The key to business growth
Marketing and sales are like inseparable sides of a single coin. Creating marketing and sales alignment is one of the most powerful ways of unlocking business growth.
Successful business results rely on these two very different functions collaborating coherently and consistently.
Marketing and sales people often have different personalities, strengths and weaknesses and it isn’t always easy to get them ‘on the same page’. But doing so is vital for business success.
Common goals create uncommon results
Marketing needs to be held accountable for creating targeted brand exposure, reaching genuine prospective customers through appropriate and effective channels. They need to inform and educate them about products and services, and generate sufficient qualified leads to enable sales targets to be achieved.
Sales, on the other hand, needs to recognise that buyers today are better informed and more sceptical than ever before.
B2B Marketing is the process of planning and executing strategies and campaigns that position your brand in the chosen category(ies) with the businesses most likely to buy, and then creates demand for a well-aligned sales force. – Hugh Macfarlane, align.me / author of The Leaky Funnel
A traditional sales mindset, with an eye on the ‘close’, seldom works nowadays. A more consultative, advisory approach to selling is needed in today’s market.
The best way of achieving this customer-centric approach is through proper alignment of the marketing and sales processes. Both teams need to speak the same language, and pull together.
Let’s create marketing and sales alignment in your business
Through action-oriented workshops and regular consultations, we’ll address with you the vital elements of true marketing and sales alignment, and help you create strategies to apply them in your business:
- Clearly articulated, common goals in line with key business strategies
- A whole-of-business approach, breaking down the silo mentality around marketing, sales and operations
- Detailed profiling and understanding of customers, their needs and their ‘pain points’
- A well-designed and well-functioning marketing and sales funnel
- A shared language, and consistent communication between both disciplines
- Strategic thinking, research and targeting
- Working with distributors and channel partners as strategic partners, not suppliers
- Understanding that customer relationship management (CRM) is a process issue, not a technology issue
- A shared commitment to continuous improvement of marketing and sales performance
- Comprehensive collection and interpretation of marketing and sales data over time
- Skills transfer and cross-pollination of insights between marketing and sales
- Sharing of successes and rewards
We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job to make the customer experience a little bit better. – Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
How it works
Marketing and sales transformation doesn’t occur overnight. It requires sustained commitment and focused effort by management, marketing and sales personnel, in consultation with other areas of the business, to lay solid foundations and establish productive processes and practices.
That’s why this service is typically a six-month engagement. A ‘fly in, fly out’ consulting approach without some implementation support would be unrealistic.
Following the initial workshop and scoping, we’ll guide and support your marketing and sales alignment through one-to-one coaching and skill development, delivered face-to-face and/or virtually via the Mindshop Online platform.
This enables you to capture, consolidate and track your key actions and progress, as well as accessing a range of online courses and tools covering sales processes and skills, business growth and personal development.
Need ongoing marketing support?
If you’re at a point where you need more marketing capacity but aren’t ready to hire more staff, HyperSphere can guide and support your ongoing marketing activities. Acting as your Virtual Marketing Director, we can provide a combination of:
- Ongoing management of marketing activities,including agency/supplier selection and management
- Planning and review (quarterly or as agreed)
- Coaching/mentoring to support individuals in their assigned marketing and sales roles and activities
When it comes to implementation, we can assist and guide you in areas including:
- Marketing audit
- Marketing and sales planning
- Market research, benchmarking and competition analysis
- Branding, positioning and key message definition
- Marketing communications
- Product and pricing strategies
- Export-readiness
- Intellectual property
- Online and offline collateral and promotions
- Advertising, publicity and public relations
- Selecting and managing creative suppliers for content, design and digital
- Marketing and sales technology choices
Your investment
Marketing & Sales Alignment program
Typically spanning at least 6 months, a marketing and sales alignment process is one of the most common areas of focus within HyperSphere’s Business Coaching and Advisory Support service.
Included services:
- Marketing and sales alignment work as described above
- 24/7 access to online training and coaching via our Mindshop Online platform, as per the inclusions of your Business Coaching and Advisory Support package.
Optional additional services:
- Implementation support: your ‘Virtual Marketing Director’
Ready to ramp up?
Call us on +61 (0)418 273 435 or get in touch by email for an obligation-free initial consultation.
Interested in other HyperSphere services? … Go to Services Overview.
