The Ever-evolving Relationship Between Sales and Marketing
Sales and Marketing are often seen as two separate divisions within a company. At BuyingTime this isn’t the case – we believe that although the daily operations of these teams are focused on different aspects of the customer relationship, they should function together as a single unit. The relationship is completely intertwined, and recognising where each team specialises and how they can aide one another to generate business growth is certainly at the forefront of what we deliver at BuyingTime, for clients as well as ourselves.
What is the difference between sales and marketing?
Marketing encourages interactions, creates leads and builds relationships with potential customers through a variety of strategies. Some of these strategies include promotion through flyers, emails, newsletters, events, referral networks, and of course digital marketing.
Digital marketing has not just become a key focus, but a priority for many businesses in recent years. This is mainly down to the process through which customers now research & buy products or services and how drastically it’s changed. Digital marketing tactics are constantly addressing this change in customer behaviour, having positive effects on not only the number of leads but the quality of them, which ultimately generates the potential for quicker growth.
Marketing should be reaching out to potential customers through various campaigns, providing them with relevant information, knowledge and even incentives about the company and its products or services. Then nurturing any leads through various tracks or cycles to ensure that leads become customers and they then become loyal customers. Getting the initial sale is important, but it is reflective of an effective marketing team to keep people interested in what else a company has to offer.
After Marketing has boosted your inbound leads and increased the total number of opportunities to sell, it is then up to the Sales Team to close. However, the role of Marketing doesn’t just stop there - especially when it comes to ABM and Target Account campaigns - they should support Sales with any further messaging and informative content that will ultimately drive a purchase.
The Sales Team often develops closer one-on-one relationships with customers, and they work hard to ensure that the customer evolves from having a keen interest in their company to signing a contract and paying for a product or service. The Sales Team address the specific needs of a customer and try to provide a bespoke solution tailored to customers individual requirements.
Why it’s even more important for sales and marketing to work together
The relationship between Sales and Marketing has changed dramatically in recent years, going from disjointed silos back to two teams working collaboratively and effectively to deliver leads and sales. Marketing is now holding onto leads for longer than ever before, focussing on the development and nurture of lead relationships before handing them off to Sales. Also, more and more Marketing teams are bringing Inside Sales (or lead qualifiers) into the Marketing structure – a role that used to sit within sales – to support the connection between the two teams.
As Marketing is holding onto leads for longer (building up rapport and deepening the relationship), this is making it a lot easier for the Sales team to connect with the customer further down the line. This brings a massive reduction in the number of cold leads and means that Sales are increasingly talking to warm leads making the likelihood of closing deals much much higher. Also, having an effective Sales team only working on warm leads ensures that minimal effort is wasted and increases the potential revenue gains.
It’s important your Sales and Marketing teams value one another, and recognise the potential they have when collaborating together. It’s all about balance - marrying the different talents of Sales and Marketing creates an effective partnership for successfully generating growth.