4 Takeaways from the HBMA Lunch and Learn “Harmonizing Sales and Marketing”

We recently attended the Houston Business Marketing Alliance 'Lunch and Learn,' where a panel of industry leaders (including our very own CEO, Richard Byrd) discussed the harmonization of sales and marketing efforts. All 6 panelist had a unique perspective on sales and marketing depending on their backgrounds, company mindset, current operational structure, and predetermined beliefs about sales and marketing.

1. Why Sales and Marketing Alignment is Important

Managing kids who don’t play well together is never fun. Especially when those arguments, fights, and silent treatments could potentially cost millions of dollars. We all love a good sports analogy, right? Well, here's one for you, whether you're in sales or marketing: Think of Tom Brady, the ultimate quarterback with 7 Super Bowl wins. He couldn't have been an all-star tight end like Rob Gronkowski. And Gronk couldn't have rocked the quarterback position like Brady. But together, playing to their strengths and working as a team, they clinched four Super Bowl victories.

“Companies with aligned sales and marketing functions recognize 24% faster revenue growth” - HubSpot

Is it critical to break down silos and build bridges, even if it means reaching to the other side of the hall. Marketing needs sales, and sales needs marketing to create a powerhouse that generates leads and closes deals.

2. Treat Sales People Like Clients

When marketers sit down to define a target audience for a new campaign, they step into the mindset of their buyer personas. Questions such as 'What are their interests?' 'What keeps them up at night?' and 'What problems do they face, and how can our product solve them?' guide our approach.

The same approach should be used with the sales team within our organizations. 'What is their goal?' 'What do they care about?' 'What are their expectations?' 'Does this matter to them?' When meeting with the sales team, we need to tailor the information to a message that demonstrates what’s in it for them and how these 50,000 impressions on a webpage are relevant to their objectives. Once defined, this will create a clear message that cuts through the noise.

3. Flexibility for a Successful ABM Campaign

When launching an account-based marketing campaign, you must have the freedom to experiment. Everyone loves a good A/B test, but you should also be able to make small changes on the fly, being flexible with your copy, messaging, and other incremental adjustments to support success. Another essential aspect of ABM is patience. It's unlikely to bring success overnight; it's a long game. However, there's a fine line between patience and knowing when to move on. If the desired open or click-through rate isn't being met, don't wait another two weeks to see if it will change, because it likely won't. Fail fast and pivot to something that generates leads.

4. Show the Value In Addition to Metrics and Numbers

When a sale occurs, it's important to celebrate the wins together and bring the story to the forefront, while avoiding the word 'credit'. How did they hear about us? Were they at an event? Did they come through an email campaign? Did they click on an ad? These answers should be shared to emphasize the narrative that marketing holds value, and when everyone works together, prospects can be converted into closed deals.

In order to have the cake and eat it too, the proper tracking and automation has to be in place. Many of us know GTM, GA4, and Google Ads but marketing automation is the key ingredient.

“By leveraging automation platforms, marketers can save hours by eliminating manual, repetitive, tasks (sending emails, scheduling social media posts, updating customer records, etc.), allowing teams to focus more on strategic and impactful initiatives.“ - Beau Robinson

Companies can now effortlessly capture and assess leads by implementing automated capture forms, landing pages and lead scoring mechanisms. This not only enhances efficiency and productivity, but is the difference between showing up to report post impressions, and bringing leads to the party. Learn more about the power of automation with our blog “Marketing on Autopilot: Exploring the Benefits of Automation Software”

BlueByrd Resources

If you are hoping to create harmony with your sales and marketing team, download our Sales & Marketing Alignment Checklist here.

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