Agreeing on who you\u2019re selling to is a great\u2014and essential\u2014start. But very soon afterwards, you\u2019ll also want to agree on when these people are ready to be sold to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question of \u2018readiness\u2019 is at the root of almost all discontent between sales and marketing teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s what happens if you don\u2019t settle that question early on\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You approach the end of the quarter, and Sales demands more leads as it races to meet its quota. Marketing feels the pressure and sends sales everything it\u2019s got. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of these leads are sales-ready, but the vast majority are far from it. (Perhaps they\u2019ve downloaded one e-book or attended an event. Two years ago.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As trail after trail runs cold, Sales rapidly become disillusioned. It loses its faith in Marketing\u2019s power and starts treating the leads that are coming its way with suspicion and contempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marketing, in turn, starts to resent Sales for undervaluing its work\u2014including the super-ready sales leads it\u2019s just started sending through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an all too common scenario. And it\u2019s incredibly easy to avoid. All you need to do is dig out that root of contention before it can bear such bitter fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With this in mind, here\u2019s our second step to simple Sales and Marketing alignment (no trowels required):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Define when a lead is really sales-ready<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Remember that meeting room you lured your sales and marketing teams into during step #1? You\u2019re going to need it again. And maybe up the ante regarding bait\u2014we find the cake is usually a good call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you\u2019ve got your sales and marketing people back around the same table, it\u2019s time to agree, once and for all, on the characteristics of a sales-ready lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But you\u2019ll want to decide some other things too. Here\u2019s a checklist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Decide what your lead is doing or thinking at every funnel stage<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Bearing in mind your ideal buyer persona, you should set down your hypothetical lead\u2019s actions, thoughts and feelings as they progress from complete ignorance of your brand, to really interested in buying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Decide what activity or behaviour shows they\u2019ve moved to the next stage<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Reading a whitepaper? Attending a webinar? Or two? It\u2019s crucial to define the behaviours that\u2019ll tell you a lead has moved from TOFU to MOFU, to BOFU (Top of Funnel, Middle of Funnel, Bottom of Funnel) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(If you\u2019ve got a marketing automation system<\/a> that lets you score leads based on profile and behaviour, and track them through the funnel, this kind of thing suddenly becomes a whole lot easier.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the big one\u2014agreeing on what a lead has to do to be considered sales-ready. The fact that you\u2019re including both Sales and Marketing in this discussion will do wonders in terms of interdepartmental relations, helping to ensure sales doesn\u2019t ever feel short-changed by the leads that come its way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you all take a second slice of cake and head triumphantly back to your desks, you\u2019ll also want to decide how sales-ready leads should be handed over. Ideally, Marketing should be able to present a list of leads, some of which sales will accept, and some which it\u2019ll decline. Integrated Sales and Marketing CRM systems<\/a> can accelerate this process, by letting Sales see instantly when leads become \u2018sales-ready\u2019, and accept or decline them with a click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite how brilliantly you\u2019ve plotted your lead\u2019s journey through the funnel, there\u2019ll always be some that, while their behaviours say they\u2019re up to temperature, ultimately prove still a little too cool. While you\u2019ve got everyone together, take a few moments to agree on the process for handing these leads back for a little more time in the marketing microwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One final, underlying goal of this Sales and Marketing get-together should be to foster a sense of mutual accountability for the well-being of your demand generation process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To this end, be sure to get both teams to commit to a regular review of your pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And\u2026 you\u2019re done. Take that second slice of cake, and savour the sweet taste of growing Sales and Marketing alignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But not for too long. If you\u2019re to fully align Sales and Marketing, there are still three more steps to complete. The next step is to connect your marketing automation to your CRM<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Or just dive straight into our ebook, Sales & Marketing Alignment Made Easy<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. Decide what aggregate behaviours indicate the prospect is ready to consider buying something<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Decide how sales-ready leads will be handed over<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Decide how leads will be handed back to Marketing if they\u2019re not yet ready to buy<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
![\"State](\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/eu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2018\/08\/state-of-sales.png\")
\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"