Every business knows it’s not easy getting sales, marketing and PR teams working together in harmony. While these departments share the same business goals, they often work in silos. It can feel a bit like driving a sports car with square wheels. It’s got a lot going for it, but it doesn’t get you anywhere fast!
Your separate teams might believe they’re hitting goals, but if all three departments successfully work in unison the benefit on your bottom line could be huge.
Here are tips to get your marketing, PR and sales team to work smarter, together.
1) Give them a reason to ‘get along’
Change how teams in your sales funnel work by introducing a structure that means they have to get along. Set KPIs, objectives and strategies as a collective and ditch individual department targets. If marketing, PR and sales have a goal they need to reach together, you’ll soon find them working more effectively as one.
2) Get teams to focus on your customers’ needs, not their own
Perhaps your marketing team favour an inbound approach, your sales team prefer cold calling, and your PR team strive to build an excellent reputation. While this might satisfy the teams’ own needs, none of them are focused on the customer. Get all three teams together to strip everything back and consider what your customer really needs. Then get the departments to develop a cooperative plan to make sure they meet those needs using internal expertise and skills.
3) Develop an internal Service Level Agreement
Every business has a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for customers. It defines the level of service customers can expect and lays out metrics about how the service will be measured. A new trend quickly taking on is businesses creating SLAs for internal teams. It allows employees’ to understand clearly what’s expected from them and their peers. Businesses say it makes workforces respect each other and creates a good working culture. Sit your marketing, PR and sales team down and get them to develop an SLA together. It could include factors such as how many leads from a marketing campaign defines success and how sales teams share feedback from meetings with potential leads. The more detail you include the clearer the three departments’ working relationship will be.
4) Celebrate successes together
Appreciation goes a long way in the workplace. However, when employees are congratulated this celebration tends to stay within individual departments. Make your marketing, PR and sales team be more in sync by celebrating hard work and success as a group. Or even better – celebrate success with the entire company. The more opportunities you give employees to see what’s happening in other departments, the more they’ll understand the wider company picture. It also fosters great teamwork, which will ultimately benefit your business.
We are an integrated B2B marketing agency, specialising in technology and telecommunications. We deliver smart, strategic and truly collaborative work for our clients – whether you are looking to develop a marketing strategy, build out your PR plan, or create powerful content, we can help you. Please get in touch at hello@onebite.co.uk.
