Many business owners make the mistake of bundling sales and marketing into the same category, and there are several problems with that.

Sales and marketing are two very different departments within a business, with two very different mindsets, and two very different goals. Marketing’s job is to generate and warm up leads, who then get passed off to the sales team, who then work these leads using a sales process.

However, when these two teams work together and distribute what they know amongst each other, the business as a whole can grow into something more… something better… something bigger than it ever imagined.

Here are just a few of the reasons sales and marketing should work together more.

To understand who’s getting what and why

Closing on a deal isn’t always a piece of cake, however, knowing what sorts of marketing pieces this client was most interested in will help you close that deal much more effectively.

Did they open more emails on one specific product or solution over another? Did they visit your website at all, and if so, which pages were they the most active on?

If Marketing has the proper tools and adequate resources, they should have the data on these types of questions. Spend enough time with the Marketing team, and you should be able to target pain points more effectively and hopefully, have a better opportunity to close a deal.

To deliver more appropriate content

This relationship works both ways. Salespeople spend an awful lot of time talking to both prospective and current clients. They build relationships with these people and understand their day-to-day processes on a deeper level than most other departments.

Because of this, the sales department can be an invaluable resource for the marketing team. The sales staff can relay to the marketing team what they hear from clients – what they struggle with, what types of material catch their attention, and what they’d like to see more of. The marketing team can then use this information to create more impactful content.

To determine how warm or cold a lead is

Not every prospective client is created equal. Some are cold, and they eventually turn warm. Others are cold and forever stay that way. And there are even a few that are warm but eventually turn cold.

Marketing has the ability to determine the temperature of your prospect – just how warm or how cold a lead is and what their history is. And with this type of information, a salesperson can better distribute his or her time and resources.

To create more value

Marketing has a variety of jobs, and one of these jobs should involve creating content that helps people do things better. For example, they might research a common problem your target market experiences and then write a detailed whitepaper on how to overcome this problem. This strategic content can help your business build a stronger reputation and become more useful to your target market.

This being said, if a salesperson is struggling with a lead or having issues with retention rates, this type of content might be able to help. Deliver the right content to someone, and you never know what the impact can be. The sales and marketing team simply need to communicate with one another, so they know what they have, what they can use, and who to deliver it to.

To dig deeper into pain points

When it comes to both marketing and sales, pain points are incredibly important. If you target the right ones in a marketing campaign or ad, you can potentially turn a warm lead even warmer. And if you target the right ones during a sales presentation or even a simple discussion, you can potentially turn a lead into a client.

In other words, pain points matter, and they matter a lot. Together, sales and marketing can uncover an endless number of pain points. With marketing data and personal sales knowledge, a company can target leads with precision, close more deals, and build a better customer persona.