Many decision-makers are becoming more interested in making their sales and marketing technology stacks work together instead of building two separate tools. It takes careful planning and time, but the results typically pay off when leaders take thoughtful approaches.
Break Down Data Silos
Marketing and sales professionals get many of the same takeaways from the data they collect. However, they may not initially realize that if their companies still have a siloed information structure.
For example, sales and marketing teams need to know which demographic groups are most interested in their products. They also need specific details, such as which areas of the country or world have seen more or less interest from customers over the past few months.
Tracking those details across both teams becomes difficult or impossible when company data remains in their own separate structures. Intersecting the marketing and sales tech stacks can solve that problem.
Ashley Carty, CEO of Carty Media, recommends that option. She clarified that separate tech stacks for marketing and sales could cause a lack of synchronization between processes and data. However, a shared tech stack facilitates efficiency and effectiveness, she explained. Then, professionals from both teams are better positioned to give better customer experiences.
Improve Collaborative Efforts
Marketing and sales professionals share a goal of generating interest in companies, brands or products. Using the same tech stacks could make it easier and more fruitful to work together on mutually beneficial projects.
For example, the teams might decide to start a podcast. This is an accessible option that doesn’t require high-tech or specialized equipment. Trader Joe’s has a podcast that covers everything from seasonal products to parking lot design. The specialty supermarket enjoys a large and dedicated customer base, but that’s not necessarily enough to encourage podcast listenership.
A shared tech stack could show sales and marketing professionals which topics people would find most interesting or help them address specific questions customers have asked recently.
A branded podcast’s primary purpose is usually to increase people’s awareness of a company and its products. That enterprise often experiences increased sales or greater loyalty. However, any efforts requiring sales and marketing teams to work together have a much better chance of success if everyone involved can access the same tools and data. An intersected tech stack facilitates that benefit and more.
Identify Expansion Possibilities
A global CEO survey revealed 25% of respondents were thinking about moving into new territories. That can be an important and useful way to grow a business and support the bottom line. However, any expansion – even into another city – must happen with careful consideration.
A shared tech stack lets the marketing and sales departments track trends that support expansion or show that now is not the right time to pursue it. They can then feed that data back to the decision-makers who have the authority to approve or deny an expansion.
Recognizing the substantial resources required for a successful expansion is difficult. However, leaders will feel more confident about what’s doing whatever’s necessary to make this growth work if they see statistics to justify it.
The tools and information in shared tech stacks can offer it, often letting users create data visualizations for easier information sharing and digestibility. Sometimes, this skillful and targeted information enables people to act on emerging opportunities, putting themselves in just the right places to capitalize on new business opportunities.
Remain Resilient During Economic Downturns
Even the most experienced leaders can’t always identify the telltale signs of economic troubles. Once those depressed conditions occur, the insights within integrated tech stacks can show decision-makers what to do to remain as stable as possible during challenging times.
For starters, people should use data to work toward goals and make better decisions. Even when teams have different day-to-day duties, their efforts should still cause progress in overarching goals.
Some leaders may even decide to integrate sales and marketing tech stacks for purely economic reasons, believing they’ll save money by doing so.
Regardless of why the integration happens, it can show unmet marketplace needs that businesses might capitalize on to stay profitable when consumers spend less. Similarly, they could identify business areas that require fewer resources until economic conditions improve.
Steps to Take When Combining Tech Stacks
Once leaders are seriously considering tech stack integration, they must start by researching the market to find the most appropriate tools to support and facilitate the intersection. Prioritizing those available through pay-as-you-go pricing models is a great way to start without long-term commitments.
Getting feedback from everyone who will use the intersected stacks is also essential. Find out what problems they experienced while using the separate tech stacks, and ask for input on what would resolve or reduce those issues.
After choosing which products to use when intersecting the tech stacks, decide whether to do a full rollout immediately or carry out a trial first. Consider whether installing any new products you use may temporarily restrict access to your data and what you’ll do to compensate for that challenge.
Give everyone plenty of time to adjust to using the intersected stack. Plan to offer dedicated training sessions along with time blocks where people can explore independently and note any questions or uncertainties that arise.
Finally, set some goals that’ll get the company progressively closer to what decision-makers initially hoped to achieve by intersecting the tech stacks. Creating timely milestones will keep everyone motivated and upbeat about the changes within the organization.
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