Congrats, you are ready to begin investing time and resources into inbound marketing. Before you hire a fancy Inbound Agency, it is vitally important to spend the proper time upfront creating a seamless connection between Sales and Marketing.
Inbound is tricky, because it is often the fastest way to divide Sales and Marketing teams. Logic would tell you that is counter intuitive, because Sales and Marketing should absolutely be in sync, right? Why wouldn’t they be?
In reality, both of these disciplines are frequently motivated and incentivized very differently. This is why alignment prior to any content or messaging going out is the key to success.
Your checklist to ensure Sales and Marketing are connected:
- Formally run through a lightweight Business Model Canvas and Value Prop Canvas with both Sales and Marketing teams present
- Establish short and long term goals (Are you looking to build your brand? Are you looking for fast conversions?)
- Lead with empathy — actually hear both team’s perspective on the best way to garner new business and nurture new business
- Develop performance metrics and incentives that are not diametrically opposed to one another
- Utilize a CRM system with automated workflows that eliminates any lag in reaching out or connecting with a prospect after they enter the funnel
- Identify and create a proper lead scoring mechanism (what can’t be measured, can’t be improved)
- Design and align on what strategies, tactics and messaging applies to each stage of the funnel
- Review the Sales decks and sales messaging that is being presented to clients to ensure all promises can be delivered
After this pre-flight checklist is complete, your work is only half done. Frequent check-ins (monthly, bi-weekly) will ensure a subtle divide between both teams starts to form.
