It’s a simple truth: marketing and sales teams that successfully work together, win together.
And yet, in too many organizations, marketing and sales teams are still operating in silos, with disparate priorities, separate tools, and very little communication. Marketing is focused on generating as many leads as possible and wonders why hard-earned deals are going nowhere, while sales complains that leads are low quality and can’t be worked.
Sound familiar?
The most important thing to keep in mind is that both teams ultimately have the same goals: to close more business, in less time, and to scale efforts to reach as many new prospects as possible. The disconnect lies in misalignment of tools, data, and communication — and this can be fixed.
We recently hosted a webinar about the major benefits of integrating the platforms on which each team relies: your CRM system and marketing automation. Let’s take a look at a few of the benefits discussed, and how they impact both marketing and sales.
Benefit 1: Standardized Lead Qualification
Marketing automation’s lead scoring and grading capabilities automatically qualify leads based on both demographic and behavioral data. This information is synced between platforms, allowing sales reps to see a prospect’s score and grade from within the CRM.
For marketing: Take the manual labor out of lead qualification. Talk to your sales team (don’t forget that aligning communication is as important as aligning tools!) to determine what your top identifiers are for a qualified lead. Set up your customizable scoring and grading model based on these criteria, and let automation do the rest!
For sales: Identify your most qualified prospects at a glance, prioritize your time accordingly, and rest assured that a lead is worth your time before you ever pick up the phone.
