Marketing might have a more idealised approach to identifying targets, whereas sales may chase whoever they think has money, or is most likely to pick up the phone.
The former is often more targeted and systematic, the latter is born out of experience on the front line.
Its creation should be a mutual process, with equal input from all stakeholders.
If sales and marketing agree on a shared ICP, which should be enshrined in a living, breathing document, you can use that tool to then understand what your ideal customers look like, where they can be found, and what their biggest challenges are.
If you don’t understand what your customers look like and where to find them, your marketing and sales efforts will be disjointed and involve plenty of wated effort (and missed targets).
If you don’t understand their challenges, then you will fail to understand their needs and how your own offering can add value for them.
One trend we’ve noticed is a renewed focus on foundational data. This growing understanding of the benefits of effective master data management, underpinned by robust data governance and data stewardship, is helping to feed sales teams with relevant information that accelerate the journey from prospect to client. Many have tried to steal a march on competitors by launching new products or services first. However, often the information used to identify prospects isn’t nearly good enough.
Without foundational data at the heart of operations, the result of rushed sales and marketing is often untimely, inaccurate and irrelevant outreach that wastes the time of both the sales teams and the prospects they are trying to target.”
By working together on top prospecting lists and sharing tips on the nuances of certain leads, the teams can support and help one another develop and generate success. In addition, I find that unstructured catch ups between teams helps in focussing on developing performance. Finally and very importantly, teams should share and celebrate wins together, calling out good news stories to generate further camaraderie calling out nice news – this customer said they saw your ad, this lead is an old client etc.”
More informed buyers have increased purchase cycles and have driven sales conversations further down the sales and marketing funnel. Marketing is now responsible for lead generation, funnel management and customer retention, encroaching upon sales territory. A “Smarketing” team is the unification of the current state of B2B marketing – two teams that work together to engage, convert and retain customers.
Looking for a place to start? One way to increase sales and marketing alignment is to establish a set of shared KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) between sales and marketing. Shared KPIs foster collaboration via common metrics. They also increase the focus on MROI (Marketing Return on Investment) with more marketing activity tracked through to leads and CLV (Customer Lifetime Value).”
