“The synchronization of the work of both departments is not a compromise, but a managerial discipline, which becomes the basis for the growth of the company’s profits.”, – WRITE: www.pravda.com.ua
Conflict of quantitative indicators The cause of the conflict of departments is the lack of synchronization and understanding of each other’s functions. Marketing works with the top of the classic sales funnel, where key metrics are coverage, the number of lides, the cost of contact. Sales measure success by the final results: the number of transactions, the average check, the income. Both teams are in the logic of quantitative indicators without having a common metric.
In such circumstances, any attempt to give them a “common denominator” in the form of a budget only increases the confrontation. Sales believe that marketing spends money insignificant. Marketing replies that the Seales “do not close” potential customers. Business gets into a closed circle, where each party proves its correctness in numbers, but the result for the company does not increase in general.
We are looking for a common metric The first step to synchronization is the search for a common language: the transition from quantity to quality. The metric that combines marketing and sales is a conversion. The formula is simple: traffic × conversion = transaction. If the conversion is reduced, the responsibility lies in both departments. This changes the nature of the discussion: instead of the requirements to “increase the budget” or “raise the plan” teams begin to analyze the reasons.
Marketing – quality of involved ice, relevance of channels, accuracy of segmentation. Sales – script efficiency, contact processing, objections. Additionally, the company can introduce other qualitative indicators: LTV (client life cycle), a proportion of repeated transactions, apseles and cross-sales. This translates attention from instant results to a long -term value of the client.
Customer in the center of the system However, single metrics are not enough. Synergy begins when the business puts in the center not its own processes, but a client. To do this, it must be investigated. Marketing and Siles that work together can be best done.
Initially, units represent three key clients together. These are not abstract “avatars”, but real generalizations from the base: who are these people who are painful, what benefits they seek. For sales, this means a change in the focus of the conversation: not to start with the presentation “who we are”, but immediately speak the language of the client’s problem. For marketing – to build campaigns where a potential client recognizes himself from the first seconds.
Next, you should form a Customer Journey Map card. This tool allows the departments to see the picture of their colleagues.
For example, sales see that interaction with the client begins long before the call of the manager. The potential buyer reads articles, posts on social networks, reviews reviews, responds to advertising. When the Sieves understand this picture, they begin to appreciate the marketing contribution at each stage.
The discussion “You give bad lida” is transformed into a joint work: “We need additional warming on social networks before the second meeting with a potential client.”
The only business rhythm The next level is planning synchronization. In most B2B companies, the business sells the task (“sell for a certain amount”), and marketing works on its own calendar. This creates parallel reality.
Solution is common tasks and promotional calendar. The tasks are formulated for both teams: increase the sale of a particular service, make Apsele a certain percentage of customers, attract a new category. Marketing and sales are looking for solutions, learning to interact and form a single context.
New tools for seals Synchronization changes not only approaches but also tactical tools. When the persons are described and the client path is built, marketing gets the opportunity to rebuild presentations and scripts for the Seales.
Instead of universal materials, they appear adapted to specific segments. The client recognizes himself on the first slide, and it is easier for the manager to talk in the right direction. Such personalization directly affects the conversion.
Who is responsible for changes No transformation is impossible without people who take the role of change leaders. In the medium business, it can be heads of marketing and sales departments. In larger organizations, their deputies or appointed drivers. It is important that these people not only coordinate the process, but also believe in the need for synergy.
The role of the owner is to act as a customer, not their performer. His task is to keep the topic in focus, control progress, set strategic goals and require reporting. This disciplines both teams and guarantees the constancy of the process.
Case In the project of service B2B business, the company spends $ 1 thousand. On marketing, receives 80-120 lid, but the result is only one agreement for $ 6,000. The reason is the lack of a single approach between marketing and seles. The presentations were universal, the clients were not segmented, the warming did not work.
The team changed the approach: described the persons of clients, built a map of the client path, rebuilt presentations for specific segments and added stages of warming up before calls. Already in the next cycle, even with the reduction of the budget to $ 800, the company received three agreements with a total check of $ 70 thousand. The key factor was the focus of quality and conversion, not just the number of ice.
Case 2. Promo-Calendar as a tool of synergy The company worked in two channels: its own retail (network and e-commerce) and distributors. Marketing and sales department acted separately, which led to conflicts. The promotions in the retail canal often made prices lower than distribution, which is why the partners lost their motivation to buy a group.
The decision was the introduction of a single promotional Calendar, which synchronized the actions of the departments. In addition, they conducted ABC analysis of the client base and focused on the growth of categories B and C thanks to joint marketing programs. For the first quarter of sales in category B increased one and a half times. The conflicts between the channels have disappeared, and marketing and sailzi were given a result instead of mutual claims.
Synchronization of marketing and sales is not a compromise, but a management discipline that determines the ability of business to scale. Companies that move from KPI conflict to common qualitative indicators, from internal processes to clientocentricity, from parallel planning to a single rhythm, receive true synergy. It becomes the basis for the growth of the company’s profits.
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