Marketing Automation and Sales Enablement

Marketing Automation and Sales Enablement: One or Both?Before constructing an answer for your company in regards to the issue of marketing automation and/or sales enablement, you must first truly understand the key roles both play in the important corporate game of securing and closing deals.Marketing Automation – Entering into business culture with the advance of technology, marketing automation is the use of software platforms to increase the effectiveness of marketing. It provides a simplified means through which all marketing can be coordinated and carried out.

This includes social media, e-mail and websites in addition to automating repetitive tasks. But much more can be automated than you might imagine: even customer reference software exists to automate and manage what can be a cumbersome manual process. This then provides the marketing department with much more time to develop and test new strategies to increase your company’s reach.

Sales Enablement – Unfortunately, sales enablement is still missing an exact definition. It is a relatively new term sweeping the corporate landscape, making it that much more imperative to understanding how it relates to your business. In its simplest form, sales enablement is the enabling of sales.

It is comprised of giving your sales reps the specific tools they need to secure a transactionwith your client base. Due to this, though, it is a highly specialized term as each company requires a different type of enabling to sell their product.While these two areas are objectively different, they in fact exist on two sides of the same coin. Without automation, you cannot keep potential clients interested, losing some in the process which reduces sales. Without sales enablement, you cannot seal the deal, causing those once interested to turn away no matter how intrigued they are by your marketing capabilities.

Knowing this, then, how do you determine which one you need? In that case, how do you know if you need to improve both?The Bottom LineThe key to making the best possible decision lies within having as much awareness of your company as possible. With that being said, it’s time to analyze just where, exactly, the investment should go.

Marketing & Sales When there is a problem, head to the source. Both teams need to be consulted on their honest opinions about what their issues are. If marketing is swamped and sales is dry, there is a clearly a need to increase marketing capabilities. Similarly, if marketing is netting a lot of new interest but sales can’t quite succeed in turning clients into customers, sales is clearly having trouble and requires assistance. If both departments are floundering, both tactics will need to be implemented.

Budget Now that you know where the issue is most abrasive, sit down with finances to determine just how much can be invested in revitalizing those that are struggling. Remember to always factor in a predicted return on investment as this will allow you the leeway to invest in higher quality options on a limited budget. These options usually last much longer and bring in more than you spend on them. On the same note, do not assume that only the most expensive options will do what you need them to do. Instead, narrow down the exact capabilities you are looking for.

This will work to narrow your search, bringing up only the best matches for your company.Adaptability Though there are many choices, none will fit your company absolutely perfectly. To get around this, the best products are those that are highly customizable. The various options and builds means your departments will get exactly what they need to foster growth. The employees will also be quicker to use and build on a system that does exactly what they need it to.