Like peanut-butter and jelly, burgers and fries, and sales and marketing – some things are just meant to go together. Wait… sales and marketing? Yes! Sales and marketing are the ultimate power couple combo for business. And, like Brangelina, they even have their own power couple name – “Smarketing”.
Smarketing is a term coined by Hubspot to describe the unique approach of aligning sales and marketing teams for a common goal. It is how these two teams can best work together to create and close on quality leads. So how does one begin to align these two teams – and what goals should they be working toward together?
The first step in the Smarketing process is getting your sales and marketing teams together to discuss and set their goals. A great example of aligning the goals of your sales and marketing team is for your marketers to “sign up for a number.” What does this mean exactly? It means having your marketing team set sales goals for themselves that are in line with the goals of your sales team.
An easy way to do this is to set an overall revenue goal and work backwards. If your revenue goal is $15,000/month and your average sale is $1,000, you will need 15 customers to reach this goal. Next, you want to look at your average lead to customer conversion rate to figure out how many leads your marketing team needs to produce for your sales team to close on 15 new customers. The answer to that equation is what your marketing team will then set as their “sales goal.”
One important thing to keep in mind when setting these goals is that you ensure they are S.M.A.R.T.
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-bound
At the end of this blog we’ve included a dowloadable template to help you establish and track your S.M.A.R.T. goals.
A common complaint that sales and marketing departments have about each other is that they aren’t attracting or closing on quality leads. Why is this? One reason could be that there isn’t a clear picture of who your target customer is. This is where buyer personas can help. A buyer persona represents your ideal customer and helps your Smarketing team in the creation of content, offers, and ways to approach the customer.
A great way to establish personas for your company is to select current customers who align with the type of leads you are looking for, then have your team conduct interviews to gain valuable insights from them. In addition to the basic demographic questions, you want to ask what conditions triggered your customer to seek out and use your product or services? Have you lived up to their expectations? And what sources do they attain their information from when making decisions? After your team has completed three – four interviews, get your Smarketing team together to evaluate the data and build your ideal customer description.
The final portion of the buyer persona includes evaluating how your persona moves through the buyer’s journey. The buyer’s journey is the marketing process that a consumer follows which converts them – from a stranger looking to solve a problem, to a delighted customer helping to promote your business. Made up of three stages – awareness, consideration, and decision – the stage your buyer is in will determine how your company interacts with them.
It’s important to remember, when defining how your lead is moving through the journey, that about 60 – 70% of a buyer’s journey occurs before your sales team even makes direct contact with them.
Successful Smarketing is the result of constant communication between your two departments about how each one is performing. The performance of one department often explains and determines the performance of the other. When one branch is doing well, not only is the other doing well – but the entire business is stronger.
It’s amazing how Smarketing can completely change the way that you do business. Don’t just stop here though. Dig deeper into how Smarketing can further increase sales and generate quality leads. Get feedback from your team and adapt and change where needed.
Are you already using Smarketing in your business? If so what works for you? Leave your best advice in the comments below, we’d love to know.