Sales & Marketing Alignment presented by Debbie Williams at TFM London 2010

Debbie WilliamsHead of Lead GenerationChair of the IDM B2B Council

The Sales & Marketing Disconnect

7 Top Tips to Successful Alignment!

Why are sales & marketing important to each other?

Marketing to Sales:Brand CommunicationsLead GenerationReasons to CallSales ToolsEvents, Seminars etcMarket/Competitor /Customer Intelligence

Sales to Marketing:Lead Qualification & Sales Closurebrand AmbassadorsCustomer InsightMarket / Competitor IntelligenceValue Proposition input & validationCommercial Offer input

Sales Strategy & Plans

Business Strategy & Plans

Marketing Strategy & Plans

Metrics Dashboard

s

Sales Closure

Lead Pipeline

Management

Branding & Customer

Engagement

Lead Generation Marketing

Salesforce Effectiveness

What are the elements for success?

BUT – it is not easy!

Sales do not follow upon marketing leads

They spend lots of money

They waste valuable time& is secondary to Sales

We bring in the business

Brochures & colourful charts

Sales claim all the success

Sales claim they can do marketing as well

Sales do not understandthe value of brand

Poor quality leads

Marketing is a distinct profession

Be heard at Board Level …...earn your seat at the table!

Internal Influencer Marketing Tactics

Internal Marketing Programmes

Internal/External Marketing Campaigns

Closing theLoop

Value Proposition Commercial Offer Dev.

Campaign Planning

Creative & message across media pieces

Evaluation & Testing

Production & Execution

Reporting & Analytics

Response Generation

& Lead Qualification

LeadFollow-Up& Sales

Sales Input: Competitive Intelligence; Target audience; Geography;Customer pain points; Compelling commercial offer

Sales Input: Cross check & endorsement

Sales:Revenue &Feedback

Conducted at a core& regional level

Sales:Lead Follow Up

Key Sales Tools Developed

Blended KnowledgeTraining

Success Stories

Sales Kits

Business Intelligence

Customer Presentations

Sales Guides

Customer Proof Points

Sales Training Curriculum

TM Packaged Campaign Sales Agents Packages

Sales Enablement Tools

A lead is a pre-qualified Sales Opportunity that:Budget – visible or plannedAuthorityNeedTimescale

A lead is NOT:A response to a campaign or request for further infoA project with neither budget or time scaleAn expressed interest

Agree Success Targets

Priority: hot Budget: >$ XX,000

Priority: hot Budget: <$ XX,000

Named, strategic, accounts

Priority: viable Budget: >$ XX,000

Priority: viable Budget: <$ XX,000

Direct Sales

Channel Partners

Priority: future Lead Nurture

Campaign planningCreatives & CopyValue PropositionsCalls to Action / AssetsMulti-Channel CampaignsMicro-sitesOpens; CTRs; downloads; Form conversions etc etc

Sales

Marketing

Time=MoneyReasons to Call/Hook Sales Targets (Mthly/Qrtly)Propensity to CloseSales Pipeline/ForecastProfit MarginBonus & Kickers

ROI etc etc

Accountable Marketing

Marketing lead to sale conversion rates & trends

% Leads not actioned / rejected by sales

% Leads turned into opportunities by sales

Potential revenue pipeline

Revenue closed

Return on Marketing Investment (RoMI)i.e. mktg spend vs revenue ratio

Don’t forget to track other interesting metrics!

Business Financial ControllingFinancial Analysis on countries, products, margins, pricesSystem set up of Marketing promotionsRoMI viewBudget allocations!

Data ProcessingSet up DatabasesHostingSoftware & SystemSystem integrationSystem admin & supportSecurity

Sales PlansMarket feedbackBrand AmbassadorCampaign promotionCampaign feedbackLead conversion & opportunity Lead follow up and reporting

Working Together

SalesFinance

MarketingIT

Development and implementation of marketing strategiesTarget group segmentationContact programmes for prospects and customersChannel design and managementMarketing and sales controlling

[email protected]

Thank You