{"id":5093,"date":"2018-09-06T12:02:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T11:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/?p=5093"},"modified":"2025-01-21T10:25:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T09:25:56","slug":"align-marketing-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/align-marketing-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways a SaaS Sales Team Can Cooperate with Marketing for Better Lead Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marketing and sales<\/span>\u00a0used to be portrayed in\u00a0stark contrast. Nowadays, there’s an ongoing trend\u00a0to go for “sales<\/span> and marketing alignment” — that is, making the two\u00a0teams work together.\u00a0There’s little information on how to do it exactly. Many focus on improving the\u00a0flow of information between the two departments. Is that all that can be done?<\/p>\n

Today, I’ll show you\u00a0a couple of ways the Woodpecker marketing and sales<\/span> teams cooperate to create a streamlined lead generation process.<\/p>\n

Let’s go.<\/p>\n

Why is it worth to align sales and marketing for lead gen in a SaaS company?<\/h2>\n

Making sure your sales<\/span> and marketing teams are in sync boosts lead generation. Think about that. By talking with the sales<\/span> team, marketing knows how to design their communication strategy to get to their ICPs. Similarly, sales<\/span> reps can help leads by sending them the material prepared by the marketing department.<\/p>\n

There are two simple\u00a0reasons\u00a0why aligning sales<\/span> and marketing\u00a0can be helpful in lead generation.<\/p>\n

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  1. It supports a cold email<\/span> strategy — a sales<\/span> team prepares a cold email<\/span> campaign while marketing\u00a0prepares content aimed\u00a0at the target group’s needs;<\/li>\n
  2. It supports inbound\u00a0lead\u00a0generation — marketing generates leads with their marketing strategies for the sales<\/span> team to push leads\u00a0further down the sales<\/span> funnel.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now I’m going to share the ways we do that in our SaaS<\/span> company.<\/p>\n

    How can marketing\u00a0and sales teams work together?<\/h2>\n

    #1. Sales reps can give content ideas<\/h3>\n

    In Woodpecker<\/span>, our marketing and sales<\/span> teams cooperate when it comes to content production. Our marketing strategy focuses on providing our users with a kind of knowledge they can use to power up their lead generation efforts.<\/p>\n

    However, the marketing team rarely talks with customers. There’s another team that does that on a daily basis — the sales<\/span> team. Since our sales<\/span> reps are in touch with our customers, they know their pain points. Whenever they\u00a0hear of any issue a customer is facing, they report it to the marketing team. Marketing, in turn, creates content around\u00a0the reported issue. And generate content that speaks to the users.<\/p>\n

    #2. Marketing produces helpful content for the users<\/h3>\n

    The second point is connected to the previous one. The\u00a0marketing department produces a piece of content, be it an article, infographic, or video, that’s an answer to a common problem among customers. That piece was inspired by the conversation a sales rep<\/span> had with one of the potential customers. Just like in the point above. Then, the marketing department tackles it all using marketing resource management solutions<\/a> for better planning.<\/p>\n

    After a while, another potential customer experiences the same problem. The sales<\/span>\u00a0reps can save time by\u00a0giving the link to\u00a0an article that tackles the issue. All in all, the marketing team helps the sales<\/span> team\u00a0do their job.<\/p>\n

    #3. Marketing produces content for cold email campaigns<\/h3>\n

    Let’s say\u00a0the outbound team\u00a0makes a new cold email<\/span> campaign targeted at a specific segment of SaaS<\/span> companies. The marketing team can write a customer case study with one of the SaaS<\/span> businesses<\/span> that\u00a0is\u00a0a loyal customer. The outbound team\u00a0links to the case study in one of the follow-ups they’re going to send what\u00a0increases the positive reply rate.<\/p>\n

    I described a lot more situations in which content can support a cold outreach here:<\/p>\n

    How Great Content Makes You More Persuasive >>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

    #4. Marketing suggests new platforms for prospecting<\/h3>\n

    It’s the job of a marketing team to snoop around the Internet in search of new platforms. They\u00a0want to find a new\u00a0niche\u00a0space where they can\u00a0reach their leads. However, once they do encounter such space, they can inform the sales<\/span> team about it. Because the sales<\/span> team can use it for prospecting.<\/p>\n

    We’ve done that in the past in Woodpecker<\/span>. Our marketing team has found Quora and used it to direct traffic to our blog. However, the sales<\/span> team used it later for prospecting.<\/p>\n

    We described how we used Quora for that in two blog posts:<\/p>\n

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    1. How We Found our Prospects on Quora: Vol. 1 >><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
    2. How We Asked People on Quora to Attend Our Webinar: Vol. 2 >><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      #5. Marketing teaches sales reps how to use social media<\/h3>\n

      The sales<\/span> team can use social media to close more deals and build a long-lasting relationship with their customers.\u00a0Cold leads are sure to google your name after they get an email<\/span> from you. Thus, social media can boost your email outreach<\/a>. And who knows social media better than the marketing people?<\/p>\n

      Is it tough to align sales and marketing in a Saas company?<\/h2>\n

      It may seem like aligning sales<\/span> and marketing takes loads of time and as much effort. However,\u00a0when you set the right objectives, it doesn’t cost you a lot.<\/p>\n

      You need to create a culture where two teams feel like they can trust and depend on each other. They need to learn what kind of help they can get from each other to support their lead generation efforts.<\/p>\n

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