We recently read a SellingPower.com article that offered sage advice on the age-old problem of getting sales and marketing to align with advice from Ken Thoreson, managing partner of Acumen Management Group. Here are three tips he offered:
1) Track metrics. “Know the quality of leads coming in. Have marketing rate them from 1 to 5, then have sales rate them. Then it is up to top management to reconcile them. Know the close ratio, and understand the formula that links the marketing funnel to the sales funnel.”
2) Collaborate. “Lots of marketers do not attend trade shows, observe sales calls, or sit in on demonstrations. Marketers should spend three days with resellers if your company has channel partners.”
3) Compensate. “There is an old saying that if sales are down, the VP of sales is fired and the VP of marketing creates another plan. Give marketers performance-based compensation. In a large organization, you can give them 10 to 15 percent of compensation based on sales.”
