More and higher-quality leads are on the wish lists of nearly all sales teams. Marketing works hard to deliver them, which is why it’s so discouraging to hear things like:
We need more leads from marketing…
We’re spending way too much time chasing down leads who aren’t ready to buy…
Our sales targets are unrealistic, given the quality of the leads we’re getting…
And it’s not from a lack of trying. You’re working hard to give sales what they need, but missing data capabilities often hold you back.
Research shows that most high-performing companies use marketing automation. However, some of these tools lack bidirectional sync with your CRM, which creates disjointed sales and marketing collaboration.
When data can sync in “both directions” (from marketing to sales and back again), all teams have the latest information about your prospects. And the result is tighter marketing and sales alignment.
Solves the “guessing game” challenge
It’s no secret that prospects are demanding more personalized experiences. Seventy-one percent say they expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when they don’t.
Marketers use automation to provide more customized and meaningful experiences, but sales often doesn’t have access to the marketing data collected along the buyer’s journey.
And when a salesperson calls a prospect, they need all the data they can get.
For example, instead of going into sales calls cold, what if bidirectional sync allowed the reps to see information like:
- What web pages did the prospect visit?
- What emails did they click?
- What forms did they engage with?
With this data, the salesperson can understand buyer interests and identify the best talk tracks before jumping into a call.
Helps sales spot “hot sales leads” faster
Time is a fixed resource.
You never get more of it.
That’s why sales gets so frustrated when they spend their valuable time on a lead that doesn’t pan out. And it’s also why they turn their attention to marketing.
One of the best ways to support marketing and sales alignment is to make sales’ job easier. And that starts with easy lead prioritization. It can transform comments like “Why does marketing send us such terrible leads?” to “Wow, these leads are really awesome!”
A tool that helps sales reps spot the best leads faster is lead scoring. It allows them to quickly see who in their pipeline needs immediate follow-up versus which leads need a little more nurturing before they’re ready to talk.
Lead scoring uses benchmarks and common metrics set by sales and marketing to clarify what constitutes a good lead. For example, once you build your lead scoring model, you enter your rules into the platform. Then, points are automatically accumulated on each of your prospect’s records once you add up those scoring rules. As a result, sales reps are much more likely to get higher-quality leads.
Also, a marketing automation tool that easily integrates with your CRM allows your sales team to see the lead score for every prospect. This visibility allows them to sort, prioritize, and engage quickly.
Measuring ROI and creating a closed-loop system
Are you feeling the squeeze around proving ROI?
You are not imagining it.
Marketing leaders cited proving ROI as their top challenge in a recent survey.
And even if you aren’t facing internal pressure around ROI, the ability to easily show it is always important (especially when those end-of-year budget conversations roll around!).
As you work to attach marketing efforts to results, a marketing automation tool that integrates bidirectionally with your CRM helps you measure results.
Here’s an example:
- Closed-loop reporting capabilities link “closed won opportunities” to the appropriate prospects in your marketing automation tool.
- Looking at the data, you can tie revenue to specific marketing touchpoints.
- With this information in hand, you can demonstrate which campaigns are the most effective in converting leads to customers.
- You can then use this data to prove ROI and leverage what’s working into future campaigns to scale results.
Bidirectional CRM Sync: Pulling it all together
A recent survey collected responses from 700+ marketers who were asked about the future of marketing leaders. It found a top challenge cited by respondents was “increase cross-functional partnerships with sales.”
In other words, the need for marketing and sales alignment will only continue to grow.
As departments figure out how marketing and sales work together more effectively, syncing data in both directions is often a missed opportunity. It can help you:
- Spot the best sales opportunities faster. Teams can prioritize the leads most likely to convert with tools like lead scoring. And they can avoid wasting time calling leads who aren’t ready to convert and need more nurturing.
- Connect to marketing data to create more meaningful sales calls. With bidirectional data sync, sales can see the prospect’s interactions during the nurturing process and can spot interests, make faster connections, and pick appropriate talk tracks before making a call.
- Attribute closed deals and revenue to marketing campaigns. You can prove what you’re doing is creating impact.
Want to see how a marketing tool built with this capability works in action? Book a demo to take a sneak peek inside.
Meanwhile, check out this guide for more information about syncing data bidirectionally in Act-On.