We Don't Talk Anymore!

There’s been much talk lately about marketing and sales integration.  It seems most of the discussion centers around how marketing and sales technologies will integrate.  “Does our email program ‘connect’ to the contact manager?” “How will our marketing automation application interact with our CRM system?”  “How are the systems connected?” After all, marketing/sales integration is a technology issue, right?

Well, not really.  Yes, integration of systems is important.  But long lasting integration occurs when marketing and sales teams first address how to integrate their processes.  Before the discussion of technology tools occurs, marketing and sales teams should be looking for ways to integrate what they do from an operational level.  And the best way to do this is to talk about it. 

You may be thinking, “Well duh!”  But you’d be surprised.  Many of the organizations with which we’ve worked or interacted have had silo mentality when it comes to sales and marketing process. As is often the case between marketing and sales, one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.  This often is the result of one entity simply not sharing information with the other.  And as the saying goes, in the absence of information, the imagination takes over. 

But this can be overcome.  When implementing lead management programs for companies, we usually suggest that marketing “reach across” to sales to begin the discussions on how to integrate.  This can be done by conducting group sessions, or independent interviews with a representative sample of the sales team. Areas of discussion should be assessment of current lead management processes, standardizing definitions, lead qualification practices, lead scoring, lead nurturing, lead routing, metrics, etc.  When the discussions are complete, summarize and communicate the findings, results and next steps. Schedule regular updates, and keep the communication “two-way”, allowing for feedback.

Bridging the gap between marketing and sales may seem impossible, but it can be done.  And doing this before moving forward with implementation will significantly reduce the roadblocks that otherwise could lie ahead.  It will ease the integration of marketing and sales processes, allowing the two to work together as a cohesive unit.