Marketing and sales alignment is about breaking down the silos between those two teams.
Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 9:03 am
Traditionally the two teams operate separately and have different priorities. But, when that happens, it tends to lead to friction and frustration between the teams and makes it harder for everyone to meet their goals.
Marketing and sales alignment breaks down those barriers, helps teams work together and provides more benefits to the company.
Here are the foundational elements you need to get started:
Goals
Both marketing and sales need to have a common set of goals. Since the work of both teams do should ultimately drive revenue for the company, revenue is the ideal overarching goal, but the steps that need to be taken in order to generate revenue also should be accounted for when setting goals.
In order to reach a revenue goal, you need to close deals. In employment database order to close deals, you need to open opportunities. In order to open opportunities, you need to have qualified leads. In order to have qualified leads you need to convert website visitors into leads. In order to convert website visitors into leads, you need to attract visitors to your website.
Brand-Funnel Sections
That process is measured through the marketing and sales funnel, where visitors enter at the top of the funnel and customers come out the bottom. The number of contacts at each stage and the conversion rates between stages can help you determine if you’re on track to hit your revenue goal.
Marketing and sales teams are typically responsible for different portions of the funnel, with marketing owning the top half spanning visitor to marketing qualified lead and sales managing sales qualified lead through the deal closing. But, both teams should still be working together across all areas of the funnel, and there should be visibility into each other’s performance and goals.
Reaching the goal for each stage of the funnel is dependent upon the success of the stage above it. For example, the less qualified leads marketing produces for sales, the less opportunities sales will be able to open. Using revenue as the main performance measurement encourages collaboration between both teams since they need each other to do well in order to be successful themselves.
Marketing and sales alignment breaks down those barriers, helps teams work together and provides more benefits to the company.
Here are the foundational elements you need to get started:
Goals
Both marketing and sales need to have a common set of goals. Since the work of both teams do should ultimately drive revenue for the company, revenue is the ideal overarching goal, but the steps that need to be taken in order to generate revenue also should be accounted for when setting goals.
In order to reach a revenue goal, you need to close deals. In employment database order to close deals, you need to open opportunities. In order to open opportunities, you need to have qualified leads. In order to have qualified leads you need to convert website visitors into leads. In order to convert website visitors into leads, you need to attract visitors to your website.
Brand-Funnel Sections
That process is measured through the marketing and sales funnel, where visitors enter at the top of the funnel and customers come out the bottom. The number of contacts at each stage and the conversion rates between stages can help you determine if you’re on track to hit your revenue goal.
Marketing and sales teams are typically responsible for different portions of the funnel, with marketing owning the top half spanning visitor to marketing qualified lead and sales managing sales qualified lead through the deal closing. But, both teams should still be working together across all areas of the funnel, and there should be visibility into each other’s performance and goals.
Reaching the goal for each stage of the funnel is dependent upon the success of the stage above it. For example, the less qualified leads marketing produces for sales, the less opportunities sales will be able to open. Using revenue as the main performance measurement encourages collaboration between both teams since they need each other to do well in order to be successful themselves.