Marketing automation helps sales process

Is your sales team using contextual data to improve processes? The capabilities of an online marketing system allow companies to measure behavioral data and create customer profiles by studying product preferences, interactions with the brand and pain points. Having access to this information is important for small-business sales teams to identify the different stages of the buying cycle, according to RingDNA. However, contextual data can take sales data beyond buying personas so sales representatives can personalize each interaction.

Businesses act on data regularly, whether it is weekly, monthly or quarterly. Contextual data is information delivered to the right person at a specific time so it can lead to a meaningful action. This could be particularly beneficial for inside sales agents who spend a significant portion of their time researching leads to make outbound phone calls. In many cases, the rep may have to decide who to call and needs to analyze leads and opportunities. The rep may not have a lead scoring solution, and sales history records could be incomplete.

How marketing automation can help sales teams succeed

An automated marketing platform can help the sales and marketing teams become better aligned, Business 2 Community stated. Marketing teams use automation to look at conversion rates, but sales representatives are not as interested in the buyer journey. By paying attention to marketing data, sales teams can find the best way to turn a lead into a customer.

By using a marketing automation system, sales teams can track whether a prospect has recently made a formal interaction with the company, such as downloading a webinar or requesting a demo, RingDNA said. Knowing how the client is interacting with the business can reduce the large amount of research sales teams conduct and further optimize marketing campaigns.

Many consumers research products on social media before making a purchase, and marketing automation can integrate data from this source. Customers use social media to interact with peers, express needs for products and make recommendations to friends and family members, so these platforms contain a wealth of information for marketing and sales teams. Social data can be overwhelming, but if companies have the right tools, information can be turned into actionable insight. With automation, the sales and marketing teams can be better aligned, and this allows marketing to send out specific ad campaigns that relate to a particular stage in the buying phase.