6 Tips for Aligning B2B Sales and Marketing Teams

Are your company's sales and marketing teams aligned? If not, your business-to-business (B2B) company will generate fewer sales while exhausting more time and resources. Thankfully, there are some simple ways to overcome this challenge. For some helpful tips on how to align your B2B sales and marketing teams, keep reading.

#1) Create Clear, Transparent Goals

The first step to aligning your company's B2B sales and marketing teams is to create clear, transparent goals. Both teams should have an understanding of the company's objectives. Without clear goals, one team may take a different approach than the other. So, make sure your company's sales and marketing teams are on the same page.

#2) Blind Carbon Copy

When a sales team member sends an email to a prospect or customer, he or she should blind carbon copy that email to all other members -- including both sales and marketing team members. Doing so ensures that all email correspondences are seen by both teams; thus, helping to align your company's sales and marketing teams.

#3) Data Visibility

Don't underestimate the importance of data visibility when aligning your B2B company's sales and marketing teams. According to Huffington Post, FitzMark experienced a 3% growth in profit margins and 237% growth in revenue by making data readily available across all functions, locations and systems.

#4) Communication Collaboration

Communication is key to proper alignment of sales and marketing teams. If one team doesn't communicate with the other, they won't be able to synchronize their efforts to achieve the same, shared goals.

#5) Don't Step on Toes

Of course, it's important for sales and marketing teams to stay within their respective area of operation. Sales teams, for instance, should focus on converting prospects to customers, whereas marketing teams should focus on attracting new prospects. If either team performs tasks designated by the other, it can hurt the company's ability to generate sales.

#6) Track and Report

Finally, sales and marketing teams should track and report their efforts. Marketing teams, for instance, must identify the link between prospects and their actions to construct an effective marketing strategy, and sales teams must analyze key data to effective convert prospects into customers. The bottom line is that both sales and marketing teams must track and report their efforts -- and then share this information with the other team for maximum effect.

Following these six tips with your company align its B2B sales and marketing teams.