Page 131 - The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million - PDFDrive.com

12
Aligning Sales and Marketing—The SMarketing
SLA

Here is an outrageous overgeneralization:

“Traditionally, Sales teams and Marketing teams have not always gotten along
with each other.”

You would be amazed at the laughs, smirks, and head nodding that I observe
when I make this statement in front of an audience.

It's true.

For many organizations, the relationship between Sales and Marketing is
dysfunctional. Marketing sits in one corner of the office, harboring the
perception that the sales team is a group of overpaid, self-centered brats who fail
to see the big-picture strategy. Sales is in another corner of the office, thinking
that the marketing team sits around doing arts and crafts all day and has no idea
what a qualified lead looks like. Rather than working together, these two teams
retreat to their respective corners, with Sales cranking out their cold calls and
Marketing working on trade shows and corporate branding exercises.

This dysfunctional relationship between Sales and Marketing is the kiss of death
in a buyer-driven world. Buyers begin their journey online, conducting research
on the problems they are experiencing or the opportunities they would like to
pursue. Marketing needs to own this initial stage of engagement, nurture buyers
through the initial phases of their journey, and seamlessly pass the buyer to Sales
at the most appropriate and helpful time. Sales needs to pick up where Marketing
left off, creating continuity in the buyer's experience with the broader
organization.

“The dysfunctional relationship between Sales and Marketing is the kiss of
death in a buyer-driven world.”

Fortunately for me, our CMO at HubSpot, Mike Volpe, was an amazing partner
to me in this journey. My relationship with Mike originated at MIT, years before
HubSpot ever existed. We were both quants. We both appreciated the paradigm