I’m going to go all “football analogy” on you. As I write this, I am – once again – watching with deep frustration as my hometown team uses uncoordinated efforts to yield minimal results.
What I’m witnessing on the field is not unlike what we experience when businesses come to us frustrated with their sales. They’re working both sides of the field with marketing and sales, but all the effort isn’t closing the deal, or putting numbers on the scoreboard.
A great football team (I refuse to name names) has strong leadership, skilled players, a winning strategy and a playbook that combines offense, defense, and special teams. Teams working together to advance the ball and win games. Business is like that. When your marketing team and sales team are aligned and work together, the chance of scoring wins increases exponentially.
Traditionally, sales and marketing have worked separately with two different goals, using different playbooks. When they work together with the same desired outcomes, marketing can focus on creating awareness. They can generate leads to fill the pipeline, aka getting it in the red zone while sales create a strategy to follow through on the leads. They reinforce the message and carry the ball across the goal line.
The element of timing is critical here. The game clock is ticking, and a warm lead can turn cold quickly in the business world. The good news is, it’s never been easier to integrate the two teams to see immediate results. Technology is allowing for better accuracy and performance.
The only thing more frustrating than watching the hometown team implode, is watching a business leave money on the table. And that’s exactly what happens when budgets are spent on generating marketing leads that sit and time is wasted on sales leaders creating their own ad hoc messaging. Join the two forces and you’ll be a winner!
Are you ready to integrates sales and marketing so you can see maximum results quickly? After all, we all deserve a winning team.