In 2017, we are still having the conversation about the sales and marketing disconnect. But, it seems more critical than ever to create a fluid and a more impactful way for these to parts of a sales organization to come together. John Golden interviews Dan McDade on the truth about leads.
This expert sales interview explores generating leads despite the sales and marketing disconnect, such as:
- Why is there a disconnect in the first place?
- The importance of getting in the game early
- Creating concrete steps to unify sales and marketing
Why the disconnect?
Part of the hypothesis for why sales and marketing have such a disconnect has to do with what each team is responsible for. Marketing is responsible for generating leads, and sales are accountable for revenue. “Until we get both sides working on the same goal, we’re going to continue to have problems,” said McDade. “What I think has also happened is that a lot of the marketing technology has made it possible to get more bad leads to sales faster than ever before. And unfortunately, it’s breaking down because sales are still complaining about lead quality and quantity.”
Get in the game – early:
For years the market has ignored outbound, and have focused primarily on inbound sales. In fact, some sales experts are saying that 70% of the sales process is complete before a sales rep gets involved. But there’s also a lot of people saying the opposite. The opposite being that buyers want to engage with salespeople throughout the entire buying process. If you wait until the buyer is 70%, 80% or 90% through the sales cycle, you’ve waited too long.
Concrete step #1:
There are a few steps organizations can take to get sales and marketing better aligned. The first may sound rather simplistic, but it’s a back to basics approach that works. “What it comes down to is that the marketing people and salespeople need to share a common definition of what the market is,” said McDade. “If you have different views of who you are selling to, the first thing is to define the market accurately.” Know your target market and who you are specifically trying to sell to, know who you will be able to work with, and communicate it to the entire organization.
Concrete step #2:
Step two is to come together on the standard definition of a lead. If you don’t have the same expectations of marketing generating leads that sales will accept and follow up on, then you’re going to continually have a disconnect. McDade has a few ideas on how to remedy this problem using what he calls the “judicial branch.” This is a separate group made up of marketing people, salespeople, as well as other people from the organization, such as the CEO or COO. This creates a dynamic group of people to watch and see if expectations are being met. “The only way you’re going to fix the problem is to isolate it and remedy it as a group.
For more concrete steps on how to unite sales and marketing and get more leads, watch the expert sales interview!
About Our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
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