Smarketing term refers to the process of integrating the sales and marketing processes of a business.
The objective of smarketing is for the sales and marketing functions to have a common integrated approach. The reason behind?? obviously, to close the leads on quick and large scale.
Though it was never higher on the agenda of businesses worldwide. A new study of the sales and marketing alignment globally shows that businesses of all sizes are prioritizing the relationship between sales and marketing teams.
However, knowing the importance of sales and marketing alignment doesn't mean it is easy to achieve. The relationships that grow longer always have shared commitment and a shared set of objectives. The same is true for Smarketing.
SOME DATA ON SMARKETING
Based on LinkedIn's Survey among 3,500 sales professionals and over 3,500 marketers across Australia, India, Southeast Asia, the UK and the US. 79% agreed that collaboration exists between their sales and marketing teams, 58% said that it delivered improved customer retention and 54% linked it to a boost in financial performance. Levels of sales and marketing collaboration were even higher in India (85%) and South East Asia (84%) than in the US (76%), Australia (74%) and UK (73%).
However, despite a vast majority of businesses (74%) reporting some forward progress on sales and marketing alignment, far fewer describe it as ‘much better’ than a year ago. In fact, only a quarter of those talked about significant advances. The reason, of course, execution!!!
How to do SMARKETING and on what scale??
The Process!!!
The success of smarketing is based on these 3 factors:-
Frequent meetings to share ideas and information between each other.
Co-ordination planning and outreach.
Agreement on shared objectives and measurement.
The Actions!!!
The four key actions that drive more meaningful sales and marketing alignment are:-
Shared objectives and KPIs.
Better customer insights and understanding.
Clear accountability and workflow.
A schedule of regular team meetings.
The Conclusion:-
Organizations struggle to take the sales and marketing relationship to the next level don’t necessarily lack enthusiasm – but they may well be pouring their energy into the wrong tactics.
In a competitive business, any form of advantage is vital. Advancing the sales and marketing relationship doesn’t just improve morale, productivity and efficiency, it also delivers measurable gains that boost the bottom line. The ability to form sales and marketing power couples divides businesses that grow sustainably from those that don’t.
According to the data it's a clear evidence of the difference that active sales and marketing alignment can make. Prospects who have been primed through targeted marketing content are 25% more likely to respond to an In-mail from a sales rep – and 10% more likely to accept a connection request. The benefits flow in the other direction as well: a sales rep’s connections are almost five times more likely than average to share marketing content.
Thus its a two way bridge!!!
Are you ready to take Smarketing to the next level??