Assuming you have done an effective job of setting up and creating an inbound marketing system, your sales process has to work in tandem to court your buyers. Marrying your sales process with your buying process can be challenging, especially if your marketing and sales teams are working along functional lines and teams. However, with the speed of business today, few businesses can afford a delay in reaction to buyers today.
Failing to act at the right time can cost opportunities as buyers’ attention moves towards your competitors or other distractions. Thus, your selling process has to be responsive and in sync with the way a lead moves through your inbound marketing program. Here are some points to ensure continuity:
- Define the handoff. There should be some key events which warrant sales follow-up. Come together as a team and identify the key moments when a buyer takes specific actions. This can be from a call to action or landing page view. Ensure it would make a natural time to connect via the phone.
- Log marketing events. Key events such as opens of content, downloads or page views should be made easy to see for your sales team. It provides context. If there is a key event, help them to see it in their CRM system and provide specific actions that should be taken like triggering a specific email, sending a personalized gift or making a call. There should be some room for being human and making judgments on how to approach the prospect.
- Provide nurturing buckets. When sales contact occurs, the readiness of the buyer can be assessed. If they are not ready, provide a process and content streams which provide for ongoing nurturing to prepare the lead for sales engagement at a later time. A checkbox or picklist of marketing programs would be ideal from a marketing automation system.
The goal is to align your marketing and sales to continue a natural conversation. Timing and coordination are critical for a welcome call and touchpoint. Ensure your process accounts for a complete lifecycle for the various leads your team will encounter.
How is your selling process aligned today?