MAIN INSIGHT 40
Deepika Patel
HEAD OF MARKETING
How important is it for sales and marketing teams to be aligned?
Sales and marketing teams are working towards the same thing, so it makes little sense to silo them operationally. For both departments to shine, it is important they understand one another. Many of the best marketers come from sales backgrounds, which is why they are so adept at understanding how they can best support their sales colleagues. This collaborative approach needs to be led by example from top management, otherwise you may end up with different teams or individuals trying to achieve different things and unravelling your business strategy.
There is a fine balance to be struck between staying front of mind for a buyer but also ensuring you don’t come across as too pushy. By ensuring that sales and marketing teams are aligned you stand a better chance of marketing in a way that makes prospective buyers want to learn more about you and ultimately encourage them to contact you.
How can businesses help their customers to buy from them instead of having to sell?
Take time to really understand your customer’s buying journey - what are they looking to learn at each stage? Once you have this deep understanding you can marry it up with what you as a business want the customer to learn at each stage, creating a buying journey that answers their questions, adds value to their lives and doesn’t overwhelm them. Don’t rush them through their buying journey, a slower approach will build more trust and ultimately improve your conversion rates.
You can complement this understanding with research on how they conduct their business lives - what technologies do they use? What are they trying to achieve by doing so? This will give you the insights required to connect with them on a very human level early in the sales process, which is vital for building trust. But this is not an exercise valuable solely for sales and marketing teams, the insight adds value to all areas of your business. A regular all-hands meeting to share new insights, challenges and successes helps to accelerate the development and growth of all your customer-facing departments.
Once you have this deep understanding you can marry it up with what you as a business want the customer to learn at each stage, creating a buying journey that answers their questions, adds value to their lives and doesn’t overwhelm them.
There will always be a need for great sales people within complex technology purchases - people need a face to trust when making large purchases.
What does it take to sell successfully within competitive technology marketplaces?
Technology marketplaces are extremely competitive, and to be successful requires patience and persistence. Start with one digital channel initially and focus on getting that right through testing and refinement. Once you are happy that this channel is working for you and that there is a continual improvement process in place for it, you can then focus on getting the next digital channel to work for you. By taking this step-by-step approach you will avoid spending large amounts of budget on unproven channels and ultimately generate higher quality leads for your sales team.
Of course, you also need to understand what makes your value proposition unique if you want to stand out in a crowded marketplace. You also need to be able to back your USP up through quality and expertise. Marketing can use videos and case studies to demonstrate the quality of your product or service, whilst highlighting your expertise through relevant whitepapers. Sales teams can also establish quality and expertise by ensuring that they understand the pain points of their customers and providing prospects with personalised, relevant content. Whilst many buying processes are now becoming digital only, there will always be a need for great sales people within complex technology purchases - people need a face to trust when making large purchases.
Mobica is a global software services company, providing Tech Talent-as-a-Service to businesses building amazing products and services for tomorrow’s world. Headquartered in Manchester UK with offices across Europe and US, they partner with businesses across multiple industries - from aerospace to finance and semiconductors to automotive - providing them with access to incredible talent and engineering expertise across the entire technology stack. With over 700 engineers, they help businesses build the software that brings physical and digital experiences together and are trusted by brands such as Google, ARM, Meta, BMW, Samsung, ABB, and more.
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