Be Curious, Not Judgmental: How I Align Sales and Marketing

It should be so simple: marketing generates leads and the sales team closes them. But nothing is as simple as it seems. Suddenly, there’s an argument. Your sales team blames marketing for poor lead quality. Marketing blames sales for not following up on marketing-qualified leads. What to do? How do you avoid these issues or fix them if they exist? Tap into your natural curiosity and bring your teams together with sales and marketing alignment best practices.

Marketing and sales alignment is achieved through the creation of shared goals, strategies, and communication across teams which allows for unified operation. By combining skillsets and communicating observations and needs, your teams can create compelling campaigns and close deals in record time.

Ask questions

Instead of applying an “us vs. them” mentality or staying in your lane, get curious and ask questions to help the two teams come together to build empathy and understanding. Relationship building is crucial—after all, these two teams ultimately share a common goal. What might this look like in practice? You may ask:

• What are our goals? How can I support your achievements?
• Who are our buyer personas, according to your experience here?
• When do you think a lead should pass from marketing to sales or vice versa?
• What marketing or enablement materials would make it easier for you to close sales?

And remember, when asking your questions, to practice active listening: Listen to understand, not just wait your turn to speak.

“Be curious, not judgmental”

One of my favorite television shows is Ted Lasso. On that show, the titular character has a great scene where he shares an anecdote about his personal motto, which is, “Be curious, not judgmental.” Ted follows these words even when someone actively works against him. He seeks to understand them, so he can learn what motivates them and why they act the way they do. Due to his consistency, compassion, and genuine interest, he wins over his detractors, one by one.

Getting to know the people on the other side and what’s important to them will help everyone show up better. If you work to help everyone achieve their goals while building toward mutually shared team objectives, you will find success. You can learn more about how psychological safety and courage help create high-performing teams in the Fearless Teaming module on Trailhead.

Create a unified strategy for your alignment

Now that you’ve began asking courageous questions and listening with an open mind you’re well on your way. But good intentions don’t lead to successful results without a plan! If you want to implement your sales and marketing alignment, make sure you do the following together:

• Gain executive support: Leadership is required—it’s not a “nice to have.” You’ll want to be prepared and persuasive. Check out these great tips for effectively communicating with execs. 
• Communicate consistently: Sales and marketing should have a regular cadence to set, validate, and revise goals. Create shared channels and processes to collaborate on opportunities and relay messages back and forth quickly.
• Standardize and measure: Work together to develop shared definitions of marketing qualified lead (MQL), sales qualified lead (SQL), and other key performance indicators (KPIs). Align on opportunity management, goals, targets, conversion rates, and even tie them to compensation models for both sales and marketing.
• Follow the data: Your teams should share a Single Source of Truth (SSOT). By investing in a system that manages your customer relationships across the entire customer lifecycle, spanning marketing, sales, digital commerce, and customer service interactions.

Discover more resources for sales and marketing

• Watch Salesforce+: Check out How to Integrate Sales and Marketing featuring Steve Hornyak, CCO and executive director at BrightDrop.
• Learn relevant skills: Skill up on the latest sales skills and marketing knowledge through Trailhead and how-to content.
• Connect with fellow Salesblazers and marketers: Share knowledge and ideas, and network with members of our Salesblazer Community Group and the Marketing Trailblazers.
• Grow your career: Earn resume-worthy credentials and showcase your expertise with the Salesforce Sales Representative Certification or any of the available Marketing Certifications.

“The Trailblazer Blog” is an independent blog and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. or Apple Inc.

Ted Lasso is a trademark of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.