Four Ways to Improve Communication Between Marketing and Sales

While marketing and sales departments have similar functions, they often work in completely separate silos. In some organizations, they may even have an antagonistic relationship that can limit the effectiveness of both departments.

If you need help getting your marketing and sales teams on the same page, try these tips:

Hold Joint Meetings
If your marketing and sales teams work in separate silos and never interact, you stand a much greater risk of conflict. Even if the two sides don't clash, they may end up working at cross purposes and limiting the number of sales your business can make.

Your marketing team has the expertise to bring in new leads, and your sales team talks to customers and prospects every day, giving them an intimate knowledge of what your audience really wants and needs. By holding joint meetings, both teams can compare notes and provide input for new, more effective marketing plans.

Encourage Collaboration
In a similar vein, encourage the two teams to collaborate. By providing feedback to each other—on what's working, what's not hitting the mark with prospects, and how both teams will define qualified leads—both sides will be better able to do their jobs.

This atmosphere of cooperation will reduce confusion and give both marketing and sales the tools they need to help your business meet its goals.

Get Input from Both Teams to Define Leads
Speaking of defining leads: Marketing and sales teams tend to think about leads very differently. Sales may want to see certain traits in leads that marketing doesn't consider when developing new campaigns. Marketing may have very good reasons for not taking these traits into consideration, but without good communication between the two teams, sales may think they're just being ignored.

That's why it's important to bring the two teams together to decide how leads will be qualified going forward – and how each side will interact with them to land more customers.

Preach Patience
You can cut down on conflict and get better sales results by encouraging both sides to be patient with each other.

Remind your sales team that the things they want may not fit into the marketing team's current plan, but that doesn't mean marketing isn't listening. By the same token, your marketing department should be open to ideas from sales and work those ideas into the marketing plan when possible.

Remember: Everyone's bottom line depends on generating new customers. Working together to make that happen benefits both sides, and should be a main goal for your marketing and sales teams.