Expertise
Align on middle-ground goals
In Forrester’s Q2 2024 Sales And Marketing Alignment Survey, Forrester found that “65% of sales and marketing professionals believe there is a lack of alignment between the sales and marketing leaders in their organizations…..most marketers and sellers also say there is a lack of communication, teamwork, and incentives to work together” (Source: Forrester Research). We believe that if the divide was boiled into one differing opinion, it’s this—long term vs. short term. Agreeing on shared objectives that serve both immediate and long-term needs—aka the “middle”—is where consensus will be built.
When planning campaigns with our B2B partners, we find it useful to make this happen by including sales leadership in our discovery planning process. This helps us to consider their points of view. When both teams have the space to talk about their goals, get a sense of “buy in” to campaigns, we see less friction and more wins
Dive deeper into sales enablement
Sales enablement sounds like a jargony phrase. What it boils down to is acting as the bridge between sales and marketing. This team helps manage content, tools, and analytics that help sales people have conversations and close.
So how might this help us here? Well, when working on content initiatives (which is a staple for B2B companies), include these people. Why? Because understanding not just what content should be but how content will be used will give your content more shelf life.
For example, if you are rolling out a content marketing initiative for a large professional services company, talk with their sales enablement team. These folks might be able to give you great insights such as “White papers are OK, but they never get used, the sales team says infographics are what really help us close”… or “the long presentations are nice, but really we only use these 3 slides when we are meeting with clients.” These nuggets will be key for your planning.
Try out joint team planning
We’ve already established that common goals are a key step in bridging sales and marketing—but how? Joint planning. Doing so at key moments can help both teams in marching to the same drumbeat. Priority accounts, buyer behaviors, and overall priorities are common things to align on. When trying out joint planning, start with things such as:
- Common terms: Make sure both teams define leads consistently (e.g., MQL vs. SQL).
- Shared KPIs: Align KPIs such as revenue targets, conversation rates and lead numbers. Work such that these metrics feel reasonable for each team.
- Content priorities: Agree on the collateral that will best support buyer engagement.
- Ideal product: Align on which products or services get spotlighted for certain customer segments.
At (add)ventures, we’ve built a unique framework for these collaborative sessions called a SOLVEsession™. Tailored around consensus and guided by a shared vision, SOLVEsessions help teams align on key elements, goals and insights that teams can rally around, together.
Rally around the ideal buyer
In the B2B world, buying decisions often involve numerous stakeholders, especially when made by committee. But streamlining or prioritizing these personas into broadly appealing roles helps align marketing and sales around shared priorities. By prioritizing a few personas or segments, focusing on common behaviors, we can prioritize our efforts and shape messaging that has broader impact.
For example, a large commercial insurance company selling to multinationals may need buy-in from operations, risk management, CFO’s, COO’s and even at times, CEO’s. But it can get hard to try to speak to all these audiences at once. This is where simplification comes in. For this company, you may look at commonalities across the audiences—you may find that the operational or risk professionals are super critical, as ultimately they are the ones who can advocate internally to executives. You may want to then do the same exercise looking at the ideal company type. With this intel, you are starting to form your “ideal buyer” from which you can all rally around in your marketing or sales efforts.
Foster a culture of recurring data sharing
Data is a powerful tool for aligning teams—but its true value lies in sharing it. When shared, data can spark unexpected insights that amplify a team’s focus and impact. For example, sales can provide real-world feedback on top accounts, common objections, and recent wins—valuable input that marketing can use to battle-test its content. In turn, marketing can share competitive intelligence, engagement metrics, and content performance data that sales can leverage to strengthen their pitch. These are just a few ways data can energize and elevate cross-functional collaboration.
As an unbiased agency partner, we love working with clients to “consensus build” between teams and figure out what data and insights can be shared across teams. Sometimes it’s as simple as remembering to ask the question during a meeting: “Do we have data that will help guide us?” Fostering this type of culture can ensure both teams adapt to what’s working (and what’s not) based on evidence.
When sales and marketing stop circling each other and start collaborating, it doesn’t just feel better—it works better. We’ve seen firsthand how a few intentional moves can turn tension into traction. At (add)ventures, we’re not here to play referee. We’re here to build the playbook with you. If you’re ready to unite your teams and unlock serious momentum, let’s get to work.
Sources: The Future Of Marketing And Sales Alignment, Forrester Research, Oct. 11, 2024
