Ask any Best-in-Class company what their biggest hurdles were on their way to achieving success and they will often say that compartmentalizing departments and teams was a problem. Why? Because when the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, processes result in miscommunication, mistakes, and disharmony.

And although this rings true to companies in different industries and their various departments, when it comes to closing the deal, we see that organizations that don’t uphold best practices result in marketing and sales teams operating in silos. This is evident in a study by SiriusDecisions that found that 58% of B2B companies rated their own alignment of sales and marketing as “poor.”

When we break down the traditional functions of sales and marketing, we see the function of the first is to generate leads, and the latter – to follow up on them and push for the close. So what happens when sales and marketing work on the development of the customer journey from the start, until the end stages of the customer lifecycle when they have become a sales-ready lead? We see this streamlined process succeed.

A recent survey showed that that organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing teams enjoyed 36% higher customer retention rates. Alignment happens when teams have the same goals in mind: When marketing nurtures leads to the point that they become sales-ready, and when sales gains quality leads provided by their marketing department that are ready for the close.

Creating harmony between sales and marketing is key. And this is possible now more than ever. Why?

It’s all about technology

Technology has made companies experience a paradigm shift across every aspect of their internal processes, and, as a result, marketing and sales alignment has become possible. With the adoption of Sales Enablement and its addition to a CRM and a marketing automation platform, marketing and sales teams can now speak the same language. Sales and marketing can point out where each lead in the pipeline belongs – and devise campaigns to target specific buyers. The technology that’s available to marketing and sales teams today has made it possible for top performers to conquer their closing rates.

Sales Enablement has improved sales and marketing processes, and has allowed for the two teams to close the loop in the sales process. Once a marketing-ready lead becomes sales-ready, it is passed from the marketing automation platform to the CRM, and then we gain granular visibility in the customer journey in order to improve future campaigns.

Removing the silos means having a clearer picture of the sales pipeline like where each lead is in their journey, and, as a result, gaining knowledge about which content should be delivered at what time, through which channel, and to which prospect.

Why Sales Enablement is the answer

Sales Enablement is the future of that boardroom, face-to-face interaction. It opens up communication, and when lines of communication are open, everybody wins. Sales Enablement works to ensure that sales reps are capturing customer data, and bringing it back to marketing for further message refinement. When this practice is applied to the marketing and sales process, companies are operating within the bounds of sales enablement strategies that enable them to experience 13.7% annual increase in deal size or contract value.

How effective and efficient are your sales and marketing processes? Does your sales department need a boost? If you are looking to close deals, the right technology can get you there. Sales Enablement works to refine your messages, put the heads of sales and marketing together, and focus on enabling your sales reps to sell more and sell smarter.