To enhance buyer-seller interactions, collaborate to develop high-value sales content.
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Sales and marketing alignment improves buyer-seller interactions
Research shows that deals generally turn out better when sellers guide buyers through the purchasing process. The challenge, however, is that three out of four buyers now prefer a rep-free experience.
And when we do talk to buyers, another challenge emerges: Buyer confidence drops when they come across inconsistent messages from a company, such as when the website communicates one thing and a seller says something different. This is where marketing plays a key role. All digital points of contact — social media pages and posts, websites, newsletters, etc. — must deliver the same message to build buyer confidence. Strong collaboration and alignment between sales and marketing teams are essential to achieving this consistency.
Sales and marketing alignment strategies drive outcomes
Close collaboration between sales and marketing significantly improves the buyer journey by enhancing customer interactions and helping buyers make knowledgeable decisions. Sales and marketing leaders have an important responsibility to build this partnership.
Support buyer progression with relevant sales content
There are six specific buyer tasks, often called “buying jobs,” that customers need to complete when making a purchase: problem identification, solution exploration, requirements building, supplier selection, validation and consensus creation.
For every buying job, sales and marketing teams should work together to align their content and give sellers content or tools to improve buyer confidence at the current stage of their journey. This helps buyers make informed decisions and allows for high-quality interactions with sellers that can accelerate the purchase process and reduce the likelihood of buyer regret.
Enable sellers to build consensus among buying group members
One difficulty in B2B selling is that large groups, not individuals, make buying decisions. These groups typically consist of five to 10 people, about three-quarters of whom communicate independently at different times (asynchronously). While this can limit the group’s internal collaboration, it presents an opportunity for sales and marketing teams to create tools designed to foster better collaboration between buying groups and sellers.
By understanding group buying dynamics, sellers can make their interactions more effective and offer tailored content suited to the buying group. The goal is to emphasize common viewpoints and shared language to help settle conflicting priorities — which helps advance the sale.
Identify high-impact drivers of change and purchase
A vast majority — around 99% — of B2B purchases occur when organizations are experiencing significant changes. Often these changes involve digital upgrades, adjustments in how the company operates or a new strategic direction. These moments present opportunities for sellers to offer easy-to-access, shareable information and tools buyers can use to confidently manage the changes driving their need to buy something new.
Sales and marketing teams should work together on the following:
Identify the common major factors causing organizational change for customers, and understand the specific business needs these changes address.
Create a “"journey map” focused on change. This map should outline the tasks customers perform and the difficulties or barriers that various involved parties (stakeholders) and buyers encounter during such changes.
Select and distribute content specifically designed to assist buyers in effectively navigating organizational shifts (sometimes called “change enablement” content).
Encourage self-reflective customer learning to empower action
Opportunities to move the sales cycle forward or close new business often arise during direct interactions with buyers. Gartner research finds that 42% of buyers reported high-quality deals through traditional methods involving a sales representative, compared to only 16% for online self-service purchases.
Top sellers make the sale in part by learning from marketing colleagues during their initial onboarding and asking for continuous training focused on general customer needs — separate from any specific product. What problems are customers having? What do buyers need to learn to solve those problems? This approach enables sellers to help customers think independently and reflect, allowing them to clearly express their own requirements — a method that proves key to securing high-quality deals.
Sales and marketing alignment FAQs
What is sales and marketing alignment?
Sales and marketing alignment is the close cooperation and coordination between these two departments. When aligned, they share communication, strategies and goals, allowing them to function smoothly as one unified team. Aligned sales and marketing teams can improve overall sales performance and help increase company revenue.
How should sales and marketing work together?
Sales and marketing teams are more effective when they work together on sales and marketing plans, messages and materials. This collaboration helps sellers figure out the major factors causing change for their customers, leading to better interactions with buyers and stronger results.
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