The conversation about marketing and sales alignment is as old as the advent of automated technology. By definition, alignment refers to a linear arrangement — the positioning of two or more entities together. In this case, the marketing team and the sales team. However, just because marketing and sales are aligned doesn’t mean they’re working together.
That’s where the concept of “synergy” enters the conversation.
“Synergy” comes from the Greek synergia, meaning a situation in which individuals are working together in order to create an outcome that’s more valuable than their individual input. Synergy is the process of joint work and cooperation. Ultimately, the result should be greater than the sum of the parts. Individuals will work together to complete a task, but they will work together to produce results that are greater than they could achieve separately.
Creating synergy between marketing and sales enables us to close more deals. But how do we make this happen? Below are the three elements that enable sales reps to achieve greater results.
1. Ongoing Education
It is critical that individual sales reps understand the sales operations and processes of their company. This incorporates CRM and sales-cycle expectations. In order to achieve a knowledgeable workforce, we have to ensure that our onboarding processes are effective. Training becomes a critical component of maximizing the potential of our sales reps. And, because education is a constant process, we should be implementing best-in-class training sessions to keep everyone aligned and moving towards an understanding of the same expectations and goals.
2. Communication
Ensuring that the lines of communication between sales execs and sales reps are open is also important to developing synergized teams. Transparency must be emphasized in order to ensure that there shared goals and visions. We should have an environment that encourages team members to ask questions so they can be more effective when having 1:1 conversations with customers. Ensuring that sales reps are encouraged to ask questions without fear is also important to creating synergy, because not only will sales reps get answers to their questions, but they will also feel that they are on the same level of understanding as everyone else.
3. Shared goals
Meeting organizational goals is possible when there is a culture of constant education. In addition to achieving monthly, quarterly and yearly quotas, salespeople should strive to meet team goals that are in place to help the sales team work together and stay motivated. Zeroing in on goals that all members of the team are invested in is an important aspect of developing synergy.
When we work on educating, communicating, and creating shared goals, we breed an environment that brings team members closer together. This helps create a single company vision and propels teams to success.
Are your team members working in synergy? It’s time to focus on creating an atmosphere that shares goals and vision in order to achieve sales results.
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