Traditionally the sales team has looked to marketing to send over leads. However, there are many more ways that marketing can support sales to drive revenue. Here are three you may not have considered.

1. Retargeting Prospects In the Pipeline

“Out of sight, out of mind.” That old saying is definitely more relevant than ever in today’s world of multiple screens, #Slack messages, text messages, and emails. 

How many times have you had a conversation with someone and intended to take the next step but got distracted? This happens to salespeople all the time. They meet with a prospect and get commitment for a next step. Then the prospect heads to the next five Zoom meetings and forgets the commitment they made to the rep.

This is where marketing can help by retargeting prospects in the pipeline with online ads. These ads can show up on websites and social media platforms reminding the prospect or client of your company. They can also reinforce the value proposition.

You can integrate your CRM with an ad platform to create audiences of prospects at various stages of the pipeline. Similarly, create audiences of current clients based on the products and services they own or don’t own. 

Salespeople want attention. The small slices of attention these ads generate can help keep deals moving forward.

2. Events for Prospects and Clients

Salespeople need reasons to contact their prospects and clients beyond, “Hey, just wanted to check in.” Events give salespeople a reason to reach out. Whether or not the prospect or client comes to the event, the touchpoint with the salesperson communicates that this rep and their company care about educating and networking their clients. 

These days there are many kinds of events. Online events like webinars are relatively easy to produce. They also have the benefit of being recorded so you can use them for years to come.

In-person events have the advantage of being able to get your clients and prospects in the same room. They benefit from networking. You benefit from your clients talking to prospects. 

Your online events can take on the characteristics of in-person events if. you shift from the one-way communication of a webinar to a more interactive format like a challenge or a forum. In these events you can introduce topics such as a current business challenges. Then invite your participants into breakout rooms moderated by people from your company. Participants get the benefit of learning something while they build their network.

Marketing can coordinate with sales to create a consistent calendar of online and in-person events. For example, you might run online events monthly. You may target 2-4 in-person events per year. All of these give salespeople a reason to reach out.

3. Talking Points

Smart salespeople are always looking for conversation topics that grab attention. The old days of meaningless marketing mush (“We can help you increase efficiency while reducing expenses…) are over. To get attention, salespeople need talking points that are current and relevant. 

By interviewing clients for case studies, listening to what clients are saying on social, and doing general research, marketing discovers the current outcomes clients and prospects want. As I discuss in Revenue Growth Engine, these outcomes become part of your Outcomes Inventory. They fuel the creation of relevant content.

Marketing can take it a step further by creating talking points for salespeople. Just like political campaigns hand out talking points, what could it look like if marketing did a monthly briefing with the sales team where they shared what they learned during the previous month. These can be diluted into a one-pager or PowerPoint with talking points to help improve sales conversations. 

There are many ways that marketing can support sales in driving revenue. The critical thing to remember is that marketing and sales are working on the same team to generate the same result: revenue growth. I challenge you to get your marketing and sales teams aligned and working together toward the revenue goal.