In the first post in our Smarketing series, we gave a general overview of what Smarketing is and some tips for building buy-in with your staff. This week, we have a Q&A with our HubSpot partner sales rep, Mae Joyce Gay. Now you can hear straight from someone at the company pioneering these new ways of marketing and selling what works for them—specifically her, as a sales rep. Here it is:
Jackie: Before working as a HubSpot Inbound Marketing Specialist on the HubSpot Partner Success team, what did you do?
MJ: Before working at HubSpot, I was an athlete, rowing at an international level.
Jackie: What similarities do you see with rowing and HubSpot partner sales and why?
MJ: Rowing and HubSpot partner sales are very similar. It's about being a part of team and helping that team function and perform to the best of your ability.
Jackie: When was the first time you heard the term “Smarketing” and what were your initial thoughts about it?
MJ: Smarket...what? Seriously, I was confused. Why do sales and marketing need to align? The more I thought about it, the more I realized why they need to align. Marketing feeds sales. Without marketing, sales becomes less efficient and effective. Without sales, marketing has little to no value for the company.
Jackie: Do you believe in it now and why?
MJ: I'm a huge believer. Sales and marketing go hand in hand. If one part of the machine isn't doing its part, the other side of the machine isn't as efficient. Making sure the two align through Smarketing is essential in keeping the revenue machine well oiled.
Jackie: What's the most helpful thing marketing does to help you with sales and why?
MJ: Marketing provides a large amount of marketing-qualified leads for me to leverage. I'm able to look at the leads, determine whom to call from the data marketing collects in forms, and use my time most wisely. The work marketing does makes me more efficient as a salesperson.
Jackie: Do you all have a formal or informal service level agreement and what's the jist of it?
MJ: We have a formal service level agreement. Marketing has specific lead, MQL, and SQL targets to hit. On the sales side, we have specific monthly recurring revenue targets to hit. Each side knows when the other hits and when the other misses and we hold each other accountable.
Jackie: How often do your teams have Smarketing meetings together and why?
MJ: We have Smartketing meetings once a month. This is because our SLA is based on monthly numbers. During the meetings we get a summary of how both marketing and sales have faired in the past month and what each are going to do to improve.
Jackie: How is the sales team held accountable for their end?
MJ: The sales team is held accountable strictly by dollars brought in. For sales, the metrics are easy. Hit your revenue goals.
Jackie: In relation to the previous question, what types of reports/benchmarks do you all review together and particularly in Hubspot CRM or sales force?
MJ: As a sales team, during the month we look at the forecast report to see where we are for the month. It takes deals at different stages and uses and average percent close rate at each stage to calculate an estimate of what we will close for the month.
Jackie: What's the best thing you've learned from a Smarketing meeting that you didn't know before? (About an opportunity you didn't realize was there, materials people were interested in seeing that helped you close, etc.)
MJ: During our Smarketing meetings, our sales enablement team will talk about things they are doing to make the sales process faster, new case studies, customer references, and competitor information.
Jackie: If you could give one piece of advice to companies with unaligned sales and marketing departments from what you've learned in your more modern sales world, what would it be?
MJ: Buy and use HubSpot. I will never work at another sales job without it. HubSpot focuses the marketing efforts on what matters-sales. And it makes the sales team more effective by hand delivering leads.
Posted by Jackie Connors
Jackie Connors is the Founder & CEO of Digital Marketing Direction, a HubSpot Solutions Partner agency based in Texas. She provides inbound training, consulting, and content marketing services to mid-market companies.