You have taken a few days off of work to be with family and friends, you have eaten turkey until your heart’s content and now it is back to work for a few more weeks before the holiday break. In a lot of offices this is the time of year that it slows down a bit, people take time off, and you may do some prep for the New Year, but you are mostly trying to wrap up 2018 right now. What if we had a better suggestion on some things you could do in the next few weeks to get you even more prepared for 2019? We know this might be an unlikely pairing, but stay with us as we discuss the benefits to you and your company if you get your sales and marketing teams working together, in the spirit of Christmas!
How To Plan Around Sales Objectives
Time is slowing down, not a creature is stirring in your offices just maybe the buzz of the holiday party, which makes this the perfect time to draw together the marketing and sales teams. December is the perfect time to lay out a plan and start to strategize on what events will be coming up in 2019, what big initiatives will be executed in the coming year and lay out a plan to tackle 2019 while you are still finishing up 2018.
If someone asked your Sales and Marketing team what their goals were for this coming year would they know? You must be ready to hit the ground running when the new year comes or else you may feel a bit out of sorts when everyone comes back into the office after they have had their holiday. According to CMG, “Crafting a strategic marketing plan for your company helps you set and achieve realistic business goals, while enabling your team adapt to changes in the market and enjoy the benefits of their hard work.” Your employees will be able to better strategize and reach their goals when they are set in plain site because your employees will come back from the holiday with their new New Year’s Resolution in their brain come January.
Marketing hold the key to successful PR campaigns
It is an unlikely pairing to have your sales and marketing teams meet, but if you think about it you are all part of the same company and working towards the same best interest of the company. Kathy Lim Sheehy tells Inc. Magazine, “Marketing people have great ideas and develop compelling content to communicate the branding of the product. What they need is information about the market and the client.” . All of this information can come from the sales teams! If your sales teams can equip your marketing team with more knowledge that will lead to better campaigns and ultimately more sales for the sales team. The marketing team cannot put their best foot forward with information they do not have. It is better to share what you know so that it leads to a win win for the whole team. I mean for the sake of sales and Christmas, can’t we all just get along?
Build plans together; nominate team leaders to keep teams aligned and engaged
No matter if you are on the sales team or the marketing team you are starting to see the benefits of this meeting to happen. Once you spread the word, get the rest of the team on board, and set up a time to meet you should start with a few things. Since these are people who you probably aren’t used to meeting you you should start with electing some leaders to lead up this team. By doing this you are able to align the goals from both sides, lay down some rails for the project, and set expectations and deadlines that are able to be accomplished. Once you begin start asking questions like what conferences are you attending in the first three to six months we could help promote on social media, what big clients are you trying to land that we could gear our content towards, and the list could go on for days. Once you are in the room you will begin to flow. Our suggestion would be to plan out at least 3 to 6 months in advance so you can quickly begin executing once the holidays are over. Then continue to over the course of the year meet and keep this up. It doesn’t have to be just a yearly meeting once you see the benefits that this will have for both sides.
Share the rewards (Hint: Commissions aren’t the only reward!)
Rewards are going to be a big part of this, and it will be the glue that holds this sales and marketing alliance together. For sales they will be reaping the immediate benefits of boosted sales with better content in your company’s campaigns, but marketing might not see the immediate rewards so you must create them. Say you land a large client that you collaborated on and attacked diligently the celebrate with a dinner on the company, drinks or even a small office party. Take time out to honor what people did during the process and be conscious of all the work put in by all sides.
If your team is looking to add PR to the mix in 2019, ask about our bespoke campaigns.
Drop us a note at : hello@trudydarwin.com
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