In some companies, the patterns still work in opposition: Sales teams blame marketing teams for not producing enough qualified leads, while marketing teams blame sales for their lack of communication and rigor in handling the leads generated...
Smarketing is the opposite!
The boundaries between the missions of the sales and marketing teams are porous since the teams work hand in hand from the start of the strategy. From the definition of personas to the conclusion of the sale.
To optimize the chances of success, a certain number of criteria must be respected. First and foremost, employees must want to work together and understand the benefits of the approach (decompartmentalization of teams, better quality leads, better understanding of customer expectations, more expert content, reaching objectives, etc.)
The Smarketing approach should be introduced very early on in the Inbound marketing strategy. The entire customer journey must be thought out and validated by the sales and marketing teams.
Understanding each other by speaking the same language is an essential element for building an effective and sustainable strategy and creating a real dynamic of cohesion.
Market trends, successes and difficulties met must be discussed regularly to refine or rectify the strategy.
The use of a CRM is essential to ensure performance monitoring. All prospect information must be freely available.
Sales people need to share their customer and market knowledge so that marketing teams can define the right strategy to reach their targets. This knowledge will allow them to produce content adapted to the prospect's needs and help them to mature their thinking.
The Smarketing approach was implemented at the same time as the Inbound marketing strategy. Aurélie and Jérémy, who both have field experience and come from the agricultural sector, speak the same language and quickly understand customer expectations.
This organization came together quite naturally.
They work closely together on a daily basis to achieve common goals:
"To imagine and produce content for our personas, I rely on Jeremy's agronomic knowledge. As a sales manager, he is in the front line to understand the needs, expectations and obstacles of our prospects.
We have regular meetings (at least once a week) during which I put him through a real "interrogation" (laughs). I always put myself in the shoes of our prospects and ask many questions.
My goal is to make concepts that are sometimes difficult to understand as easy to understand as possible. And in our business, that's essential!"
Aurélie Busnel - Marketing & communication manager
The new issue of TeamViz highlights the complementary skills of Aurélie and Jérémy 👇👇