Who does Marketing Automation help?
If you said, “Marketing!” you’re only seeing half the picture.
Marketing Automation software is beneficial for Marketing teams, yes, but it’s also extremely helpful for Sales teams too.
Need to sell your Sales team on Marketing Automation (pun definitely intended)? Send them this cheeky little list of four reasons why they’ll absolutely fall in love with Marketing Automation:
1. Bridging the gap between Sales and Marketing
Getting Sales and Marketing on the same page is crucial for any company’s long term success.
Communication must flow easily between the two teams and if there’s any sort of breach within the relationship, chaos usually ensues (we’ve heard horror stories).
Marketing Automation allows Sales and Marketing to have real visibility into what’s happening on the other side.
All this communication means that prospects get nurtured and leads get closed with even more success! While you may have depended on emails back and forth to talk about a lead in the past, Marketing Automation seals the communication loop and allows for both teams to work together. Sales will be able to view a lead’s qualifications (pages viewed, emails opened, videos watched, etc.); hence, lessening the chance of any communication mishaps or misunderstandings.
The result?
More qualified leads, more deals closed, and happier, more confident Sales and Marketing teams. Read: utopia for most managers and business owners.
Looking for worksheets all about how to bridge the gap between Marketing and Sales? Check out the Marketing Automation Implementation Guide.
Honestly, we don’t even need the three extra points to sell to Sales, but we’ll do it anyway just for you (to really seal the deal!)…
2. Timing!
If you’ve been a loyal fan of ours for awhile, you know we’re pretty darn crazy about this thing called, “timing.”
Marketing Automation allows you to do two crucial things when it comes to timing:
- Marketing Automation software builds a relationship with people who aren’t ready to buy from you yet
- Marketing Automation software helps you know when a prospect’s timing is changing to your advantage.
Why should your Sales team care about timing?
This should be an easy question, but we asked it anyway. Timing is everything when it comes to Sales.
Duh. It’s their lifeblood.
The problem is most salespeople struggle to get their timing right without Marketing Automation software, if not just the fact that time gets wasted because of continuous calls to leads who may be cold. Instead, Net-Results and other marketing automation platforms actually show the behavior that indicates a prospect’s timing is changing to your advantage; for example, that the lead is warming up and is probably ready to talk to Sales!
Before, it was nearly impossible to make this call as a salesperson. Now, they can know exactly when a prospect is still in the research phase versus ready to make a purchase.
One way this happens is via a feature called lead scoring—a fancy little software invention that shows when a prospect is ready to buy without Sales ever having to ask or even reach out!
As visitors interact with your website (filling out forms, providing contact info, etc.), Marketing Automation software will attribute a value to those actions, add up the score over time, and indicate to your Sales team when the lead is ready to buy! Check out our Lead Scoring worksheets for a little extra help with this.
3. Integration with CRMs
CRMs are a salesperson’s best friend (that’s how that saying goes, right?).
Many Marketing Automation software programs integrate seamlessly with CRMs; however, we’ll only speak for Net-Results for this portion of the list.
Net-Results is able to natively integrate with Salesforce, Dynamics, Sugar, and some custom-built CRM systems.
By integrating your Marketing Automation software with your current CRM, you’ll be able to enhance the entire customer experience.
The purpose of CRMs and Marketing Automation is to build better relationships with current and future customers; however, if these two software systems are acting entirely independent of each other, you could end up tracking two different conversations and actions of the same customer.
What a headache! Luckily, this all-too-common problem can be nipped in the bud with Marketing Automation software that fully integrates into your existing CRM system.
Within that same vein, integrating your CRM with Marketing Automation software will help to create a unified approach to data management within the company. We feel confident that data management and credible, accurate reporting are important to Marketing as well as Sales!
Accurate data and reliable reporting is crucial for the success of both departments, so what are you waiting for!? Aren’t you (Sales) positively SOLD on the idea of Marketing Automation?
No?
Scroll on down to number 4… this’ll be the kicker.
4. Better lead qualification
That’s right—we know the term “leads” is like catnip to most salespeople; that’s why we saved the best for last.
Marketing Automation software is guaranteed to bring better, more qualified leads to your Sales team.
If that doesn’t have Sales jumping for joy, we honestly have no idea what will.
It’s a frequent problem that Sales and Marketing butt heads on marketing’s qualification of leads. With Marketing Automation, both teams will be able to set standards for the qualifications of incoming leads. As a result, both teams will be able to benefit from more qualified (based on both team’s standards) leads.
Now, while those leads will be generated by Marketing’s efforts, you best believe Sales will reap the rewards of fantastic leads and fabulous opportunities to close major deals. Not only will this enable your team to reach departmental goals faster, it will boost the morale of the entire company. At this point in 2020, we’re craving every “morale boost” we can get.
With Marketing Automation’s distinct ability to score and nurture existing leads, it’s no wonder the leads handed off to Sales consistently improve ten fold.
Sales and Marketing are a match made in heaven. What makes this heavenly match even better? Marketing Automation.
Marketing Automation will help ensure lasting success for both teams, and in this day and age, that’s a pretty hefty promise that we can absolutely guarantee. So this year, give the gift of Marketing Automation to your Sales team—it truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
Have more questions about how Marketing Automation will benefit your Sales team? Schedule a quick 20-minute chat with our Sales team today!
Happy Sales & Marketing,
Lexie Robbins
Digital Marketing Specialist
