Step Seven of Ten Steps To Marketing Relevance
Your MAS must be linked to your CRM and other sales tools – and your sales force must understand how it all works

In our last discussion, we discussed the value of implementing a marketing automation system (MAS).  But like any tool, a MAS only works well if used well.  In order to reach the goal of continuous revenue performance management (a Marketo term), your company’s management and sales force must understand and embrace the system’s functionality.

Here is Forrester’s view of the marketing maturity journey, which shows how marketing and sales evolve together.

To get to the Predictor stage (or continuous RPM), I recommend the following integration
stages:

• Stage 1 – Make the Business Case      
  • Leadership – Sell the vision/future state with a scenario-based story (describe how a customer might find, connect with and purchase from your company through the tool)
  • IT – Work through processes, procedures, charters, documentation, approval tiers, security certification, risk & compliance, etc.
• Stage 2 – Start Contributing
  • Provide email marketing, landing pages, forms, campaign design, SFDC tools, lead nurturing, reporting/analytics, automated campaigns, etc… the word will spread
  • Make sure all Marketing staff understands and are singing off the same sheet
• Stage 3 – Evangelize
  • Provide reps with grass-roots training on why marketing-sourced leads are valuable and how to work them with the integrated MAS/SFDC tools
  • Provide sales leadership with staff and account-level activity reports
  • Provide executives with performance overviews & metrics
• Stage 4 – Prioritize
  • Figure out how to manage all the work you’ve created for yourself!

Actually, the evangelism never really ends.  There are always new people joining the company, and salespeople who haven’t taken time for training.  Keep explaining how the MAS and CRM work together – and how it helps them win.  Tell scenario-based stories, show the tools in action, get tactical, present the numbers … the goal is to get Sales to
see Marketing as part of their pipeline – the partner that is sending them highly-qualified leads and equipping them to close the deals.  Only when Sales and Marketing hold hands does the whole process come together.