What Smarketing Looks Like (And Why Your Company Needs to Adopt It)

Smarketing is a new buzz word in the world of sales and marketing. Actually, it’s a contraction of sales & marketing. Hubspot defines smarketing as: “…the alignment between your sales and marketing teams created through frequent and direct communication between the two.”

Since a company’s end goal is always the same, it makes perfect sense to integrate sales and marketing processes in the pursuit of those end goals. Establishing this common ground makes the process of acquiring leads and converting them a lot smoother. It also makes more sense for a consumer to undergo a more cohesive experience. A disjointed experience between sales and marketing can lead to consumer confusion and lost opportunities. A consumer should never feel like they’re being tossed around.

Instead of treating sales and marketing teams like two competing units, a company that takes a cooperative approach makes them all part of the same team. Bringing them together as allies will positively impact a company’s bottom line as well. In fact, some companies that have joined their sales and marketing forces reported a 20% revenue growth.

So, what does smarketing look like within a company?

Sales and Marketing Alignment Best Practices:

It starts with a framework

First, a company’s sales and marketing teams need to be on the same page regarding their target market and what they consider a warm lead. They should also know what their respective objectives are. How many leads should marketing be bringing in? How fast should sales follow up with a lead? How many times should they follow up? Making sure everyone is aligned makes the process so much more straightforward. It’s like a team playing together on a soccer field; the infield and the outfield both know when and where to send the ball. A clear sales and marketing strategy is vital.

Using common terminology

In addition to functioning within the same framework, a company’s sales and marketing alignment depends on using common terminology for the entire funnel process. Having set terms and terminology will not only make the discourse between departments clearer, it will also make the process more streamlined for the customer. If sales is using one set of terminology and marketing is using another, they risk sending mixed messages to the consumer.

Frequent sales and marketing meetings

Saying that a company’s sales and marketing teams work together sounds nice in theory, but it must also be put into practice. Regular meetings provide the physical coming together of the sales and marketing teams and focusing on a common purpose. Sales and marketing management should also work closely together to ensure objectives are being met or to establish those objectives.

The purpose of the meetings is to track their collective progress and hone the smarketing process. Bringing ideas, resources, and suggestions together in meetings can bolster the entire process. Bringing the teams together face-to-face as allies reduces any antagonism, replacing it with the constructive opportunity to build on each other’s success instead.

Create boundaries

Even though the purpose of smarketing is to bring the sales and marketing teams together, there must still be delineation between their respective responsibilities. Clear boundaries must be set between where marketing ends and sales begins so intrusion can be avoided. After all, sales and marketing are two different specialties that require different skills. Employees must know what their particular roles are in a company and how they fit together to keep friction to a minimum.

Closed loop reporting

Anyone from sales or marketing should be able to tell where a particular lead is in the sales and marketing process. They should never be left wondering: “Hey whatever happened to that guy I met at that seminar in June?” They should be able to open up a program and see exactly where that guy is in the buying process. Business 2 Community recommends using both marketing automation software and CRM software to provide data access for both teams and build transparency.

Closed-loop reporting also offers more opportunities for two-way discussion and input between sales and marketing teams. They can check in with each other to enhance the process or give each other valuable customer insight. Aligning sales and marketing processes makes both sides feel they’re working towards a collective goal.

The moral?

Creating a sales-marketing alignment plan can boost a company’s bottom line by creating an opportunity to build each other up rather than tear each other down. Environments, where the sales and marketing teams are competitive rivals, don’t make much sense when the main objective is the same.

To create sales and marketing alignment, a company needs to improve the relationship and conversation between the departments. Smarketing puts sales and marketing on the same team for the benefit of the company as a whole. Now that’s smart marketing!