Why IT Must Help Marketing and Sales Collaborate with Lead Generation
A report by Aberdeen Group, “Sales Effectiveness: Helping Sales Sell” concludes, “70% of companies have misdirected their spending on sales/marketing technology and need to align their investment towards the goal of helping sales sell.”
Is your CRM software a joke?
Despite the time and money being spent on sales and marketing technology like CRM, web analytics and eMail campaigns most companies have NOT reaped real ROMI. Plus, today’s business scene is rife with new competition, shrinking budgets and teams stretched to do more with less. Why? The complex sale requires great synergy between marketing and sales, which requires greater collaboration.
CRM / SFA applications promised to help “sales” and “close more business” however few companies can attribute any quantifiable results to their efforts. Over the past few years the term “failure” has become closely linked to CRM – so skepticism is rampant. Plus there is a communication gap between sales and marketing. Successful lead generation requires real-time communication between sales and marketing. This is where IT can help.
Sales Effectiveness = Collaboration
In the last 5 years sales has switched from lone eagle to a selling team. Collaboration is not about choosing the “right” technology. It begins with your culture, shared vision and the emotions of your team (read Primal Leadership.)
I believe the communication gap exists is not because of a lack of respect but because of lack of understanding. Each side is vague in their minds about what the other party does. So that’s the place to start.
You’re welcome to debate me on this but this is how I see it…
1) IT supplies the tools and CRM and close-loop reporting framework for marketing/sales
2) Marketing generates the right leads and helps sales sell though the sales process
3) Sales engage the right steps to close deals that result in revenue.
ROI What gets measured gets done
How is marketing team measured?
How is sales team measured?
How can we tie the measurements together?
I’m speaking on this topic at the Minnesota Technology Awareness Forum
CRM, Lead Generation, Leadership, Marketing Strategy, Personal Messages, ROI Measurement
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I agree 100% and have seen our customers starting to look for exactly that.. a solution that can help Marketing provide the right materials,insights and information when sales needs it as well as a solution that provides sales with something that can provide them the insights they need when they need them to sell. There is not even effective collaboration among the sales team or among sales teams and sales management. It all comes down to the necessity of providing technology that is for the sales person to help them sell, not for management to help them forecast.
Thanks. I agree with your points too. The key is to get alignment first and then focus on execution. Most organizations want immediate results so they rush to get execution (software, technology, lead generation campaigns and etc.) only to find they aren’t any better off.
-Brian