We hear a lot about how marketing and sales should work hand-in-hand. But what does it mean to integrate sales and marketing efforts in your business? And is it really worth the effort?
The average business uses several different marketing tools such as participation in trade shows, e-mail, direct mail, company Web sites and so on. Similarly, businesses utilize various sales tools including telephone calls, personal visits and contact management or customer relationship management software. The use of multiple tools often results in valuable information that is useful to both marketing and sales but is separated and not shared efficiently or effectively.
Integration occurs when the data collected through these marketing efforts becomes part of the sales tools being utilized and the data collected through the sales tools is fed back to your marketing machine. This cross-pollination of data enables sales and marketing to work in harmony towards a common goal – increased revenues.
Several studies, including one by the Aberdeen Group (The Convergence of Sales and Marketing, December 2007) show double-digit increases in bid-to-win ratio, lead conversion, average revenue per account and return on marketing investment as a direct result of integration between marketing and sales technologies. The challenge is figuring out how to accomplish integration in a way that is relevant and easy for people in marketing and sales to use.
Meeting the challenge: tips for successful integration
Decide what you want to accomplish. Do you want to increase qualified leads and reduce the time it takes to close a sale? Whatever your objectives, list them and prioritize them so you can eventually measure the success of your integration efforts.
Identify the data to be shared. What marketing information does your sales force need to meet stated objectives. What sales data should be entered into the marketing system to better target your audience?
Automate wherever possible. Automatic communication systems that tie in to your current customer relationship management (CRM) system are designed react to pre-defined triggers by sending appropriate marketing material to the potential customer. This is done by establishing a set of business rules that act on pre-assigned criteria to push out a desired piece of mail, e-mail or telesales call to the prospect, in many cases within days of the trigger. Lead prioritization tools can automate the flow of leads from marketing to sales. The biggest gains from automation are seen in improved return on marketing investment that is driven by better response rates to marketing campaigns. More efficient prospecting is achieved as automated processes provide a vehicle for continuously gathering, testing and refining data increasingly accurate customer information.
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