifts impact the marketing team and spill over into the Sales team. Regrettably, many B2B companies are still clinging to outdated practices, resisting or finding it difficult to adapt to these changes. This resistance to change could significantly contribute to the mounting pressures being felt by Marketing.
The old way of Sales and Marketing collaboration:
Get input for targeting in paid campaigns
Handover as many leads as possible
Create pretty collateral
The new way:
1. Shared Goals
Sales and Marketing are two sides of the same coin, so it only makes sense that these two teams have shared goals in order to achieve success. Whether the goals are to generate a net new pipeline, renew contracts, accelerate the pipeline, or go upmarket, these teams need to work hand-in-glove.
2. Aligned Metrics
Then, of course, with the shared goals, the KPIs need to reflect on meeting those targets. Beware of metrics based on a Marketing to Sales hand-off of leads - it's a trap you want to avoid.
Instead, look for leading indicators to determine whether you're making progress toward meeting your goals.
3. Shared account qualification
It can be incredibly tempting to cast as wide a net as possible, but success is achieved by having a laser-sharp focus for campaigns and goals. Together, agree on the firmographics, technographics, and custom qualification criteria for targeting and list building.
4. Shared account scorecard
Taking account qualification a step further, take the time to agree on your prioritization criteria, such as revenue potential, relationship, product-need evidence, and vendor awareness.
5. Buying committee structure
Align the typical roles of champions, decision-makers, influencers, and blockers with their goals, needs, and pain points. This will allow you to build robust sequences, ad targeting, content creation, etc.
6. Joint account prioritization and planning process
Agree on the primary sources of account insights, intent, and engagement data, who is responsible for these sources, and how often they should be checked. Then, regular meetings should be set up to review the pipeline and prioritize newly identified accounts. Also, the insights and next steps for accounts currently in the active focus or pipeline should be reviewed.
7. Buying triggers and jobs to be done
B2B buyers don't buy because they saw an ad or an SDR email or received the fifth nurture email. They buy because their business priorities shift to a high-priority challenge they cannot afford anymore.
Analyze and agree on
- The buying triggers and the jobs to be done by your best customers, especially those with whom you have a competitive advantage
- Signals that can help you map clusters of accounts with the same triggers and JTBDs
- Content, messaging, and activities to market to these clusters
8. Joint programs
Define joint programs by defining specific sales and marketing activities to:
- Generate awareness in target accounts
- Nurture and move forward accounts that are early in the buying journey
- Collect key insights about target accounts
- Accelerate opportunity creation with highly engaged accounts?
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Fixing marketing and sales collaboration is not just a challenge but also one of the most significant opportunities for 2024. With the right strategy, we can overcome the hurdles and achieve remarkable success.