There are big rewards when sales and marketing are effectively integrated—not least of which are improved operating performance and outstanding financial results. Here are five tips to help make integration a success.
1) Beware of the quick fix.
Most organizations have been using Band-Aid approaches such as integrating data sharing or changing incentive compensation systems without looking at the whole picture. Instead, avoid knee-jerk reactions. Take a breath and create a long-range plan to address a complex set of barriers.
2) Promote people who are cooperative team members.
Some might say that sales and marketing “personalities” are quite different. Salespeople and marketing folks think differently and act differently and approach the same customers with very different points of view. Added to that is the unspoken habit they each have of looking down on one another.
When integrating these divergent cultures, have marketing and sales both report to the same department head. The simple proximity of people, with joint department meetings and problem-solving teams, helps to break down barriers that no new technological fix could achieve. And then promote those who are cooperative team members.
3) Offer opportunities for joint message development and training.
To avoid the chaos, internal conflict, costly duplication, and appalling service that can result from a proliferation of touch points with customers and prospects, implement joint message development and communication training.
4) Reward behavior that builds trust.
To help change attitudes and actions, offer incentives for the desired actions that enhance integration. Marketing, for instance, could receive incentives to interview prospects and customers every week to better craft and target marketing messages. The marketing incentive program should also include rewards for regularly going on sales calls to keep up to date on what tools are needed for demonstrating, proposing, and closing sales. The sales team, meanwhile, could receive incentives to report back on the results of the sales leads from marketing so that they can eliminate the efforts that don’t work and concentrate efforts where they will produce more high-quality leads.
5) See the end game and take one step at a time.
While all the changes needed to bring about real integration between sales and marketing may take a long time, it is best to address the need to change using the principles of continuous improvement. You know if you do nothing, there is little hope for improvement. By taking small steps to address the big picture of needed changes, you can be assured of making great strides. Sales and marketing integration needs an evolution, not a revolution. Take a long-term view. One step at a time will get you there.
M. H. “Mac” McIntosh is president of North Kingstown, RI-based b-to-b marketing consultancy Mac McIntosh.
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