Why Data Is The Glue That Connects Sales And Marketing

By Sharmin Kent, content and communications manager, TinderBox

Sales and marketing have become the epicenter of innovation for some of the world’s top enterprises. While many customers have identified methods to bridge the gap between sales and marketing tech, not everyone is pleased with the outcome. The result of these disjointed efforts is a new development in sales and marketing tech — the reliance on data to connect the two functions. Early indications show sales and marketing departments in many organizations are on board with this shift and are doubling down on data in 2016.

Data Is The Glue

As customer experience becomes the center of the sales process, sales and marketing must work together to meet customer needs. Sales technology is growing at a record rate, but gaps still exist between sales and marketing systems — a reality that often creates a fragmented and disorganized buying experience for customers, as well as an unpredictable sales process. Data is the glue that can bind the two departments together.

Companies must find ways to better assess and leverage data to better understand buyer needs. By identifying the metrics that impact both sales and marketing, along with discovering the synergies between the functions, the right data can become the connection that enables companies to reach their premier customers.

According to Sean Brady, President of Americas for multinational software marketing leader Emarsys, data-informed customer intelligence will bridge sales and marketing in 2016. “[Salespeople] can’t just customize things over and over to try to fit certain industries,” he said. “Technology should help [to] predict where to spend revenue.”

Customer Intelligence Will Unify Both Departments

While data will be the glue to hold sales and marketing together, customer intelligence will become the unifier between the two departments. But it must also become part of the platform. Technology should help to predict where organizations will benefit from spending revenue. Using the right technology should spur questions such as:

• How are customers engaging with products and on which platforms?
• Should ad spend be moved over to customer growth and retention?
• Which customers are spending money, how much are they spending, and how can they get to the next level of monetary value for the organization?

If the technology has good data on the back end, it should indicate the propensity of sales and marketing teams to purchase based on previous behaviors, as well as future behaviors. Whether those behaviors are happening in sales or marketing doesn’t matter, because they should be seen across both departments. Leveraging the customer intelligence information gleaned from the data will help to bind sales and marketing through mutually beneficial strategies and campaigns.

Remember That Buyers Are People, Too
Sales technology exists to gather and analyze data and provide insights, but every buyer has individual needs. That’s why treating buyers as people, not just data points or entries in CRM, must be a top priority. The sales cycle has been transformed by empowered buyers who expect personalized experiences and interactions. Factor in what buyers often know about products well before they begin interacting with a company, and it becomes necessary that sales and marketing approach each potential customer as a long-term relationship, and not just a one-time transaction.

The goal of sales and marketing is to find, nurture, and close deals. But it shouldn’t stop there. A company must also create a satisfying business transaction and a healthy business relationship with the buyer that has the potential to last over a period of time. Companies must also recognize the need to adapt that relationship as buyer needs and expectations change.

Businesses that don’t anticipate evolution fail. Sales and marketing, regardless of industry, must be aware of the need to evolve in 2016 as customer expectations change. Companies need to implement technologies that leverage data across sales and marketing while binding the two functions together. At the same time, these solutions must maximize the value of customer intelligence and prioritize the buyer to deliver impact and a positive customer experience. Doing so will ensure a growth-fueling experience that accelerates sales and delivers a more predictable process for teams and buyers alike.

TinderBox enables sales teams to improve performance with a cloud-based sales productivity suite that powers personalized sales quotes, proposals, contracts and presentations. Sharmin Kent is the content and communications manager for the company.