Alignment between marketing and sales is crucial — but it's not easy. Sales professionals aren't always keen on taking ...

Sales Enablement Checklist: 5 Questions Marketing Teams Should Regularly Ask Sales Teams By Bob Ruffolo, Tuesday, November 30, 2021 7:55 AM Alignment between marketing and sales is crucial — but it's not easy. Sales professionals aren't always keen on taking time out of their day to meet with marketing. After all, the sales team's job is to sell. An extra hour a week means fewer calls and fewer deals. Marketing teams, for their part, are often focused on tasks that can seem abstract and distant to sales. Brand awareness and traffic are nice, but sales and revenue are what keep a business growing. To keep revenue flowing into the company, marketing can produce sales enablement materials to educate prospects and speed up the sales cycle. This could include videos, buyers' guides, articles, and other content that can be used in the sales process. Sales enablement material is both a reason for and a product of sales and marketing alignment. In order to provide the sales team with the materials it needs, marketers must be well informed about the sales process, including the questions buyers ask, the objections they raise, and the reasons they say yes or no. At IMPACT, we run blended sales and marketing meetings every two weeks for members of both teams to brainstorm content ideas and plan for future needs. The most valuable part of the meeting, though, involves sales reps describing a single recent deal. They explain the background and then dive into the questions, objections, and commentary they heard from that prospect. The marketing team gets an up-to-date example of what's working with customers — and this informs their messaging. Below, we're going to cover five essential questions marketers need to ask the sales team on a regular basis, whether in a meeting like the one I described or more informally: What does the sales process look like right now? What qualities make a lead 'sales-qualified'? Are leads' expectations too high or too low about what they're buying? What are the most common objections you hear? What do leads say about the competition? Next, we'll explain exactly why these questions are so important to creating the sales enablement content your company needs. Read more »     Schedule a call with an advisor → Join IMPACT+ for free → Sales Enablement Checklist: 5 Questions Marketing Teams Should Regularly Ask Sales Teams By Bob Ruffolo Alignment between marketing and sales is crucial — but it's not easy. Sales professionals aren't always keen on taking time out of their day to meet with marketing. After all, the sales team's job is to sell. An extra hour a week means fewer calls and fewer deals. Marketing teams, for their part, are often focused on tasks that can seem abstract and distant to sales. Brand awareness and traffic are nice, but sales and revenue are what keep a business growing. To keep revenue flowing into the company, marketing can produce sales enablement materials to educate prospects and speed up the sales cycle. This could include videos, buyers' guides, articles, and other content that can be used in the sales process. Sales enablement material is both a reason for and a product of sales and marketing alignment. In order to provide the sales team with the materials it needs, marketers must be well informed about the sales process, including the questions buyers ask, the objections they raise, and the reasons they say yes or no. At IMPACT, we run blended sales and marketing meetings every two weeks for members of both teams to brainstorm content ideas and plan for future needs. The most valuable part of the meeting, though, involves sales reps describing a single recent deal. They explain the background and then dive into the questions, objections, and commentary they heard from that prospect. The marketing team gets an up-to-date example of what's working with customers — and this informs their messaging. Below, we're going to cover five essential questions marketers need to ask the sales team on a regular basis, whether in a meeting like the one I described or more informally: What does the sales process look like right now? What qualities make a lead 'sales-qualified'? Are leads' expectations too high or too low about what they're buying? What are the most common objections you hear? What do leads say about the competition? Next, we'll explain exactly why these questions are so important to creating the sales enablement content your company needs. Keep Reading  ⟶ Who Should Be On Your Content Marketing Team? 5 Critical Positions Your content marketing team should include a few key roles. 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