3 Tips for An Effective Collaboration Between Your Sales & Marketing Department

The marketing and sales departments work towards a common goal: creating value for the company and the customers yet they don’t always recognize the greater impact of their teamwork.For example, whenever the sales team doesn’t meet their targets, the marketing team blames the poor execution of their plan while the sales team can blame the marketing team for an overuse of budget that could have benefited the sales force instead.Because the sales team is in constant contact with their customers, they might feel that the marketing team does not understand the customer demand as much while the marketing team might feel that the sales team does not see the big picture, market and trends.By weaving in and working together on the front line, these two teams have a considerable impact on the organization. Marketers need to make the product or service sellable and generate leads while the sales team needs to understand customer needs and craft a message that addresses these needs.Here are three tips that could help you reflect on the relationship the marketing departments has with the sales departments:1)   Develop your branding. While the marketing works on developing branding, the sales team is needed to make sure this branding fit to customer’s needs. Crafting the company strategy through branding is also an aspect where the sales team is needed. At the end of the day, a strong branding is a combination of sales and marketing. Both departments will distribute the branding, the sales team through customers and marketing through digital and traditional platform.2)   Acknowledge your common goal. The aim is to create value for the company and customers. While marketing can do so by establishing strong branding and strategy, they also need to generate leads through digital and traditional channels. The sales team creates value directly through customers and eventually company after closing deals.3)   Agree on budget. Often the sales team does not understand why a certain amount of money is spent on marketing. However it has to be acknowledged that the marketing team fixes the price of the product or service while the sales team is selling the price. In the end, the sales team has the final say about price especially due to negotiation being a big part of the sales process hence it’s important for the two teams to collaborate.Communication is key for marketing to craft an adapted branding and strategy and for sales people to be comfortable with diffusing the branding and apply the strategy. As the two teams work closely together and understand the importance of each, the common goal of creating value for the customer and company will be met quicker and with less tension.