Sales and Marketing: two different disciplines that cannot function without or with each other. Marketers and salespeople are just like Bert and Ernie: they can be at each other's throats, but then they can embrace each other again. For example, Sales looks at Marketing with an angry face, because according to them, Marketing is wasting money. And marketing in turn looks at sales as arrogant roosters who run away with the credit.

Marketing and sales do not always work well together. And that's a shame, because a bad relationship means lower sales. Research by the Aberdeen group shows that a good relationship between marketing and sales ensures an annual business growth of 20 percent. That sounds tempting, right? How do you, as a company, ensure that marketing and sales work together better? And that together they also generate more turnover or more leads? We give you some tips so that marketing and sales come closer together and you can open doors to more leads.

1. Have a clear idea of ​​who your leads are

Determine together with marketing and sales what is meant by a lead. Then you speak the same language and everyone knows what exactly is meant by a lead. Clearly define which requirements a lead must meet before it can actually be called a lead. For example, what behavior should a lead exhibit? A lead can have a different definition for every company, so make clear agreements about this.

2. Set common goals

To work better together, it's important that you set common goals for collecting leads. Set up joint KPIs, for example the number of website visitors per month, number of completed website forms or the number of new registrations for your newsletter.

3. Create a shared report

To ensure that both departments work together better, it is important that everyone can see how they are performing. Create a report that is clear and concrete and share it with sales and marketing at the same time. Choose one dashboard so that you see exactly how things are going and you can make timely adjustments.

4. Ensure good communication

It's an open door, but we'll kick it anyway. Ensure good communication between sales and marketing. You do this, for example, by holding a weekly joint meeting between sales and marketing during which the shared reporting is discussed. Discuss what is going well in attracting leads and what can be improved. A joint intranet also contributes to better communication between these two departments. By communicating well, both sales and marketing remain involved and there is better cooperation.

Whitepaper Sales vs Marketing

We already said it in the introduction: a good relationship between marketing and sales ensures annual business growth of 20 percent. A better relationship between marketing and sales can therefore open more doors to more leads.

Would you like to know more about the differences between marketing and sales and how you can improve the relationship between marketing and sales? Then download our white paper.