In the age of digital everything, the average consumer’s approach to buying has been completely reimagined. No longer do consumers react favorably to the once tried and true sales models of yesteryear, when sales teams would rely almost exclusively on tactics like phone calls and conferences to facilitate transactions. These days, the sales funnel is tied much more closely to marketing – a technique that aims to build and sustain customer loyalty by creating an inviting and engaging user experience at every touch.
 
When it comes down to it, sales and marketing have a lot in common, perhaps most notably that both directly impact lead generation and revenue. The biggest difference, however, is that marketing is defined as the process of getting people interested in the goods and services being sold, whereas sales refers to all activities that lead up to the direct selling of those products. The most successful businesses, therefore, are the ones that understand the nuances and are open to implementing a strategy that integrates elements from both sides.
 
What does sales and marketing integration look like?
Sales and marketing integration starts with collaboration. When sales and marketing teams work together instead of as separate entities, the sales process becomes significantly easier for everyone from start to finish. The marketing team’s job is to ensure that the consumer is already educated in your brand – and has had several positive touches related to the brand ­ – before ever making any sort of contact with a salesperson. This approach has been shown to make the sales process more likely to be successful and more efficient because:

• There’s no confusion. The marketing team makes only promises that they know the sales team can keep, and consumers understand exactly what they can expect out of your brand.
• Consumer needs are better met. The sales team works directly with consumers every day, which gives them unique insights into your patrons’ most pressing pain points. When your sales team shares that valuable data with your marketing team, the marketing team can repurpose it into strategies that will resonate more efficiently with your customers.
• The lead process flows more smoothly. It takes a deliberately calculated approach to pull someone from “interested prospect” to “satisfied customer.” Often, marketing teams can help provide sales teams with the data and tools they need to help nurture customer relationships until a sale is ready to be made.
• Everyone shares the same goals. The sales team’s goals become the marketing team’s goals, and vice versa – and that means that, ultimately, everyone is working toward the overall good of the company.

 
Sales and Marketing Integration: A 3-Step Process
At Paradigm, we believe that both sales and marketing should operate with the same two goals in mind: brand building and maximizing ROI. Many companies are at least familiar with ROI – measuring how much has been gained or lost on an investment, relative to the amount of resources invested – because those numbers are a direct indicator of the company’s overall profitability. But brand building – and measuring the success of a brand building campaign – can be much trickier, especially for small businesses. The effort usually pays off, though, because once a strong brand building strategy has been executed, your job as a marketer or salesperson becomes easier over time.
 
We measure brand building by identifying and then measuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which can be things like email list growth with quality leads (example: if we grow an email list by 50% but see the open rate decrease significantly, we know those were poor leads); social media mentions, follows and engagement; and website hits, time spent on the site, etc. 
 
Once everyone is on the same page and working toward the same brand building and ROI goals, there are three steps to follow for effectively integrating your sales and marketing teams:

1. Set Up Your Funnels
   Your marketing or sales funnel represents the ideal customer journey – from the awareness stage (when they are first learning about your brand) all the way to the purchase stage (when they buy your product or service). By defining each level of your funnel, both the marketing and sales teams can identify their roles within the process and what is required of them during each stage.
2. Create a Cohesive Messaging Strategy
   Your business message should be concise and reinforced with every touch. If it is not communicated appropriately even one time – such as with a bad experience or via a grumpy salesperson – it can kill the entire process. By integrating your salespeople into your marketing efforts, it makes those team members equally as responsible for reinforcing your message as the marketing team members who wrote it.
3. Intermingle Marketing and Sales Data  
   Marketing experts have found that it takes between nine and 13 touches to reach your audience. With no other qualifying information, it can be difficult to identify exactly which of those touches or actions closed a sale. But by combining sales data with marketing data and viewing both sets of data in relation to each other, you get to see a much fuller picture of what’s working and what’s not. 

 
Sales and marketing integration is a process that takes time; it’s not going to happen overnight. But once both teams begin working together to drive home your brand and maximize ROI, you’re likely to see significant improvements in your efficiency and effectiveness at closing deals.
 
For more detailed tips on how to integrate your own sales and marketing teams, contact Paradigm Marketing and Design today to schedule a consultation.