Introduction
Smarketing combines the efforts of marketing and sales teams to improve a company’s performance. This approach aims to achieve clear goals: increase sales, build customer loyalty and reduce customer acquisition costs. It is based on a shared vision of customer expectations and behaviors, encouraging fluid dialogue between teams to offer a unified, personalized customer experience, guiding the consumer from discovery to loyalty.
In this guide, we’ll explain the nature of Smarketing, its importance for your business and the steps you need to take to integrate it effectively. You’ll also discover successful case studies and best practices for making the most of this prospecting strategy.
What is Smarketing?
Definition and objectives
Smarketing strategy refers to the strategic alignment and effective collaboration between marketing and sales teams within an organization. This approach focuses on improving overall performance, with the aim of increasing sales, maximizing customer loyalty and minimizing customer acquisition costs.
Smarketing is above all a way of working, organizing and structuring your business. In 2024, it is vital for companies to break down the barriers between sales and marketing teams.
Based on shared knowledge of customer needs and behaviors, as well as continuous communication between marketers and sales people, Smarketing aims to deliver a unified, tailored customer experience. This experience accompanies the prospect from product or service discovery through to customer loyalty, ensuring a seamless transition at every stage of the buying journey.
The importance of alignment between sales and marketing teams
Harmony between sales and marketing teams is crucial to the success of Smarketing. This alignment helps avoid friction and misunderstandings, simplifying interactions between two departments that may sometimes have divergent goals.
An example of Smarketing that works well is Linkedin prospecting:
- Sales reps pass on their needs and targeting to the marketing team
- Marketing team creates databases and prospecting messages
- Marketing team set up Linkedin automation tools
- Sales reclaim control of MirrorChat
This small example of workflow shows just how quick and easy it can be to set up.
Successful alignment is characterized by the definition of common objectives, the sharing of relevant information and data, and the coordination of actions and communications. Thanks to this collaboration, the two teams can work together to attract qualified prospects, convert them into customers, and retain them over the long term.
This alignment offers many benefits to the company, including :
- In-depth understanding of markets and needs
- Significant increase in sales and return on investment
- Significant reduction in sales cycle and customer acquisition costs
- Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty
- The ability to stand out from the competition
Aligning sales and marketing objectives
Defining common goals
The key to success in Smarketing lies in establishing joint missions between marketing and sales teams. These objectives, in harmony with the company’s overall vision and strategy, must meet customers’ needs and expectations.
Shared objectives can include the number of leads to be acquired, conversion rate, sales volume or customer satisfaction. They require the support and commitment of all the teams concerned if they are to be achieved effectively.
The SMART method for precise, measurable objectives
The effectiveness of joint missions depends on their precision and ability to be measured. The SMART method is an effective tool for setting clear, achievable goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.
Applying the SMART method helps to define clear, engaging and rigorously monitored objectives. Here are the details of each SMART criterion:
- Specific: The objective must be explicitly defined, answering the fundamental questions: who, what, where, when, why and how.
- Measurable: It must be possible to quantify the objective or know in concrete terms when it has been achieved.
- Achievable: The objective must be achievable given the resources and skills available.
- Realistic: It must be in line with the company’s overall strategy and objectives.
- Temporal: The objective requires a precise deadline for its achievement.
An example of a SMART objective in Smarketing might be: “Increase by 20% the number of qualified leads provided by the marketing team to the sales team by the end of this quarter”.
Service Level Agreement (SLA) implementation
The role of SLA in Smarketing
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) play a fundamental role in aligning the efforts of marketing and sales teams. It provides a framework for their respective commitments, clearly defining responsibilities, objectives, performance indicators, as well as collaboration and monitoring processes.
This agreement aims to ensure excellence in the management of leads – both in terms of quality and quantity – generated by marketing and processed by sales. What’s more, SLA facilitates conflict resolution by providing objective, quantifiable information.
How to create an effective SLA between sales and marketing teams
To set up a productive SLA, follow these essential steps:
- Clearly identify needs, expectations and points of contention between teams.
- Set precise, measurable common objectives, using the SMART method.
- Deploy solutions that are useful for both marketing and sales. For example, renting Linkedin MirrorProfiles accounts allows the marketing team to scrape more information and make Linkedin posts, but also enables the sales team to contact more prospects.
- Establish lead qualification criteria, define the buying path, and specify the lead transmission process between teams.
- Determine the commitments and responsibilities of each party, and the resources required to implement them.
- Draft the SLA, detailing its main components, including service description, proposal level objectives, exceptions, procedures in the event of problems, and consequences in the event of failure.
- Get the SLA validated and signed by the parties concerned, and share it with all employees involved.
- Regularly monitor compliance with the SLA, evaluate its effectiveness and adjust it if necessary, based on feedback from the teams.
Tools to facilitate Smarketing
CRM and Marketing Automation: Smarketing’s allies
To succeed in Smarketing, it’s crucial to equip yourself with the right elements. These systems must not only enable efficient management of interactions with prospects and customers, but also optimize them. Two devices in particular stand out for their major role and synergy: CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and Marketing Automation.
CRM, software designed to centralize data linked to contacts, opportunities and sales, is indispensable for sales teams. It enables them to track and manage relationships with prospects and customers, from initial contact through to customer loyalty. CRM supports Smarketing by facilitating data sharing between teams, measuring performance and boosting customer satisfaction.
For its part, Marketing Automation enables the launch of personalized, automated marketing campaigns based on contact behavior and profiles. This will help marketing teams attract qualified leads, engage them with relevant content, and transfer them to sales teams at the perfect time. Marketing Automation makes Smarketing more efficient by coordinating actions and exchanges between teams, shortening the sales cycle, and improving the conversion rate.
To make it even easier to connect prospects, leads and customers. The best solution is MirrorCRM, the pre-CRM for marketing automation and outbound prospecting.
Other tools needed for team alignment
In addition to CRM and Marketing Automation, other elements play a role in aligning sales and marketing teams, divided into three categories:
- Sharing solutions: Essential for team exchanges and feedback, sharing best practices, and problem-solving. This includes instant messaging, videoconferencing and project management.
- Content creation solutions: Crucial for delivering quality content that meets the expectations of prospects and customers. This includes copywriting, design and video production.
- Analysis solutions: Indispensable for measuring and optimizing the performance of marketing and sales campaigns according to precise objectives. This includes web analytics, reporting and A/B testing.
In short, choosing, using and integrating the right devices is fundamental to the success of Smarketing.
The culture of feedback and communication
Set up regular follow-up meetings
To boost the integration of Smarketing efforts, it’s crucial to organize frequent follow-up meetings between marketing and sales teams. These meetings are used to discuss performance, identify potential pitfalls, seize opportunities, and determine next steps. If you’re not too keen on meetings, you can also set up internal feedback systems with TeamMood.
These sessions are also an opportunity to exchange experiences, adopt best practices and issue recommendations for improvement.
The frequency of follow-up meetings can vary – weekly, monthly or quarterly – depending on the specific needs and goals of the groups concerned. They need to be brief, productive and engaging for all participants, including both leaders and team members, who need to come prepared and equipped with essential data to effectively discuss performance and progress.
The importance of open exchanges between teams
Maintaining fluid contact between the marketing and sales teams is just as vital. An open exchange implies continuous information sharing, reciprocal consultation, mutual support, and shared respect. This helps create an atmosphere of trust, cooperation and transparency.
To promote this openness, we recommend the use of suitable tools such as instant messaging, videoconferencing and file-sharing solutions. It’s also vital to encourage constructive feedback that celebrates successes, identifies challenges and suggests areas for improvement.
This feedback must be formulated and received with kindness, sincerity and openness.
In conclusion, cultivating an atmosphere where feedback and exchange prevail is essential to the success of Smarketing. This strengthens relationships, unity and synergy between marketing and sales teams.
Performance indicators for improving your Smarketing strategy
KPIs shared by sales and marketing teams
To accurately measure the effectiveness of your Smarketing strategy, it’s crucial to track key performance indicators (KPIs). These indicators are essential for assessing the achievement of shared objectives, comparing actual results with forecasts, and identifying strengths and areas for improvement in marketing and sales activities.
Many KPIs can be taken into account, however, some are particularly relevant for sales and marketing teams thanks to their ability to measure collaboration and alignment between these two areas. Common KPIs include :
- The number of leads generated: represents the total number of contacts who have expressed an interest in the offer by filling in a form, downloading content, or requesting a quote.
- Visitor-to-lead conversion rate: calculates the percentage of site visitors who convert into leads, based on the ratio between the number of visits and the number of leads obtained.
- Cost per lead: defines the average cost of generating a lead, calculated by dividing the total marketing budget by the number of leads produced.
- Lead-to-customer conversion rate: measures the percentage of leads that convert into customers, taking into account the total number of leads and the volume of completed sales.
- Sales: total sales over a defined period, calculated by multiplying the number of customers by the average basket.
- Customer satisfaction: assesses how satisfied customers are with the offer they have purchased and their acquisition experience. This factor can be measured via surveys, testimonials or online reviews.
Adjusting strategies according to results
KPIs are used not only to measure performance, but also to guide and improve marketing and sales strategies. They reveal the discrepancies between the results achieved and the objectives set, enabling us to analyze the underlying reasons. As a result, teams can adjust their actions according to performance, reinforcing the positive aspects and correcting the less positive ones.
To fine-tune strategies, we need to :
- Collect and analyze KPI data using appropriate tools, such as CRM, Marketing Automation or web analytics.
- Compare results with targets and identify discrepancies using dashboards, graphs or reports.
- Identify the causes of discrepancies, taking into account the context, actions taken and feedback from teams and customers.
- Propose and prioritize corrective or preventive work, depending on available resources and opportunities.
- Implement the selected works by mobilizing the teams concerned and communicating the changes.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of actions by re-measuring KPIs and analyzing outcomes before and after adjustments.
In short, choosing and using performance indicators wisely is crucial to measuring and optimizing Smarketing efficiency.
Best practices for successful Smarketing
Training teams and raising awareness of Smarketing
For Smarketing to be successful, it’s not enough simply to establish common objectives and mechanisms between marketing and sales. It is crucial to train employees and make them aware of the importance of this approach, which requires a significant change in corporate culture and mentality.
Training teams means providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to apply Smarketing effectively. This includes, for example, training on specific devices, lead qualification criteria, the different phases of the buying journey, as well as effective exchange and feedback methods.
As for awareness-raising, it aims to make teams understand the benefits of Smarketing, both for the organization and for them individually. This can take the form of presenting Smarketing success stories, getting involved in defining objectives, or encouraging the sharing of experience and best practices.
Mistakes to avoid when implementing Smarketing
Smarketing is not a miracle solution that will automatically guarantee success. It requires constant determination, discipline and adaptability.
Some common mistakes can undermine the effectiveness and sustainability of Smarketing:
- Lack of support from top management: To be effective, Smarketing must be fully supported by top management, who must also define the vision and mobilize the necessary resources.
- Poorly defined roles and responsibilities: Smarketing requires close but clear collaboration between marketing and sales teams. Everyone needs to know exactly what their tasks are, to avoid confusion or duplication.
- Lack of data measurement and analysis: A good Smarketing strategy is based on measurable objectives. It is therefore essential to collect, analyze and share data regularly to optimize marketing and sales strategies.
- Lack of dialogue: Open and continuous exchange is vital between marketing and sales teams. It’s a good idea to use suitable devices, hold regular follow-up meetings and promote a culture of positive feedback.
- Refusal to adapt and innovate: Smarketing must evolve with expectations, the market and competition. So it’s critical to listen, experiment and innovate constantly.
Case studies and Smarketing success stories
How companies have transformed their bottom line with Smarketing
Smarketing, far from being just a theory, has proved to be a decisive practice for the success of many companies. To understand its impact, let’s look at a few concrete cases where Smarketing has been a real driver of growth:
- HubSpot: A pioneer in Smarketing, since its creation in 2006 HubSpot has aligned its marketing and sales teams using the inbound marketing method. The company has integrated an SLA, CRM and marketing automation tools, as well as a strong feedback culture. This strategy has enabled the company to achieve dazzling growth, expand its customer base to over 100,000 worldwide, and establish itself as a leader in its sector.
- Slack: Embracing Smarketing in 2014 with the creation of a dedicated lead generation team, Slack has seen its number of daily active users leap from 500,000 to over 10 million in just four years. This strategy has propelled Slack to the status of a must-have exchange and collaboration application.
- Shopify: Faced with insufficient collaboration between its marketing and sales teams, Shopify adopted Smarketing in 2015. By setting up a dedicated Smarketing team, the company significantly improved its lead-to-customer conversion rate, from 20% to 40%, and became one of the most popular e-commerce platforms.
Lessons learned from these successes
These case studies demonstrate the power of Smarketing to improve the performance of companies, whatever their size or industry. Here are the lessons for successful implementation:
- Management commitment is crucial to providing a clear vision, allocating the necessary resources and leading by example.
- An inbound marketing approach, aimed at attracting, converting and retaining customers through relevant content, is essential.
- Establishing a clear SLA between teams, stipulating commitments, obligations and KPIs, is fundamental.
- The use of appropriate devices to manage interactions with prospects and customers, and to share and analyze information, is essential.
- Constant exchange and feedback facilitate a collaborative, transparent and trusting working environment.
- Smarketing must remain flexible and innovative, ready to adjust to customer demands, market changes and competitors.
Smarketing, the fusion of marketing and sales efforts, aims to optimize a company’s performance by focusing on increasing sales, building customer loyalty and reducing acquisition costs. This concept is based on the strategic alignment of teams to ensure a shared vision of customer expectations and behaviors, as well as fluid dialogue – key elements for a unified, personalized customer experience.
Implementing Smarketing also involves setting precise common objectives, often based on the SMART method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound), and drawing up a service level agreement (SLA) that formalizes the commitments of each team.
Tools such as CRMs, marketing automation systems and MirrorProfiles play a major role in Smarketing, making it easier to manage interactions with prospects and customers and optimize marketing and sales campaigns. Ongoing team training and a culture of feedback and open exchange are also essential to the success of this strategy.
In conclusion, Smarketing is a strategic approach that requires serious commitment and continuous adaptation to improve overall company performance, and position the company advantageously against competitors.
