The time of sales and marketing being separate departments are long gone and now it is time to join forces and tackle both business area's through supporting one another. 87% of the terms sales & marketing use to describe each other are negative, but this shouldn’t be the case.

The purchasing process has changed and sales teams now need to start promoting more effectively to their audience through marketing channels rather than just selling through word of mouth or email.

Close to 75% of marketing leads never actually convert into a sale. This is due to lack of communication between both marketing and sales. Is this something that your business is missing out on?

Both marketing and sales have the same outcome, they just go about the process using different strategies. If they combine strategies, they can both determine who they are trying to target together and the best way to approach it. The TAS Group businesses who have sales and marketing teams now aligned are 67% better at closing deals that those who don’t.

Some companies have jumped on the bandwagon of ‘Smarketing’ which integrates qualified marketing leads and sales qualified leads in order to analyse and put a focus on improving revenue.

Consumers and service users are now more likely to go online to discover information about a new company, rarely participating in face to face contact, they choose who they want to work with through an online search or recommendation. Using ‘Smarketing’ can support in retaining customers by 36% due to gaining more in depth knowledge about your customers and their needs.

Social media networks that are used by the business and run by the marketing department can be used by the sales teams to look for leads in their target audiences. 95% of buyers chose a solution based on those who produce a high amount of informative content. It is a great way for them to learn new information before making a purchase.

Jill Rowley founder, chief evangelist and No.1 most influential women in social selling according to Forbes stated: “The new reality is that marketing needs to know more about sales, sales needs to know more about marketing, and we all need to know more about our customers.”