The friction between marketing and sales is no secret. In fact, a survey from the Corporate Executive Board found that 87 percent of the terms marketing and sales use to describe each other are negative. But in today’s customer-centric landscape, it is more important than ever that these two teams become strategic partners and work together to infuse a clear, consistent and compelling corporate message at every touchpoint in the customer experience.

Customers are more educated, proactive and autonomous than ever before. And thanks to the rise of technology and marketing automation, they are able to progress as much as 60–80 percent of the way through the buying journey before ever engaging a salesperson. The shift from capabilities-centric to customer-centric means that today’s customers demand consistency, and the messages they consume in the self-service phase of their journey must align with what they hear in the sales phase.

But when marketing and sales don’t speak the same language, that doesn’t always happen. The SAVO Group found that 53 percent of sales executives say consistent messaging during the sales process is a significant challenge. Many of them are left to develop their own messaging, and, according to CSO Insights, may spend as much as half of their time creating sales messages and tools. This inevitably results in a serious gap between the overall customer experience and buying process.

How can CMOs address this gap and the challenges it poses for the organization? By becoming a strategic partner to sales. CMOs must work closely with sales to strengthen the sales process and ensure a clear, compelling and consistent corporate message is infused at every touchpoint. The following are five ways CMOs can partner with sales:

  1. Develop a Corporate Messaging Platform that includes core messages that can be used as building blocks for consistent customer conversations
  2. Utilize a sales enablement methodology that deliberately infuses strategic messaging into compelling sales tools and selling conversations
  3. Lead an organizational change effort that helps the corporate message soak into the hearts and minds of employees and shows them how to apply it in all selling situations
  4. Leverage available marketing data to share specific, actionable insights with the sales team to help tailor their efforts to specific customer demands while staying on message
  5. Bolster retention and customer experience by producing post-purchase communication materials, such as thought leadership content. These materials can transform customers into company advocates by providing them with on-going insight and solutions.

B2B organizations can no longer tolerate tension between marketing and sales. CMOs must foster a strategic partnership with sales to improve sales results and ensure a clear, compelling and consistent message is pulled through every customer conversation. What are other ways you can capitalize on every customer conversation? Watch this video to find out.