As a majority of businesses, especially small businesses, have had to cut back over the past 2 years, one strategy we keep hearing about is that companies are combining their sales and marketing efforts into one. This may solve issues of budget and possibly staffing, but we’ve found that it does not necessarily help drive both programs nor does it lead to the best results. While your marketing efforts help brand your product and gain awareness, it is rare that the marketing efforts alone will help sell your product. These are two separate items that need to work together. It is your sales team’s job to step in and take what the marketing team has done and turn that into actual sales.
Here is a great resource for you from RMR’s President and CEO Robyn Sachs, who in this article, “The Magic of Sales and Marketing Integration,” offers tips for how the sales and marketing staff can work together most effectively, including:
- Understand your sales funnel
- Prioritize your leads
- Have an awesome preheat letter
- Present proposals in person
- Stop doing what doesn’t work
By using these steps and more, you will be able to integrate your sales and marketing efforts, leading to more business. What have you been doing to integrate your sales and marketing efforts?