Moving Mountains: How Empathy Between Sales and Marketing Breaks Down Barriers

Imagine: After climbing 13 miles and ascending 29,000 feet over three arduous weeks — while spending upwards of the median downpayment on a Chicago family home in the process — you’ve done it. You’ve reached the esoteric, snow-covered peak of Mount Everest.

As you breathe in the most rarefied air in the world — and maybe take a puff or two from your oxygen tank — you remember why you made the climb in the first place: You are part of a marketing team, and you’re here to pass off leads to your sales cohort.

With trembling, gloved hands you deliver the leads to the sales rep standing in the snow and watching you behind polarized orange goggles. A -10℉ gust of wind slices the space between the two of you. 

This fever dream is familiar to marketing and sales teams alike. “It feels like you've climbed Everest when you deliver a list of leads,” said Emily Kollmyer, VP of Revenue Operations at Enfusion. “Marketing is tasked with a tough job: finding latent demand, cutting through the clutter and getting those cold prospects to engage with us.”

On the other side of the equation, sales has an eye for leads that can efficiently be converted into deals: “If prospects aren’t a good fit, sales has the experience and knowledge to understand when it’s simply not worth the time trying to make it work.”

In short, each team’s experience is valuable. After all, the journey home from the Chomolungma peak is no less daunting than the climb.

“The teams intersect at the lead handoff,” Kollymer said of the high-stakes relationship between marketing and sales. “There will always be friction here.”

So how can sales and marketing leaders soothe pain points and create a relationship strong enough to withstand the ascent?

Clear expectations, transparent timelines and robust communication can help mitigate friction and align both marketing and sales teams. When both groups take time to empathize with the other’s mindset, they can better understand how they serve one another — and their company’s mission as a whole. Built In Chicago checked in with leaders from Enfusion, Bento, Notified and ShopRunner to learn more about how they build rock-solid relationships between sales and marketing.

 

      

 

 

Enfusion is an investment management SAAS platform that breaks down traditional information boundaries to unite teams on one cloud-native system. 

 

What are some common points of friction you’ve encountered between marketing and sales teams?

Marketing works hard to find leads, whether it’s from events, webinars, emails or digital advertising. After months of hard work, sales disqualifies those leads in a matter of minutes. I’ve worked on both sides of this equation and know how frustrating it is for both teams. 

As I said, it feels like you’ve climbed Everest when you deliver a list of leads. On the flip side, sales is chomping at the bit for warm leads which can quickly be converted into deals. If prospects aren’t a good fit for our solution, sales has the experience and knowledge to understand when it’s simply not worth the time trying to make it work. 

The teams intersect at the lead handoff — there will always be friction here. Marketing is constantly trying to deliver quality leads, and sales will forever be wanting more of them. The only way to deliver more is by casting a wider net at the top of the funnel, which invariably means lower quality prospects will find their way through.

Proactive alignment on realistic expectations ensures a much healthier and effective relationship between the two teams.”

 

What should sales leaders understand about marketing teams to help build a collaborative relationship?

Even the simplest marketing campaign requires a lot of moving parts. Content needs to be written, marketing assets need to be created, contact data needs to be scrubbed, emails need to be developed, website landing pages need to be built and automation flows need to be put together — all before a campaign is even launched. We can’t forget about the SDR and sales alignment, legal review, internal approval chains and the ongoing measurement to determine success. 

So, when sales comes to marketing with a great idea for a new initiative, it’s helpful to understand that building a successful program takes time. Yes, marketing can get something out the door quickly if needed, but the results will be lackluster. Sales will inevitably come back asking why their great idea didn’t generate more leads. 

It’s imperative that sales and marketing work together for upfront alignment on quarterly campaigns. Not only does it keep everyone on the same page, it ensures the marketing team has enough time to strategize and deliver the high-quality initiatives everyone expects.

 

Share some practical advice for sales leaders on how to build a constructive relationship with marketing. 

The sales and marketing relationship must be bidirectional, with your company’s strategy as a guide. A feedback loop is vital for both teams’ success. We often hear: “Sales is marketing’s number one customer” — but sales owes it to marketing to give honest feedback after every campaign. 

According to Kollmyer, thee right questions can stoke the critical feedback needed between teams to create more effective campaigns.

 

 

The worst-case scenario is when marketing considers a campaign a roaring hit because they generated hundreds of leads, but none of those leads are converted into pipeline,  and sales sees it as a complete flop. Proactive alignment on realistic expectations ensures a much healthier and effective relationship between the two teams.

 

 

 

Notified is a communications cloud that helps businesses engage with their customers, investors, employees and the media. 

 

What are some common points of friction you’ve encountered between marketing and sales teams?

The sales-marketing relationship can be a powerful partnership. Points of friction are usually caused by lack of alignment in leads and content. 

Marketing will report on the number of leads they’ve delivered to sales, while sales reports lead quality as poor. 

 

 

When it comes to content, marketing will have a calendar that indicates they’re producing at a high volume. Sales will say there’s not enough. They need to align on the content and the way it's delivered. In the end, sales wants content in small bites they can easily use with clients and prospects to earn meetings, progress deals or stay top of mind.

 

What should sales leaders understand about marketing teams to help build a collaborative relationship?

Sales leaders need to understand the marketing team is focused on the long term: building brand equity, developing thought leadership and staying relevant. This means focusing on not just writing a single piece of content — it means being thoughtful about the timing, campaign status and content. Marketing is also responsible for SEO, marketing technology stacks and managing public relations. It’s a complex machine.

When we as sales leaders ask, “Why can’t you just produce a quick piece of content?” — it can’t happen as quickly as we think. Generally sales leaders want short term pieces very quickly to close deals, while marketing is trying to determine how pieces fit together over the long term. 

It’s important to strike a balance — understanding that both can have a very important impact. Agreeing on what both teams need, understanding their working style and building process flexibility is crucial.

 

Share some practical advice for sales leaders on how to build a constructive relationship with marketing. 

The senior leaders of both functions need to set the tone. They need to talk — regularly. Share what you’re working on, what you’re struggling with and how you might help each other. 

 

 

The marketing-sales relationship can be a powerful symbiotic relationship if you take the time to communicate. Keep in mind: It starts at the top. 

 

 

 

ShopRunner is an e-commerce company that connects consumers to their favorite brands using data-driven content.

 

What are some common points of friction you’ve encountered between marketing and sales teams?

Marketing and sales cannot be successful independently — they must work together to meet company goals. Marketing will often blame sales for not closing on marketing leads, or sales will blame marketing for not driving enough quality leads.

In my career, I’ve seen outbound sales teams and demand generation marketers argue over the source or attribution of leads due to conflicting compensation plans on the team or individual level. When reporting dashboards are telling two different stories to marketing and sales, there can be a high point of friction upon which department is producing results.

At a strategic level, it’s incredibly important that both marketing and sales are present in the decisions of the direction the product, brand and corporate growth are headed. 

Employing empathy is critical.”

 

What should sales leaders understand about marketing teams to help build a collaborative relationship?

Marketing hosts flashy events, fun branding campaigns and aesthetic advertising — but not without careful measurement and optimization based on performance to grow and progress pipeline. A strong brand awareness will make it much easier to reach out to and get a prospective customer to respond.

Marketing and sales should be in partnership. The responsibility of a marketing team is sweeping, with sales being a major stakeholder. Employing empathy is critical. To tap into a heightened level of professional empathy for marketing, sales people should undergo education on these new campaigns being driven by a data-first marketing team.

Top-line KPIs and metrics should not be a surprise to either department head. Marketing and sales' goals should be aligned, and the model of attribution should be agreed upon by sales and marketing leadership.

 

Share some practical advice for sales leaders on how to build a constructive relationship with marketing. 

Establish trust and companionship. The best relationships I’ve had with sales leaders are those with a mutual level of trust and respect. In sales and marketing, relationships are our job.

Transparency is crucial to true alignment. Marketing should share their findings from ad spend, campaign performance and budget allocation where appropriate with sales leadership on a cadence basis — not just look-back analyses, but also planning. Nothing should come as a surprise to sales leadership. The same goes for sales: if they are hiring 15 new reps by the end of the quarter or expanding their total addressable market list — all of this needs to be communicated in a timely manner to marketing leadership.

Have a single shared source of truth. Whether it’s Salesforce or the revenue operations team from the previous point, both teams should have one place to find the key numbers they need.
 

 

 

Bento is a fintech company that helps SMBs to manage virtual payments and cashless workflows with its financial operating platform. 

 

What are some common points of friction you’ve encountered between marketing and sales teams?

Common friction points range from quantity and quality of leads to alignment in messaging and the current state of customer issues. From the marketing side, there is often some friction around close rates and myopia — often amplified by different North stars. Role confusion and lack of communication across both sides can also cause conflict.

From the marketing side, there is often some friction around close rates and myopia — often amplified by different North stars.”

 

What should sales leaders understand about marketing teams to help build a collaborative relationship?

Goals and incentives should be shared proactively across both teams. It can also be helpful to understand the backgrounds of individuals on the teams for those working closest together. You might find that this helps increase credibility. Knowing what's coming up next helps each side work hard towards common goals.

 

Share some practical advice for sales leaders on how to build a constructive relationship with marketing. 

By improving role definition and making a conscious effort to increase communication, you can foster a healthy ecosystem. Rewarding collaboration helps move from disconnection to alignment.