As it stands, marketers produce content and collateral for the sales teams to go off and make sales. But how do we expect them to do that? Collaboration and coaching is key, and in order to understand this effectively, you need the analytics in place.
Let’s take a closer look at why the two teams should be working in tandem and, more importantly, how you can realise this relationship.
Working in silos is a barrier to ROI
As currently stands, sales and marketing teams often work in silos, so keeping track of all the marketing content and collateral is a huge issue we see in businesses, regardless of industry.
This means that the sales team can’t find the most up to date content whilst marketing teams keep producing even more content. It becomes impossible to keep track of what’s working, what isn’t and the latest material. We need to break this cycle.
There is an assumption that all sales teams require is an updated PowerPoint deck and a full day of offsite training – this is no longer the case. information and training need to be shared digitally, in one place, and in a way that the whole business can access.
A lot of marketers produce content but don’t truly understand how to measure the ROI from it. From my experience, more often than not marketing creates sales materials in the dark, in that we have no information about how or when the materials are used, how they perform and which ones are genuinely helping the sales team sell. We also have no visibility over which ones get amended along the way – This is where the dreaded Frankendecks are formed!
Marketers have long assumed that the sales teams are fine to just go off and ‘do it’ but it’s important that they both collaborate with each other right from the beginning.
So, what are the benefits of both teams working collaboratively?
Sales and marketing have fought like cats and dogs. But we need to set this aside in the name of shared success.
Marketers are very aware that targeting prospects with the right messages on the right channels are critical for capturing their attention and ultimately driving sales. My passion point around this is that marketers are able to have a seat at the revenue table, be part of the conversations around ROI, have their say, and know what the ROI is on the content and campaigns they’re producing.
This means that marketers are no longer in the dark when it comes to what’s working and what isn’t. They’re creating content with purpose and know where to target customers depending on where they are on the buyer journey.
Creating a partnership between both teams, where everyone understands each other’s contribution to what’s working and has the most traction in the overall success has never been more important.
Where does sales enablement fit into this?
From a marketing perspective, marketers may still think “What is sales enablement? It doesn’t have the word marketing in it, what does this mean to me?” It’s easy for them to see the word ‘sales’ in the name and assume ‘well, that’s not for marketing’. This is simply not the case.
Currently, 70% of customer-facing content created by product marketing is never seen by a customer. Sales enablement platforms help both teams to see what content is working and at what stage in the buyer and customer journey. This alignment creates a level playing field for sales and marketing to collaborate more effectively. Where before it was always siloed it was impossible for marketers to see where they were influencing the pipeline.
Sales enablement platforms offer one source of truth, with all of your content and collateral in one place so it’s easy to access. It also helps sales teams understand what they need to ‘know, say, show and do’ when talking to prospects and customers. Plus it provides a good opportunity for colleagues to input and leave feedback on different pieces of content, highlighting what they felt worked, and what product it helped them sell.
This in turn can help recommend content based on where the customer is on their path to purchase.. Providing data-driven insights to optimise existing content, also helps curate content that’s up to date and relevant, saving time and resources, whilst proving and driving ROI through your sales team.
