How to Implement a Sales-Marketing Alignment Strategy

Keep in mind that the bigger both sales and marketing teams are, the harder it will be to make sure that they are aligning properly. Also known under the “smarketing” term, sales and marketing alignment must work together in order to reach the right target customer base while creating more conversions and driving sales. 

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The Marketing and Sales alignment represents a shared system that includes communication, strategy, and goals to make sure that the marketing team with the sales team are working seamlessly together as a single structure. It’s important to know that when both teams are working together, they can achieve some high-impact marketing activities while significantly increasing the revenue. 

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Now, the alignment between the sales and marketing teams represents an important aspect for every brand and has been reported as the number one concern in 2023 for sales leaders. So, sales organizations and brands overall that are focused more on making a priority of sales and marketing alignment are more likely to experience various new customer acquisitions. 

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The term “smarketing” represents a fusion between sales and marketing, and indicates that these two teams are aligned to function as one structure. So, these two teams are considered to work better together compared to functioning individually, because if they are focusing on separate goals, both teams might not have the expected result. 

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For an aligned organization, the marketing team is more focused on engaging as many buyers as possible in the early stages of the buyer’s journey to prepare the next phase for later interactions with the sales representatives. Even after the deal is closed, various companies will continue to advertise further to customers to deliver additional value through their solutions. 

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So, marketing in order to have full support for sales, must educate the buyer personas and also provide quality content for each stage of the sales funnel. The marketing team can also influence the market while engaging the customers. 

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By making these actions, the marketing team will be able to support the sales team and also make sure that all buyers are educated, interested, and engaged in their content and products or services. This way, both teams will pave the way for customers to start or continue to do business with the company.

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The biggest responsibility for the sales team is obviously to close the deals. But also, the sales team can be able to support the marketing operations and activities. Due to their close relationship with customers, the sales team can provide various insights about the buyer's needs and also about the product's capabilities. 

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So, the sales team might provide insights such as real-world solutions, various market dynamics, along with how efficient the buying process is. 

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With these insights, the marketing team is able to know all the latest trends in the market, along with what the buyer’s pain points are and what needs to be fulfilled to purchase products and services. 

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1. Set Goals And Objectives That Can Be Shared Between Marketing And Sales Teams. 

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Usually, the marketing team is more focused on having success in metrics like traffic, leads, and brand awareness, and after these are reached, the marketing team looks for the next goals to reach. But the sales team's goal is usually to close deals along with leading revenue. 

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So, in order to ensure sales and marketing alignment, it’s important to set objectives and goals to are common for both teams, such as revenue. By setting this goal, both marketing and sales can work together to achieve it and also conduct separate strategies according to their daily activities. 

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2. Have The Marketing And Sales Team Up To Develop A Targeted Buyer Persona 

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The marketing and sales teams need to create a targeted buyer persona that can be easily understood and also used in various business marketing and sales strategies and activities. In order to achieve this, the sales teams must bring different valuable insights from the direct interactions with the customer, and on the other hand, the marketing team must provide information and data about the buyer’s behavior and demographics. 

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With this data and information, the final structure of the targeted buyer persona will have more in-depth details that are aligned with both teams’ strategies. 

3. Create together a map of the customer journey

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It’s important to create together the whole customer journey map, which is able to outline and provide details about each stage of the journey, starting with initial awareness and closing with the post-purchase experience. 

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By doing this type of analysis, both teams will be able to see where their activities and efforts are crossing and to see where the customer interest might eventually fade. 

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Also, it’s important to identify some potential breaches that are able to disrupt the whole buying process, and after that, work to solve them as soon as possible to ensure a smooth buying experience. 

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4. Organize Regular Communication Meetings With The Sales And Marketing Team For Feedback And Insights 

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Keep in mind that in order to have a smooth relationship between marketing and sales, both teams must organize periodic meetings to communicate the progress, to share all the insights collected, and also to adjust the strategies if the situation requires that.

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Also, it should be created a Feedback system which can provide valuable feedback for both teams. For example, the sales team should offer feedback to marketing on the quality of the leads that they receive. On the other hand, the marketing team will understand what activity is working, to refine those activities that are not having the expected results. 

5. Make Sure That Both Teams Have Access To Various Data Tools 

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Both sales and marketing teams must have access to the same data tools, such as marketing automation platforms, in order to track all the leads and share very easily many customer information very easily. 

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Also, both teams can benefit from analytics and monitor closely the lead sources, conversion rates, along customer engagement. By monitoring these data and information, both teams will eventually be able to make some data-based decisions. 

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So, after reviewing all of these steps, you must keep in mind that the most important thing is to build a strong alignment between the sales and marketing teams to create a seamless customer journey while driving business marketing growth. 

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By creating a buyer persona, setting some shared goals, and maintaining smooth communications between both teams, they can operate as a harmonious unit to ensure business success. 

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