How can marketing automation improve sales effectiveness?

One of the most significant impediments to sales effectiveness is due to the fact organizational functions still operate in silos, and each function (sales, customer service and marketing) tend to have a specific set of tools and technologies to engage, track and monitor customer and prospect interaction. Unfortunately, this information is not being used as effectively as it should, and as a result, departments like sales are not armed with the critical information they need to be successful.

Marketing automation fills a critical hole in CRM data marts and provides critical integration with customer service tools, email marketing and web analytics to provide a truly 360 degree view of customers and prospects. With this information, sales can not only prioritize leads, but can also get a clear view into the prospect’s intentions. By increasing efficiencies through better qualifying leads and increasing effectiveness by ensuring sales efforts are more personalized and relevant, marketing automation enables sales teams to do what they do best – SELL.

The one thing I would mention here is that marketing automation itself does not increase sales effectiveness. Instead, marketing automation powers effective lead management processes or revenue performance management (as some in the business are calling it) which in turn, drives sales effectiveness. I am not trying to be annoying by nitpicking because I love marketing automation and the comments that have been made on this post are "dead-on" opinions. However, it is very important to point out the distinction: effective process is step one, while leveraging marketing automation is how you manage and optimize your process aka "make it happen".

I remember very early in sales being told the biggest enemy to a sales person's success is time. This is an area where we want to help sales via marketing automation. Filling the pipeline is one of the most time-consuming areas of the sales process. In the past, the vast majority of marketing efforts have not helped in this area. This is where marketing automation/lead management can help:

1. Generating qualified leads -- plain and simply, they won't remember anything else you do if you don't make their pipeline generation easier. This is a long conversation, but here is the gist: Define a qualified lead (process) and create programs to generate these types of leads (process and marketing automation). Here are more examples of how this changes with marketing automation: Instead of passing sales the trade show leads aka bingo cards; you insert those prospects into a lead nurturing campaign managed by your marketing automation. Let marketing automation determine if the prospect is worthy before you pass them along. (Do that and you have already improved the process).

2. Allow them to "let go" of prospects that aren't ready -- We are trying to free up "time" for the sales reps. They have to feel like it's okay to let prospects go back into an effective nurturing process. Often times, sales reps will keep them live and try to make something out of nothing. They also waste time by setting ticklers to "ping" prospects also known as "checking in" where they call and email prospects. Instead, sales should toss them back to marketing. Marketing automation can keep it relevant and keep prospects engaged until they are ready which the system can let the sales person know. That will help sales reps immensely.

The point everyone who has commented is making is we can leverage marketing automation and an effective lead management process to create time for sales do what we pay them to do: close business. We do this by helping sales work on the right leads and the right time which yes, despite my comment above is facilitated by marketing automation.

The answers above from Kristin and Kevin are good. I think there is one item that really improves sales effectiveness, and that is the automation of keeping in touch with messages that are relevant based upon a lead's expressed interests. Touching leads with messages they appreciate, sent directly from your sales staff, keeps your company top-of-mind. When sales does make a call to the lead, the lead knows who they are, and it's not a "cold call". In terms of staying top-of-mind, the biggest thing we've seen is that if an organzation's plans change, and your sales person isn't going to call again for a few months, that organization will likely contact your organization -- and that is much better than losing the deal because you're not top of mind.

-Kim
Genoo.com
InternetMarketingCompete.com