Kelly Hopping is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Demandbase.
Sales and marketing alignment has been a complicated topic for years, with organizations realizing its importance but still floundering to achieve it. Throughout my marketing career, I’ve seen various shades of alignment success. I’ve also been part of the problem and, more recently, a driver of the solution.
Or, I should say solutions because alignment is complex. It didn’t take one thing to get us to the current state of misalignment, and it won’t take one simple switch to get us out. There are, however, some key things that marketers can do immediately to help pave the way. Here’s a look into one of my favorites.
They’re Just Not That Into You
Many of us remember the book He’s Just Not That Into You, which came out in the early 2000s and was later followed by a movie of the same name. The idea was as it sounds: an honest, if harsh, truth about “understanding guys” in a dating context. Unfortunately, this premise is how some marketers believe their sales counterparts feel about them. They’re just not that into us.
As a result, we throw up our hands and say: “Well, too bad. We tried.” Then, what happens next? In most organizations, marketing ends up pitted against sales. The subtle finger-pointing begins, which eventually devolves into a nearly continuous blame game. Sales says, “We need better opportunities from marketing,” and marketing says, “We’re giving them opportunities; sales needs to close them.”
But is a general dislike really what’s going on between the two teams? Or is this the narrative that’s been spun? Even more to the point, have many of us embraced this narrative because it’s a way to let ourselves off the hook in a relationship that seems to be stalled, if not fraught with tension? I’d say we’re getting warmer.
Flipping The Script
When I started in my current role as CMO of Demandbase, my sales counterpart, Chief Sales Officer (CSO) John Eitel, and I knew we wanted sales and marketing to be one unified team. Both of us had past experiences where this wasn’t the case, and we had seen firsthand how utterly destructive it was to the business as well as to each of the parties involved. We began down a path that we’re still walking. It’s a process, but it’s the most successful alignment story I’ve ever seen or been a part of.
As John and I have figured out where the breakdowns tend to happen, we’ve traced a lot of the dysfunction today back to long-held mindsets. The origin is often the whole “They’re just not that into us” mentality. If marketing believes this, they put up their guard and avoid really listening to the sellers on their team. They get resentful when feedback is provided or stop accepting feedback altogether. It’s unproductive at best and toxic at worst.
So, how do you reverse this? One way to start is by rewiring our mindsets. If you’re in marketing, catch yourself when a thought like “Sales is lazy” pops into your mind. Notice when your frustration kicks in and you think, “What’s the point? Sales doesn’t appreciate us anyway.” Awareness, as they say, is the first step. Then, you can plant the seeds of a different mindset.
My marketing team and I have embraced the mantra that we want to “Make sales love us.” We repeat this often, and we’ve talked about what it actually means so it’s become more concrete to us. We’ve envisioned what our jobs will feel like when we’ve reached that goal.
Making sales love us means that we’re giving them a brand that they’re proud to represent, enabling them with helpful, useful content, simplifying their product and solution offerings, and attracting and engaging a high-quality pipeline. It also means that we’re all in the same room when problems arise and we need to find solutions. And, honestly, just even defining this as what we hope to achieve has altered our perceptions and interactions.
For example, someone who was previously resentful that sellers get all the credit for revenue wins might have a softening of the heart when their mantra is to make those same sellers love them. It makes you part of one team, working together toward shared goals instead of setting up to be opposing forces.
Make It Part Of The Ongoing Dynamic
Simply telling people a motto isn’t going to unroot the dissension between teams that can run very deep. But it is a place to start. If marketing aims to get sales to love them, sales will feel the shift. They’ll be more gracious toward marketing—and the positive cycle continues. Aim to also find ways to incorporate this type of mentality into the day-to-day routine to really cement it in your team members.
For example, we recently held our RKO (revenue kickoff) where we set goals and got our sales team excited about the year ahead. This year, marketing had a metaphorical and literal seat at the table too. John and I presented together, and we reinforced the idea that we’re all part of the same team. We even gave out an award called the Make Sales Love Us award to the marketer who had the biggest influence on sales.
When our teams walked away from the event, one thing was clear: Sales knew that marketing had its best interests at heart, and marketing was starting to suspect the same in return. Did it fix everything overnight? Of course not. But it laid a foundation, created shared experiences and ensured that we all knew where we were trying to head.
Next time you find yourself thinking that sales just isn’t that into you, or making any other assumptions, try first to reset your mindset. What’s more likely to be the truth? And how can you, whether you’re in marketing or sales, do your part to make the other department love you? This seemingly small change can kick off really big changes.
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