Are you familiar with the term “Smarketing”? For the sake of your business, you need to be! Smarketing is essentially the alignment of your sales and marketing teams for the greater good of the company. There tends to be a bit of a strain between these two teams in any given organization, but since both are involved in the process of bringing new business to the table, it’s important that they learn to communicate clearly and work together.
If your business isn’t implementing smarketing, there’s a good chance that you aren’t thriving at near the level you potentially could be. When sales and marketing learn to work together, it creates a unified message across all channels that is portrayed directly to the consumer. This consistency leaves the impression that your business is a well-oiled machine – and one that the consumer would like to be a part of.
Below you will find several ways that your business is likely failing without smarketing, along with a few suggestions on how to make a change for the better.
- Unclear Goals
If your sales and marketing teams aren’t closely communicating which goals they are working toward, they may be pulling in opposite directions altogether. While obviously both teams want to bring in more business, they need to work hand in hand to accomplish that business growth in the best way possible. Marketing and sales tend to speak in different languages. Sales often lean toward hard facts and figures, while marketing leans a bit more to the abstract, creative side of things. Learning to speak the same language and define goals in terms that both are comfortable with will lead to a much more pleasant and easily-understood experience for all involved.
2. Unclear Measurement of Success
Obviously the ultimate success for either team is an actual sale. But before that, there are many small successes that should be celebrated as well. If the lines of communication aren’t open, success may mean something totally different to each team. Marketing may think that the 25 new leads they brought to the sales team was an amazing success. However, if these leads aren’t the type of leads that the sales team was hoping for, they may see this as a failure.
By opening up the lines of communication, it’s easy for sales to explain to marketing exactly what they are looking for in a lead, and it’s easy for marketing to describe to sales that they may need more feedback from previous and current clients in order to target the right people in the right way. Open communication equals more success for both teams – it’s as simple as that.
- Setting Conflicting Expectations for Clients
If your sales and marketing teams aren’t communicating about what types of clients they want to bring in and what exactly they are going to deliver to those clients once they are secured, then that is a recipe for disaster. When these teams don’t come together to define exactly what type of service the client will be receiving, marketing may be saying one thing while sales is promising something completely different. It is absolutely essential that the teams communicate closely and define exactly what type of service the client will end up with when all is said and done. That way neither team is held accountable for misrepresentation at any step in the process.
- Withholding Vital Information
This one may actually be totally unintentional. But think about it: both sales and marketing put a ton of effort into what they do. Researching the target client, determining the best way to speak to that client, figuring out what their needs and wants are, and finding the best method by which to reach out to that client – so much great information that could potentially be shared! If your sales and marketing teams aren’t in constant communication, not only are they missing out on tons of info that could be shared, they may be doing double the work – with different end results. Sharing any and all information that they have is beneficial in numerous ways.
Allowing this division between the two teams to continue only breeds more frustration and discord. The great thing is, the remedy to the problem is so simple: communication!
If your marketing and sales teams can simply come together and have an open and honest conversation, that is one giant step in the right direction. Begin having these meetings on a regular basis so that the teams begin to get to know each other and feel more comfortable sharing thoughts and ideas. When true smarketing begins to happen, you will be amazed with the results.
Comments