Those of us in sales and marketing are well aware of the conflicts that can arise between us. It isn’t a new development, nor is it an issue that will away unaddressed.

Companies have tried strategies including have the two departments report to the same VP/CEO, or completely separating the two. But neither measure completely eliminates the conflict.

The irony is that sales cannot exist without marketing and marketing cannot exist without sales. So instead of bemoaning the issue, it is time to take action.

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1. Go on sales calls. Accompanying sales to prospect meetings can be incredibly beneficial to marketing. This is a great way to hear what the market is asking in regard to your product/solution. This is perfect time to evaluate your sales tools and see if you are providing sales with the appropriate tools or are revisions necessary.

2. Set qualification standards. Meet with your counterpart in sales and determine how the company will qualify leads. Determine the questions that must be answered before leads are passed to sales.

Next step, set timeframe guidelines for sales follow up. After agreement is made on the above, write up the qualification standards and timeframes for company distribution. Hold a joint meeting of sales and marketing and review the document.

Then put the process in place and hold employees accountable for compliance. Non-compliance needs to be immediately addressed and, if widespread, hold additional meetings with senior management in the room.

3. Qualify leads. Nothing creates more angst between marketing and sales than leads. Sales complains that marketing is passing on cold leads. Marketing complains that sales doesn’t follow up when they are supposed to.

Both sides, typically, are right. Marketing needs to qualify the leads before throwing the leads over the fence and then should be passing only warm/hot leads. Cold leads, and sometimes warm, need to be held in marketing and worked through the appropriate programs. Sales needs to follow up on the passed leads based on the agreed upon timeframes.

4. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. I can’t say it enough. Marketing has to communicate. Sales needs to ss3svc64.exe on startup know what programs are in place and what is coming in the near future.

Hold quarterly meetings where you can address completed programs and the achieved results against the expected; ongoing programs and current results; and upcoming programs and expected results. This is the perfect forum to get sales engaged in marketing endeavors and understanding why these programs are important.

The above steps are just the beginning on bridging the gap. Once you successfully implement the above, you can’t stop the process. You will need to continually evolve your organization to work in sync.

By taking the lead, you will quickly benefit from the improved relationship and might find yourself a champion within the sales department. Stranger things have happened.