Automation technology: how companies can harmonize marketing and sales

Those who are not closely coordinating their marketing and sales activities, but still organizing them as autonomously working cells, are foregoing potentials at various levels. Well-functioning knowledge management within companies heavily depends on regular exchange.

With regard to the interaction between marketing and sales, this can be demonstrated using a simple example. The sales department very often has its ear close to the customer and knows what problems and issues they are facing. All this is valuable information that has to be shared with the marketing department to mutually develop an effective campaign plan. This is the only way to identify the problems of one’s own customers and to integrate them into the company’s marketing activities.

More and more companies are using software solutions like HubSpot, Marketo or Oracle to ensure that both the marketing and sales departments succeed in achieving the companies’ overall goals. This allows for automated workflows and improved scalability of measures.

Tools help break down barriers between departments

One of the people who knows how to use technologies and corresponding tools to improve integration of marketing and sales is the Managing Director of morefire, Robin Heintze. With his marketing agency, he supports clients around the globe, who are seeking to achieve cross-departmental goals with a common roadmap and shared KPIs. Tools like HubSpot, Salesforce or Marketo help bundle the mutual dependencies and employee know-how, and synchronize marketing and sales.

“This is important for us and our customers because we help them increase traffic through SEO, Google Ads, social media, etc. Software like HubSpot enables us to optimally convert this into leads. The seamlessly linked sales modules then help the sales department win customers from these leads,” says Robin Heintze.

Evaluating user activities via lead scoring

Marketing software can be used to assess the effectiveness of marketing measures and thus also the quality of the collected leads. Using a point grid, various levels of lead qualification can then be developed. A prerequisite for this is that contacts must have consented to having their personal data collected. Only then is it possible to enrich a lead with data and trace their behavior when they receive newsletters or new blog posts. A scoring model then helps make the data useful for evaluation and should be adapted individually based on the individual company’s marketing and sales goals.

Marketing automation: a better overview and increased growth

When evaluating leads, it is advantageous for marketing and sales managers to work together closely to determine which activities are evaluated and how. Once a predetermined number of points is reached, which is based on factors such as the click and opening rate of articles and e-mails or whitepaper downloads, an individually qualified lead is then handed over to the sales department. “For this to succeed, it is important for CRM and marketing automation to be a process and not a project. Experience has shown that it should start with as little complexity as possible”, says morefire’s Managing Director.

For companies, automated processes like CRM that include marketing automation are a way to increase customer satisfaction and grow as an organization. Robin Heintze also observes this with his own customers.

“We have many customers who now manage marketing and sales in a much better and more structured way, who have more control of their KPIs, and who use marketing automation to ensure their own company grows in a stable and sustainable manner.” This process then has to be continually optimized through tests and corresponding further developments to ensure long-term success.

The roles and functions of marketing automation and CRM overlap and complement each other. In many business areas, both systems are combined in an all-in-one solution to maintain a consistent, detailed buyer profile from contact through lead to prospect and ultimately to customer. At the same time, marketing software solutions can optimize the flow of information between departments, simplify analyses for the individual company divisions, and thus contribute to the entire value chain. Companies should take advantage of the many benefits of automation, while ensuring that they maintain a strong human and emotional connection with their customers.