According to research conducted by Aberdeen, properly coordinated sales and marketing teams show a 400% higher annual growth compared to other teams. Marketing and sales are two major revenue drivers for a company. If a company was a human organism, marketing would be the brain, while sales would be the heart. Marketers build fame while the sales teams gain trust, and loyalty. These two departments are interrelated, yet function separately. Misalignments between sales and marketing result in poor strategy execution and frustration.

This article will reveal the five steps which align sales & marketing teams and also explain how CRM could streamline communication across both teams to drive better results to your business. Step 1. Define Company Strategy & Goals 45% of businesses work without a clear digital strategy which means they don’t fully recognize their competitors, users or market share. Both the sales and marketing departments aim for company growth but they use different means. Sales teams do monthly revenue plans and usually set up short term goals that drive immediate results. The marketing teams build an evergreen pipeline of quality leads that won’t be affected by season, holidays or any other external factors. And their relationships directly affect your marketing strategy:

The company leader should define one revenue plan for the company, while the marketing team with the assistance of sales should create buyer personas to help both teams speak the same language. Step 2. Develop Common Language When it comes to basic department needs, speaking the same language directly affects both marketing and sales efforts. Marketing should provide the sales team with full information on the channel where the leads have interacted with the product, and the touchpoints they’ve had. Hence, the sales team would provide potential buyers with a truly tailored experience.

Sharing information between the marketing and sales teams should be done in a common space. This communication chain will allow both teams to stay on the same page by organizing data about marketing channels, leads and navigate through tons of information.

The catalyst that will align the sales and marketing team could be the CRM software. Integrating the CRM system will enable both teams to work with the same data, share updates and create comprehensive reports. Perfectly organized data would improve customer service and increase the number of loyal users:

Step 3. Integrate CRM System CRM helps the marketing and sales team store optimization and feedback loops, see the top-performing digital channels and is a better way to communicate with the customer. If your team works primarily from Gmail, you could start with the Gmail integrated CRM.

The Gmail CRM can work in the form of a Chrome extension in your Gmail account and is the perfect place to keep all your correspondence in one place. CRM for Gmail is a software which is fully integrated into your account after installation. It helps you manage your pipelines, centralize your communication & send tailored bulk emails to customers.