5 SMARKETING TIPS TO GROW YOUR SALES build create Introduction: What is Smarketing? Part I: Bring Everyone to the Table Part II: Salespeople Need to Market Part III: Marketers Need to Sell Part IV: Wait, No - Everyone is in Sales Part V: Well, Then Everyone Is a Marketer Part VI: Don’t Wait Until Your Competition is Doing This INTRODUCTION: “SMARKETING”? You may have heard the term “smarketing” before— a portmanteau of either “smarter marketing” or the union of sales & marketing. But the real question is, why should you care? It’s as simple as this: sales and marketing have the same end-goal in mind. They want better qualified leads and faster sales cycles to make more sales with less eort. SALES + MARKETING = SMARKETING SMARKETING: SO WHAT? As marketing and sales people we always are looking for ways to improve our processes, and create better qualified sales leads. In the past there was a clear line of delineation between sales and marketing. Today that cubicle wall is being broken down, and it’s for the better. So what is Smarketing and why is it important? 1 Smarketing is the mash-up of sales and marketing 4 Qualified leads are now the responsibility of in every facet of the organization. everyone not just marketing. 2 They both work together with the same end-goal. 5 The whole company promotes and sells. The whole company reaps the benefits. 3 It ends the interdepartmental finger-pointing. 6 It creates an environment of passionate employees and intrapreneurs. PART I: BRING EVERYONE TO THE TABLE Your sales department is gone. Are you a Smarketer? Do your sales managers and marketing Your marketing department is gone. managers work side by side or on separate floors? You have one goal now, driving sales. Do you have an SLA or report to one another? The Separation is Gone In a smarketing department, there isn’t a closer and an analyst in two separate rooms for dierent purposes. They are sitting together, the closer is feeding the analyst from the field and the analyst is telling the closer to look at information to help him move them down the funnel. They’re both feeding content creators and managers to see what deals can be worked out to get the buyer from the top of the funnel to the bottom without losing profitability. THAT’S SMARKETING! Be More Efficient and Effective Be More Efficient Be More Effective A smarketing team doesn’t waste time chasing If everyone’s seeing the same end goal, the focus leads that are unqualified or creating content that shifts from just market share and ad spend to what’s doesn’t convert. They work together to move working in the field to increase those same metrics. people down the funnel faster. Everyone wins. (Together.) PART II: SALESPEOPLE NEED TO MARKET Are you creating an environment of collaboration? If you’ve been in the sales trenches, you probably know why you’ve lost a sale, won a sale, or what got a cold opportunity hot again. That’s marketing gold. If you’re not writing about it or at least giving your marketing team a bullet pointed outline of these things than you’re hurting your company’s ability to market itself. As sales people you need to think like marketers and help your team be ready for the next challenge by giving all the information you can. Writing blogs, recording videos, podcasts— whatever your company is doing to grow its reach, you should be a part of that process. PART III: MARKETERS NEED TO SELL When was the last time you had to hustle for a paycheck? Get out in the field, attend sales meetings throughout the buying Additionally it will help the sales person know that they really process with a prospect. This doesn’t mean you have to sell the are part of the smarketing team. That the emails that they’ve product being presented. It simply means walk a mile in someone sent, the bullet pointed lists of concerns they’ve raised, are valid. else’s shoes. It shows everyone that sales people aren’t just complaining that Find out the hang ups in the process, what push back the they’re not closing for certain reasons, but that there are holes in opportunity gives, and what ultimately closed the deal, won or lost. your company’s products or services that need to be addressed. This will make you better at your job. It will give you content to This leads back to Part 2— the sales person can help to fill the utilize with the next person who walks in the door. holes in your process, thus strengthening your company as a whole. PART IV: EVERYONE IS IN SALES From Product Engineers to Custodial Engineers need to ABC The old adage is “ABC, Always Be Closing”, and this goes This will help in two ways. First, it will raise new revenues and for everyone. Everyone should always be closing. Everyone has grow the organization. But secondly it gives everyone a vested connections, people they know, and pitching isn’t just the job of interest in the company’s growth. Call it, “intrapreneurialism”. the folks who sign contracts. When employees see that they’re valued for preaching the One way or another it’s everyone’s job to help raise revenues good word of your company, they will. and pay the bills. Sales managers need to find ways to encourage every member of the organization to sell their work. For example— Zingerman’s here in Ann Arbor, MI. Their employees are brand evangelists 24/7, sharing their wares with Whether it’s through commissions or profit sharing, if a janitor friends and family and ultimately increasing the sales of their can close their uncle who’s a CEO why shouldn’t they, and why food by simply acting as a sales/marketing person regardless of shouldn’t they benefit from their connection? their position. PART IV: EVERYONE IS IN MARKETING In keeping with the Zingerman’s theme: their INCITE PASSION - EVERYONE SHOULD employees are their best amplifiers of their message. Sharing images on social media and writing about the products they sell. Everyone there is a marketer. AMPLIFY They have passion for their work and their products and they want people to know it. Spread the word through your employees - not lining Facebook’s pockets A machinist on a line knows more about what your company You could spend thousands on social media advertising to does than any content writer ever will. If they can give you reach the same hundreds and thousands that you would if your insights and write something about it, encourage them. employees all shared your work online. This is free marketing and it comes from within. They’re a smarketer too. Last and most important, they should write. Everyone has a Then they’ll be encouraged to share their work, amplify the story about the company to tell. As a smarketing department you message, and, in going with Part 4, help you sell the products wouldn’t need to hire content writers or outsource the material. they make. You have employees all over your company that have a story to tell. IN CONCLUSION Everyone is in sales, everyone is in marketing, everyone is a smarketer. Smarketing is a culture shift, and may be met with some pushback from your team. Dynamic companies understand that, and make the pivot anyway. If you’re looking to kick-start growth bringing your whole team into the process is essential. It could be the difference between being a stagnant organization and being an industry leader or a follower. Either you’re going to figure this out or your competition will. Questions for us? Reach out: [email protected].