Keeping Leads Warm: How Sales Managers Can Smooth the Handoff Between Marketing and Sales
It is said that time heals all injuries, but in the world of sales, it kills all deals. Sales managers must ensure a smooth transition between sales and marketing teams to keep leads warm during the notoriously cold selling months.
Sales managers who are skilled in sales understand the importance of marketing and sales. A word-of-mouth referral by a salesperson or a response to marketing efforts may bring leads into the funnel. These leads are nurtured by personal contact with sales staff, as well as regular marketing messages.
Without becoming annoying, best practices in sales and marketing will keep your business top-of-mind to clients. These tips will help you keep leads warm and close more sales.
Collaborate to Create a Stronger Sales Cycle
To close the sale, marketing and sales must work together. Teams must work together to achieve complete transparency, share common goals, and communicate regularly. It is almost inevitable that someone will drop the ball in the sales cycle. This can cost the company money and cause frustration among the teams. Sales managers can monitor their sales process together and create more robust sales and marketing teams to close more deals.
Frequency of contact to be agreed upon
There is a fine line between being in front of potential clients and getting blocked. Ask the client how often they would like to be in touch with you. This will avoid irritating the client and causing delays in the sales process. This is the client’s decision. This gives the client an opportunity to get out of their way if they’re not interested but are polite.
Once you have established that they are interested in your product, it is essential to keep the lead warm for the sales team. Talk with your marketing team about the frequency of contact and ensure they are aware of the importance of this agreement. Salespeople can be annoying and could cause clients to lose business. To close more sales, you should document the frequency of contact with each client.
CRM Software can help you organize your leads
Invest in Customer Relationship Management software to get organized. These programs automate appointment reminders, follow-ups, and follow-ups for sales and marketing teams. This software allows salespeople to record appointments and make mistakes much less often than using a calendar.
This software is a valuable tool for busy salespeople and marketing team members. It keeps them organized so they can tackle every step of the sales process.
Utilize Social Media
Interact with your customers via social media to keep sales leads fresh and warm. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are a part of your clients’ daily lives. It’s a great way to keep your brand in the minds of your customers without being annoying.
To start a friendly conversation, retweet or share the posts of prospects. To shorten the sales cycle, you can use pay-per-click targeted ads via social media. These techniques will keep your company top of mind with leads and strengthen the relationship between sales and marketing.
Make a lot of industry-focused content.
Sales managers who are good at marketing know that the handoff must overlap with sales. It’s not a linear process but more of a co-existing relationship. To keep prospects interested, the marketing team must create content for each stage of the sales process. Customers begin their research about your industry once they have started the sales process. You can be a leader in your industry by providing detailed information about your products and even your competitors.
The sales and marketing teams should find out what questions clients have about your product or service and create content to address those questions. You can keep customers engaged by answering every possible question during the sales process by providing answers.
Establish a personal relationship
Your sales team must get to know your clients before they can pass sales on to the marketing department. Each interaction should give more details about customers to allow them to feel closer to your company. Clients will not leave your company if they feel a personal connection with you. Clients feel valued by the fact that they can track their personal information and pass it on to the marketing department.
Warm leads should be kept warm by the sales team in creative, personalized ways. Sending out sunscreen is a good idea during the summer. Also, remember to inquire about past vacations and upcoming plans so you can personalize your response. Send holiday greetings cards to your clients in the winter. You must look for opportunities to exceed customer expectations as a sales manager.
Sales managers who are great at building relationships between sales and marketing teams can be a huge asset. These sales leaders are able to nurture leads at all stages of the sales process. They also work to ensure clients feel connected to their company through social media and personal relationships. Set customer expectations and record every step of the sales process to help your sales team keep leads warm. These tips will help you build a stronger relationship between your marketing and sales teams and keep your leads warm throughout the sales process.
