Lockstep Sales Collateral For A Seamless Performance: ACT I

Our “Scars And Stitches” blog post brought some scary stats to light about shattered sales and marketing alignment: from lifeless leads and colorless content to the relentless jabs at both bottom line and branding.

Let’s recast the spotlight on that fragmentation and then explore how to get your teams in show-stopping step with sales collateral cohesion.

The scary stats revisited.

LEADS

• 79% of marketing leads never convert to sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance. (MarketingSherpa)
• 61% of B2B marketers send all leads directly to sales; however, only 27% of those leads will be qualified. (MarketingSherpa)
• Only 25% of leads are legitimate and should advance to sales. (Gleanster Research)

CONTENT

• 70% of content created by B2B marketing teams is never used by sales. (SiriusDecisions)
• 40% of a sales rep’s time is spent creating presentations, customizing messaging and preparing for pitches (CMO Council)

BOTTOM LINE & BRANDING

• Resources misused: producing sales and marketing content that’s never used and pushing leads who aren’t right for your business or ready to buy.
• Opportunities abused: sales reps creating content and designing brochures or trying to get leads on their own instead of engaging with prospects and closing sales.
• Brand bruised: reps creating content without marketing support, and marketing trying to furnish materials and leads without sales input, leading to brand damage and message dilution.

LIGHTS: Sales Enablement is a strategized production.

Think of your entire sales and marketing process as a choreographed performance. If you want a big hit, you have to differentiate your players and strategize their roles.

• MARKETING shines the spotlight on groups of prospects and sets that persuasive stage, constructing the scene that your company has what it takes to solve their problems and address their needs.Think: birds-eye-view stage crew.
  

• Marketing escorts this warmed-up audience to your SALES team, which drills down to individual prospects on a personal, customized level.Think: exclusive and intimate after party.

CAMERA: Sales and marketing perform together.

They may have different roles to play, different skills to lean on and hoops to jump through in their respective positions. But sales and marketing must work together to pull off that seamless, show-stopping production.

• SALES reps rely on marketing to stir up brand awareness and usher in quality leads.
• MARKETING relies on sales reps to delight and dazzle those leads, turning them into raving fans and paying customers.

ACTION: Lockstep sales collateral makes the scene make sense.

Your sales collateral is your script, not only instructing your teams on how to work together, but also providing the content that makes the crowd go wild.

• Lockstep sales collateral keeps sales and marketing in sync when it comes to voice, tone and messaging, protecting your brand’s consistent image and reputation.
• Lockstep sales collateral helps marketing inject a personalized potency into otherwise generalized materials, sparking that emotional connection with each progressive segment of the buying process.
• Lockstep sales collateral allows the sales team to build on the messaging already presented by marketing and forge a personalized, sensationalized experience for the B2B buyer.

So how do you put sales collateral in lockstep for your sales and marketing teams? Stay tuned for Act II, when we’ll give you the play by play on collateral cohesion with sales enablement tools and techniques.

Ready to get your teams in seamless lockstep for sales success? Fill out the form below, and we’ll put on a show for you: spotlighting the perfect Sales Enablement Platform for sales and marketing alignment.