Part 2 - Top 10 Best Practices for Sales/Marketing Alignment
In Part 1, we explored the foundational best practices for sales and marketing alignment through the lens of Account-Based Marketing (ABM). These principles—clear communication, shared buyer personas, and targeted account selection—set the stage for collaborative success. But optimizing these efforts is an ongoing process, requiring adaptability, feedback loops, and a customer-first mindset.
In this continuation, we will expand into additional strategies to refine and elevate your ABM approach, ensuring lasting alignment between sales and marketing.
If you haven’t already read this, please take a moment to review.
Otherwise, I applaud your bravery for reading the sequel first. : Top Ten Best Practices for Sales and Marketing Alignment
1. Unified Reporting and Dashboards
While having separate KPIs for sales and marketing is natural, the teams must operate from a shared source of truth. By creating unified reporting and dashboards, both teams can easily track key metrics like lead progression, customer engagement, and revenue impact. These data points offer a clearer view of the entire customer journey and help each team identify where their contributions make the biggest impact.
Pro Tip: Use a shared CRM tool that integrates with both marketing automation and sales tracking platforms to provide transparency.
2. Account Expansion Strategies
Winning new business is only one aspect of ABM. Account expansion, where existing clients are nurtured and upsold, often provides the highest ROI. Marketing teams can provide sales with resources and strategies to deepen relationships with current clients. Whether through tailored cross-sell campaigns or special events, this unified effort ensures the customer continues to feel valued.
Pro Tip: Develop quarterly account reviews between sales and marketing to brainstorm new growth opportunities within existing accounts.
Related Blogs:
Identifying High-Value Accounts for your ABM Lists
Strategic Steps for Effective ABM Account Segmentation
3. Training for Cross-Functional Teams
The marketing-to-sales handoff isn’t always seamless, especially when these teams operate in silos. To remedy this, cross-functional training should be prioritized. Sales should be educated on marketing tools like analytics dashboards, while marketers should better understand the sales pipeline and outreach strategies. This creates empathy between teams and equips them with the knowledge to execute aligned strategies.
Pro Tip: Consider setting up “shadowing” sessions where marketers can observe sales calls and vice versa. This builds mutual understanding of each team’s challenges.
4. Focus on Lead Scoring Refinement
Lead scoring—the process of ranking prospects based on readiness to buy—can become outdated quickly in dynamic industries. Sales and marketing should regularly review and update scoring models based on performance data. By incorporating feedback from sales on which leads are converting and which aren’t, marketing can tweak campaigns to better qualify leads.
Pro Tip: Periodically assess lead scoring based on actual closed deals and adjust point allocations for behaviors that most correlate with sales readiness.
5. SLA (Service Level Agreement) Between Sales and Marketing
A service level agreement (SLA) between sales and marketing defines clear expectations and commitments. Marketing promises to deliver a certain number of qualified leads, while sales agrees to follow up on those leads within a specified timeframe. This formal agreement holds both sides accountable and ensures that no lead is left unaddressed.
Pro Tip: Define clear deadlines for lead follow-ups and use automated tools to notify sales reps about new leads from marketing.
6. Customer Feedback Integration
Post-sale customer feedback is a goldmine of information that can influence both sales and marketing strategies. After a sale is closed, both teams should collaborate to gather insights on why the client chose your company. Did the messaging resonate? Was the sales process smooth? These insights can feed back into your ABM strategy to improve messaging and sales tactics for future prospects.
Pro Tip: Develop a customer satisfaction survey to capture key insights and use these findings to improve campaign and outreach efforts.
7. Event Collaboration for Deeper Engagement
Whether it’s virtual webinars, product demos, or in-person networking events, both teams should unite their efforts. Marketing drives registration and attendance through targeted outreach, while sales leverages the event as a touchpoint to deepen relationships with key accounts. This synchronized approach ensures that marketing delivers quality leads, and sales turns those leads into long-term partnerships.
Pro Tip: Create joint debriefs after events to assess the quality of leads generated and how well the messaging resonated with the target audience.
8. Content Alignment Across the Buyer’s Journey
It’s not enough to generate content—sales and marketing must collaborate to ensure content is relevant at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Whether it’s awareness-stage blogs or decision-stage case studies, the content should be tailored to address the specific pain points and questions prospects have at each stage. This alignment ensures that marketing assets fuel the sales process effectively.
Pro Tip: Develop a content matrix that maps out which content pieces are relevant at each stage of the funnel, ensuring a seamless transition from marketing to sales.
Related Blog:How to Create the Best Content for Your ABM Audiences
9. Foster a Culture of Collaboration
Sales and marketing alignment isn’t just about tools and processes—it’s about fostering a culture of collaboration. Regular cross-team meetings, joint brainstorming sessions, and even informal social gatherings can strengthen the relationship between the teams. When sales and marketing work together, the entire organization benefits, and ABM efforts become far more effective.
Pro Tip: Hold quarterly "win/loss" analysis sessions where both teams discuss why deals were won or lost, sharing lessons learned and celebrating successes.
10. Celebrate Joint Wins
Lastly, don’t forget to celebrate the wins! When both sales and marketing contribute to closing a high-value account, recognize their efforts. Celebrating success fosters a sense of shared purpose and builds momentum for future collaboration.
Pro Tip: Create a joint sales and marketing “victory board” where both teams can share successes and recognize key contributors.
Conclusion: Building a Sustainable, Aligned Future
Achieving true sales and marketing alignment is an ongoing process that evolves with market trends and customer behavior. By focusing on shared goals, continuous feedback, and deep collaboration, your ABM efforts will yield higher engagement and conversion rates. As these teams grow closer, you’ll not only generate more leads—you’ll build stronger, more profitable customer relationships for the long haul.
Stay tuned for our case study, where we’ll explore real-world examples of companies that have successfully aligned their sales and marketing teams for ABM success.
Ready to get started on your own ABM journey? Connect with us for a personalized consultation!
Written by Raycheal Proctor
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