In a startup world where every move counts, strong synergy between sales and marketing is a cornerstone of productivity and success. It’s not just about aligning two distinct departments; it’s about crafting a growth strategy that thrives on their seamless collaboration. That might sound like common sense, but the reality is that many small businesses drop the ball on marketing and sales strategy and overlook a vital connection.
Picture marketing as the mastermind behind your customer acquisition strategies and sales as the frontline warriors who bring in the revenue. When these two forces work in unison, you can unlock a world of opportunities. Bridging this gap isn’t just a good idea—it’s a game-changer. The big question is how to do it well.
Marketing and Sales Strategy Examples: A Key Growth Driver
Motivating sales and marketing to coordinate efforts is a secret sauce that can elevate success to new heights. Sam Levy, Senior Vice President of Growth and Operations at NetSuite, advocates aligning these two functions.
“For most organizations, it sits in silos, and there’s only tentacles that touch,” he says. “For us — it’s molded together. Everything marketing does, the field knows everything. What the field knows, marketing knows.”
The idea is that marketing can serve as a compass that points you toward potential customers. It provides the targeted lists, the messaging, and the campaigns. Now, think of your sales team as the navigators—armed with these resources, they chart the course and set out to acquire and grow customers. This alignment accomplishes a productive, synchronized approach where every effort, every penny spent, and every result achieved are closely connected.
Playbooks: A Strategy For Successful Alignment
One of the key strategies is developing “playbooks” that outline a step-by-step guide for identifying, pursuing, and converting leads into loyal customers. Playbooks can serve as the foundation of a company’s go-to-market efforts. The approach ensures sales and marketing understand each other’s roles, communicate effectively, and share responsibility for the company’s growth. The outcome? Better insights, stronger more productive campaigns, and a more compelling return on investment.
“Our playbook might be identifying a targeted list of accounts,” Levy says. “Marketing provides the targeted list of accounts, sales provides pursuits, marketing will provide the messaging, and sales will make the effort. And the outcome then is metrics.”
Metrics should show whether what you’ve been doing is successful. Teams can learn whether they’ve been spending enough or not enough. They can see if they got a return on investment or did not.
Smaller businesses can create their own version of playbooks, perhaps more streamlined and nimble. Start with a focused list of prospective clients, leveraging specific marketing tactics to cultivate leads. The difference? Small teams can craft marketing and sales strategies with greater flexibility, adjusting on the fly based on real-time feedback.
Harness the Power of Cohorts
NetSuite uses something called “cohorts” to boost customer acquisition and overall growth. Cohorts are groups of young hires who join as business development reps. Over 12 to 18 months, they’re coached and trained, learning how the business works. Then, they become the driving force for marketing, sales, and pre-sales as they “graduate.”
Even without the capacity for hundreds of new hires, small enterprises can apply the cohort concept on a smaller scale to spark growth. Cohorts let you bring in fresh, enthusiastic minds who, with the right mentorship, can quickly integrate into your business’s culture and goals. Letting a small group of team members embark on an intensive learning journey like this can result in dedicated, efficient sales and marketing teams that adapt and grow together.
Mentorship and Sponsorship: Nurturing Talent
Mentorship has long been hailed as a powerful way to improve both personal and professional effectiveness. But many people haven’t heard of sponsorship. You can use both to unite marketing and sales strategy — as well as support a healthy growing organization.
Mentorship involves guiding and teaching, whereas sponsorship is about actively endorsing and enabling career development of specific team members. It’s a crucial combination in a thriving small business, ensuring every team member feels guided and empowered to contribute their best.
Sponsorship is a kind of proactive counterpart to mentorship. A sponsor advocates for individuals within the organization, helping them seize new opportunities.
“So, for instance, I have worked with an individual in a different department, perhaps in finance,” Levy explains. “They don’t work for me, but as a new opportunity comes within the company and I’ve seen their skillset and work habits, I would then sponsor them for opportunities that come up in the organization. So sponsorship goes beyond teaching and is actually almost enabling you to do more, providing a platform to do more.”
In your small business, sponsorship might have an even more immediate impact. The close-knit environment allows for closer relationships and better visibility, making it easier for mentorships to develop and for sponsors to spot talent and create pathways for growth. Look for ways to encourage experienced employees to guide newcomers and actively endorse those ready for career progression.
Marketing and Sales Strategy: Walking a Path of Growth Together
In the fast-evolving landscape of modern business, the symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing is a powerful growth catalyst. As you’ve seen, successful businesses harness this synergy to drive their success. Whether you’re a small business owner or an aspiring entrepreneur, you can apply these strategies to your venture. Align your sales and marketing strategy, cultivate a culture of collaboration, and remember the invaluable impact of mentorship and sponsorship.
The path to growth is paved with your team’s ability to work in harmony, driven by a shared purpose and the right strategies. By adopting these principles, you’ll not only supercharge your business but also create an environment where talent thrives, productivity rises, and success follows.
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John Boitnott
John Boitnott is a longtime journalist and digital strategist who has worked at TV, print, radio and Internet companies for 25 years. He writes about productivity and how it can help entrepreneurs run and grow their businesses better. Other than Calendar, John writes for Entrepreneur, Business2Community and Motley Fool. As a professional writer with a background in the newsroom, he has advised and created content for a wide variety of companies and publishers, helping them build their popularity. In his career, John has also written for Inc., BusinessInsider, Fortune, NBC, Fast Company, USA Today and Venturebeat.