11 tips for aligning marketing and inside sales

Inside sales teams can unlock huge value for organisations. Unfortunately for most, this value tends to stay locked in the corporate safe alongside the finance directors compassion for marketing, the legal teams sense of humour and those naked pictures of the CEO's wife at the Christmas party.

There are a number of factors that make inside sales teams work but I am going to focus on the role of marketing and what marketers can do to ensure success - after all the vast majority of your qualified leads probably end up with these phone jockeys.

Get this relationship right and you are converting like you are on the road to Damascus, get it wrong and you are soon to be Chief Collateral Officer.

1. Map out the lead flow from generation to win/loss - What are the main stages in the sales motion? Who owns it at that stage and what do they need to do with it? What criteria needs to be met for the lead to move forward or back a stage? How long should you wait before you start getting worried that it hasn't moved?
2. Involve inside sales in the definition of a qualified lead and lead scoring - the key stage for you is the hand over point between marketing and inside sales. The only way to get lead scoring right, and have the right handover criteria, is to involve sales in the decision making. Also helps in blaming them later for not converting the leads.
3. Don't kid yourself that you are perfect or your leads are all hot - you can't win them all and you need to continually evolve your lead generation and scoring. The majority of your leads aren't ready to buy and therefore aren't ready for sales.
4. Get leads to inside sales quickly and with the right context - once your leads are deemed ready for sales get them there as quickly as possible. Leads and interaction recognition can change quickly and the sooner the sales contact the better. Of upmost importance is the context you give around the lead especially around the campaign and level of interaction.
5. Have and police SLAs - have an SLA for how fast you will get a lead to sales and have another one for how quickly sales will action it. Report on these SLAs to sales and marketing management.
6. Include marketing in inside sales team meetings - this ensures marketing can share what the promotion calendar looks like but also ensures open dialogue and a team spirit.
7. Report on contribution to target - talk in their language. For example what percentage of opportunities does marketing create?
8. Use complaints/moans/whining as an opportunity to create advocates - an unhappy inside sales rep, like an unhappy customer, is an opportunity to create a loyal advocate of your work. Take negative feedback head on and turn that frown upside down.
9. Use inside sales reps at industry events - good way to get the reps in the marketing trenches and understand what it takes to create a good lead. Also lets them own the discussion from start to finish.
10. Ensure your marketing teams listen into at least one phone conversation a week - often your sales team will have an initial qualification call and then schedule a further call or online presentation. Make sure your marketing team join a couple a month to ensure they gain customer insight and get a feel for the quality if leads.
11. Be positive - there is little room for emotional battles in business. Ensure you remain positive, professional and focused on the target.

Ok, this should get you started or help improve the status quo. Once you get into a rhythm reassess and constantly try to improve the relationship and process. Now all you have to do is help inside sales work on their relationship with sales and you are laughing...