6 Ways to Communicate New Campaigns to the Salesforce
What is the best way to communicate new campaigns to the salesforce? Traditionally there has been a constant tension between sales and marketing. The tension escalates when the marketing department designs a campaign to increase the sales of a particular product or a season without the input of the sales staff. Often the person in charge of marketing campaigns senses a disconnect between the marketing team and Sales team. Successful marketing cannot happen in a silo. It has to happen with the buy-in from the Sales team. Happy salespeople build lasting customer connections. Today, there is an urgent need to converge both the sales and marketing teams together to accomplish the desired results. The Marketing leader can adopt some proven methods to get the group to own the campaign.
Engage Sales early
If the Sales team is accountable for the success of a particular project or campaign, gain their buy-in early. Not after the campaign launch. The sales team are constantly in touch with the customers on a regular basis. Hence they can be a valuable source of strategic as well as tactical input. They can also drive creative thinking. Bring the sales force early on. It can be the most efficient strategy to find out how the target market will respond to the marketing campaign. Perfect the campaign at the initial stage itself with advice from the sales department. Then during the campaign, not much tweaking would be required.
Demystify the clutter
As a marketer, it is important to explain to the sales representatives the mechanics involved in the campaigns. Avoid using jargon as far as possible as it would only add to the confusion. Make it easy for them to implement the campaign. Telling a compelling story, pointing the team to an important thought leader in the field, and illustrating it with a diagram are all tactics that can help the team better understand the objectives that the campaign is meant to achieve. A better-informed sales rep does a better job in supporting the marketing team in their campaigns.
Address the pain points promptly
Before launching a new campaign, the sales team goes through a learning curve. The duration of the learning time differs from one person to another depending on their learning propensity. Marketers should work hand in hand with the sales team to identify the pain points involved and address them in real time. Sometimes the team has a good understanding of the process. However, they waste an enormous amount of time during each step of the process that would ideally take a far lesser amount of time. This wastage of time should also be addressed using automated workflows, educational slide decks, and if needed by installing an internal CRM software.
Show them what’s in it for them
Each team member in the sales department is different. So are the personal aims. Meet with each to find out what they are and relate the corporate goals to each person’s goals. Show them how the management can help them achieve these aims by accomplishing the company goals. After that, let them know that the communication lines are open to deal with any concerns, complaints, and ideas they may have as they go along. Give them the necessary training and tools required to roll out the campaign successfully. The sales team will then start feeling encouraged and motivated to be on the side of marketing.
Personalize tasks
Make sure the campaign tasks assigned to each member of the team play to their strengths. There is nothing more inefficient than putting people in mismatching tasks. People love to do those tasks that they are good at doing. It motivates them and keeps them productive. Then set measurable goals consensually and hold them accountable as agreed. Allow them to have a say in the improvisation process going forward. Paint the bigger picture and remind them why it matters to the company as a whole and how their personal goals and career advancement fit into the grand scheme of things.
Keep the team informed with regular updates
Keep the sales members regularly informed about the progress of the campaign through daily briefings, staff meetings, newsletters, etc. the staff will then start to see results as and when they happen and will feel valued by the management for their contribution. If there are any areas of the campaign that needs catching up, this will help the team come up with ways to bring the campaign back on the trail and forward. The methods thus suggested can also make their jobs much easier while enabling them to spend their valuable time on closing deals with qualified leads.
In larger corporations, it is a common practice to find task force teams set up around projects. Each of them would consist of 5 to7 members whose mandate it is to recommend ideas around an issue. The entire team agrees that they would strictly adhere to the recommendations thus made. In most cases, this arrangement has produced phenomenal results.
Companies launch marketing campaigns and promotions in response to varying market trends and consumer tastes. It is often the key responsibility area of a high-level Marketing Director or Business Development Manager who have a say in designing the campaign. Doing so without the input or feedback of the salespeople is doomed to failure. It is imperative to get the buy-in of the people who sell the products to the end-users. The success of the campaign, thus, to a large extent depends on including the salespeople in the decision-making process.
Photo Credit: Olu Eletu
