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In a typical B2B or B2C environment, an internal marketing department provides qualified leads to its counterpart down the hall in the sales department — but that’s a lot easier said than done. The process of aligning sales and marketing teams is both a challenge and an opportunity.
If marketing and sales isn’t on the same page, profit can fall through the cracks. On the other hand, properly aligned outreach can potentially be one of the best tools for improving business performance. When marketing and sales teams unite, they dramatically improve marketing ROI, sales productivity, and most importantly, top-line growth.
For manufacturers that work with distribution partners, marketing and sales teams face a divide — mainly due to the fact that they aren’t working for the same companies. Since lead generation, handoff and nurturing processes don’t take place under the same roof, strong communication between the two entities is necessary for their success.
It typically works like this: Manufacturers generate the leads and pass them off to distributors. Distributors are then responsible for following up and nurturing those leads through the sales funnel. But, because systems and processes can vary from partner to partner, the potential for a lead-sharing disconnect is high. Your distributors are likely working with many manufacturers, including your competitors.
What’s the current status of the lead? Did follow-up take place? When? Was it a quality lead?
How can you find out any of this information if you aren’t connected to your distributor’s sales team? These are critical questions, and the answers can have a major financial impact on your bottom line. You need digital solutions to help you answer them.
Optimizing sales and marketing relationships with digital channel solutions can significantly improve company revenue. Companies dedicated to fostering communication and cohesiveness between the two departments with digital technologies will see success — and your business can, too. Here are three important steps you can take now to align marketing and sales so you can get the most out of the leads you share with channel partners and distributors.
Collecting business cards or email addresses at trade shows is not enough. Qualifying leads requires context and data. They need to be actionable for your distributors. Even adding industry, location, or company size (by employee count or revenue) goes a long way toward ensuring your sales partners have all the info they need.
Be intentional and methodical about how you share leads, and how those leads are received and organized. The best-case scenario is an integrated system that allows you to easily share leads and receive feedback on the quality or urgency of a lead.
Once you can distribute sales feedback between departments more easily, incorporate that information into both your lead generation program and revenue expectations/forecasts. This closed loop information flow is essential. It allows you to continually fine-tune and improve your lead sharing and qualifying process. Practice makes perfect.
Incorporating these three steps into your distribution sales model will result in higher win rates, fewer wasted leads, and easier deal closing. It might even help you cultivate a better relationship with distributors and channel partners, too.
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