Whether it is one person or two separate departments there has always been disconnect between the sales & marketing disciplines. The problem is who is responsible for not reaching targets; lead generation marketing or sales conversions?
Today reaching these decision makers is harder than ever and if you want to reach them then your marketing and sales departments need to work in harmony to grab their attention and win their business.
Issues are further complicated as new-business Prospects are overloaded with information and interruptions which makes it even harder to be noticed; cold calls rarely get through, messages are rarely returned and emails are often deleted instantaneously. On average nine calls need to be made before a sales person gets to speak to their target and when they do the sales cycles are now longer and have more people involved in the decision making process.
Marketing Automation can deliver great value to most companies if they recognise that there is more to it than just technology. To get it right you will need to focus on your communications in order to put yourself ahead of your competitors.
The top tips are;
1. Be clear and simple
2. Be knowledgeable
3. Be relevant to each recipient
4. Focus your time and energy on what’ll make most difference
Building a database of prospects and pre-planning your communications with them with means that sales teams can concentrate their attention on those prospects who are ready to buy now. Imagine how much easier it is to reach a contact who you know has opened your emails, clicked on links in it, read your articles and forwarded them on to their colleagues?
We’ll elaborate on these four cornerstones next week.
