It's a long believed stereotype that marketing and sales do not get along. Marketing blames sales for never following up on leads passed forward and sales blames marketing for providing unqualified leads that are worthless.
The fact is both are right. It is a common refrain. The real question is why? Could it be because marketing and sales don't communicate with one another very effectively? Often, there's so much bad blood between the two groups that an effective conversation is nearly impossible.
I can't tell you how many times I've sat down with my sales peers to ask the question. "What constitutes a good lead to you? " only to be told, "I'll take anything." That's just plain not true. A sales person will only cold call cold prospects when they have absolutely nothing else in their pipeline. And, frankly who can blame them? If I'm a sales person, I am always going to go for the low hanging fruit.
If marketers want to move beyond being seen as a cost center to being seen as a revenue generator, it's time to move beyond the traditional mold. It's our job to find, nurture and qualify prospects until they are ready to be passed on to sales. It's sales' job to turn those marketing qualified leads into opportunities and ultimately closed sales.
All of you sales peeps out there smiling and saying "you tell em!", don't get too comfortable. You don't make a marketer's job easy. We get that each one of you has your own secret sauce. But, if you want marketing to deliver leads that you feel are worthy of following up on, you've got to help us out.
You know the characteristics of your customers better than anyone. But, you also have the most difficult time talking about them. And, you hate to document anything in CRM.
Many simply don't know where to start. It starts with a conversation. Not an email. Not a powerpoint template. Not a webex. A good old fashioned open and honest conversation that gets to the meat of "what constitutes a quality lead" is all it takes. Simple? Yes. Easy? No.
It's possible that, at a fundamental level, marketing really doesn't understand the product or service or even the sales process and sales cycle. This takes time especially with a complex sale. I could come into a company and talk all day long about the fundamentals of aligning marketing and sales. But, without knowledge of the company's value proposition or an idea of how the company really makes money, I would never be successful at generating an actual qualified lead without the help and guidance of sales.
Alignment is a tough nut to crack. But, if both marketing and sales are willing to come together to have a meaningful conversation about leads, then you will be on your way to a more peaceful co-existence and a much healthier bottom line.
You may find yourself wondering how to even start this conversation. Here are some tips:
1. Determine what specific criteria constitutes a good account. For Example:
- Annual Revenue
- Number of Employees
- Industry
- Region
2. Determine what job role and function is mostly likely the decision maker within these target companies. For Example:
- Job Role: Director or VP
- Job Function: Marketing or Sales
3. Determine how and at which point, a lead is passed to sales. For example:
- Does it makes sense for marketing to have an inside sales presence that pre-calls the lead to get a sense of their interest?
- Are there specific behaviors that exhibit interest that usually signifies a lead may be ready to buy?
