The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million

12Aligning Sales and Marketing—The SMarketing SLA

Here is an outrageous overgeneralization:

“Traditionally, Sales teams and Marketing teams have not always gotten along with each other.”

You would be amazed at the laughs, smirks, and head nodding that I observe when I make this statement in front of an audience.

It's true.

For many organizations, the relationship between Sales and Marketing is dysfunctional. Marketing sits in one corner of the office, harboring the perception that the sales team is a group of overpaid, self-centered brats who fail to see the big-picture strategy. Sales is in another corner of the office, thinking that the marketing team sits around doing arts and crafts all day and has no idea what a qualified lead looks like. Rather than working together, these two teams retreat to their respective corners, with Sales cranking out their cold calls and Marketing working on trade shows and corporate branding exercises.

This dysfunctional relationship between Sales and Marketing is the kiss of death in a buyer-driven world. Buyers begin their journey online, conducting research on the problems they are experiencing or the opportunities they would like to pursue. Marketing needs to own this initial stage of engagement, nurture buyers through the initial phases of their journey, and seamlessly pass the buyer to Sales at the most appropriate and helpful time. Sales needs to pick up where Marketing left off, creating continuity in the buyer's experience with the broader ...