While there can be several reasons why a business may develop a marketing strategy, often one of the main areas of focus is sales. Even knowing that sales is the driving force behind a marketing campaign, it’s surprising to find how many PR and marketing agencies fail to loop in the sales team when developing its strategy. Here are a few benefits of connecting with sales when creating your marketing plans.
Boots On the Ground Input
Your sales team has one-to-one contact with your customer. That means they have first-hand knowledge of what’s working out in the field. It’s a good idea to tap your sales team so that they can share the information they have gathered including feedback on current products or services, what clients would like to see, what messaging is resonating with the client as well as if any messaging is falling flat.
Let Them Help You Help Them
Your sales team is counting on you to help them bring in new, interested parties so that they can close the deal. Through sales lead generation services, you can bring clients to your sales team, but its starts with knowing where to find them. Ask your sales team to help identify new marketing outlets based on buzz that they hear from the target.
Your sales team might also be able to help provide valuable suggestions for pitches and content. Providing content marketing services that resonate with your target is a great way to help your sales team build credibility or give them something of value to share for follow up with their clients. Let them help you develop content ideas so that you can support their sales efforts. The bottom line is that when sales are good, both the sales and marketing teams get kudos, so working together is a smart idea.
Authentic Thought Leadership
Finding an authentic as a PR and marketing person can be difficult. Your salespeople, however, are a perfect fit to become industry thought leaders. They know the product, the industry and they have a genuine connection with your target audience. Tapping your sales team not only for thought leadership ideas, but also as a place to find a spokesperson can help your brand create an authentic relationship with potential customers.
Selling Marketing on Sales
While it may seem like the marketing and sales team operate in silos, the truth is that they need to lean on each other to do their best work. Sales needs marketing to drive qualified traffic through the door, and marketing needs sales for their first-hand insights and to close the deal. When PR/marketing and sales teams work together, the synergy is unstoppable!
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