WTF is Smarketing? You’re not alone in wondering what this term is all about.
It is the future of your organization’s success. Really. So let’s get into it ASAP.
Sales + Marketing = Smarketing
In short, Smarketing is an alignment between your Sales and Marketing teams, supported by regular and direct communication, with mutually defined goals. A crazy concept, I know. Sales and Marketing? Working together? It’s easier than it sounds, with just a little effort from both sides.
By working together to establish goals that are aligned with the overall goals of the company, Marketing and Sales will inherently be interested in how well the other is doing. For instance, if Marketing’s goal is to send x leads over to Sales, and Sales’ goal is to contact y leads out of those sent over, both are mutually invested in the success of the overall goal of the company and the relationship they establish with each other as a result.
So, why Smarketing?
The need for the unique relationship between Sales and Marketing arose from the increase in the more risk adverse buyer. Buyers today are armed with more information than ever before, which is allowing them to make more informed decisions. Where once the sales leader held the power, the buyer now has access to information at any time, right at their fingertips. This has created a need for Sales and Marketing to work together in order to better understand their prospects’ behaviors and sell to them more effectively.
With Sales and Marketing working together, the sales funnel becomes more efficient. In fact, a study from the Aberdeen Group found that companies with strong alignment between Sales and Marketing witness a 20% annual revenue growth year over year. The proof is in the pudding, aka revenue.
What It Means for Sales
Okay, so what does this mean for Sales? Well, it’s typically a good idea for Sales to meet with Marketing regularly, once a week or so, to check in on one another, and see where everyone stands in reaching their goals. Early on, it’s also important to establish a service level agreement, stating what each side will contribute to their mutual goals, and defining what exactly it means for a lead to be Sales Qualified. This early planning will save time in the future, and allow Sales to receive not only good leads from Marketing, but the leads.
And how will this affect your day-to-day operations? Well, for Sales, this will result in more communication with Marketing. Not the typical, headbutting conversation like “Why do you guys send us so many bad leads?” But constructive feedback, things like, “We’re getting a lot of questions about __________. Do we have content about that?” Feedback like this will build a solid working relationship between the two teams, making them both more compatible and willing to help each other out. These strong relationships are essential to the Sales and Marketing relationship.
Over time, through these minor adjustments in Sales’ schedules, Sales will not only see a better relationship with Marketing, but will see an increased number of quality leads, that will more easily close into customers. In the end, this means more sales made, more quotas reached, more bonuses earned.
What It Means for Marketing
Marketing will see many of the same changes that Sales does. For instance, Marketing will meet with Sales much more regularly, which will allow them to receive feedback on the leads they’re sending over, what leads are asking Sales for, and how Marketing can help. This will allow Marketing to know what types of content to create. Do leads want to see more blogs on __________? Some videos? White papers or case studies? Having the insight from Sales to know what kind of content is preferred by decision makers will allow for smarter content creation.
In terms of day-to-day operations, Marketing will also have more open communication with Sales. This relationship will allow Marketing to ask Sales which leads were bad, which were good, and which closed into customers. This communication will eventually lead to updated, more accurate buyer personas, which will consequently improve the quality of your content, and the efficiency of your sales funnel.
What It Means for Your Company
Overall, the relationship between Sales and Marketing is essential to growth, especially today. With the higher influx of inbound leads created from the remarkable content you’ve created, the Sales and Marketing relationship will allow your company to effectively communicate with your leads given insights from both Sales and Marketing. This alignment will allow both sides to know which leads to talk to, when to talk to them, and what to talk about.
The bottom line is: Smarketing will help your bottom line. It allows Sales and Marketing to spend their time wisely: Sales closing the right leads into customers and Marketing creating attractive and valuable content to bring in prospects and convert them into leads. Put these two together, and your business will grow year over year.
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