How To Drive Sales and Marketing Team Alignment By Creating Standardized Sales Plays

Creating and scaling standardized sales plays is essential for consistent and effective follow-up with prospects. And oftentimes, lock-step alignment between sales and marketing teams is often the difference between the execution of these plays. This can be the difference between hitting, or missing, your revenue targets.

But creating this synergy doesn’t come easily — it requires a steadfast focus to drive the change you need to close the gap. And from how you plan, engage and enable, a tightly-aligned team can be the difference between a lost lead and winning a new customer.

Recently Bryan Law, the CMO at ZoomInfo, a publicly traded B2B tech company with a market capitalization north of $11 Billion, and Callan Young, CMO at On24, a Digital Engagement Platform with over 2,100 global customers, sat down to discuss this topic.

They mentioned that standardized sales plays provide an opportunity for sales and marketing teams to collaborate to create frameworks to ensure messaging consistency and efficiency in their approach to engage prospects at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

By identifying common sales scenarios and defining clear steps and messaging, you empower your sales team to navigate customer interactions with confidence and purpose. And of course, this objective can’t be achieved without Marketing’s help!

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Here are the six steps that I identified when watching the webinar.

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Identify Common Sales Scenarios

Collaborate with your sales team to identify the most common sales scenarios they encounter. Understand the different stages of the buyer’s journey and the key touchpoints where your sales team engages with prospects.

This insight forms the foundation for creating standardized sales plays.

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Define Clear Steps and Messaging

Develop a framework that outlines clear steps and messaging for each sales scenario. Clearly define the desired outcomes, key actions, and recommended communication strategies at each stage.

This provides a roadmap for your sales team to follow, ensuring consistency and efficiency in their approach.

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Leverage Success Stories and Case Studies

Incorporate success stories and case studies into your sales plays. Highlight real-life examples of how your product or service has helped previous customers overcome challenges and achieve success.

This provides social proof and builds credibility, helping your sales team effectively communicate the value and benefits of your offering.

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Provide Sales Enablement Resources

Equip your sales team with comprehensive sales enablement resources that support each sales play. These resources may include battle cards, objection handling guides, presentation templates, FAQs, and competitive analyses.

These materials empower your sales team with the necessary tools to address customer concerns, highlight unique selling points, and handle objections effectively.

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Continuous Training and Feedback

Ensure ongoing training and coaching for your sales team. Conduct regular sessions to reinforce the standardized sales plays, provide updates on messaging, and share best practices. Encourage feedback and open communication to gather insights from your sales team’s front-line experiences.

This feedback loop helps refine and improve the sales plays over time.

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Regular Evaluation and Optimization

Regularly evaluate the performance and effectiveness of your standardized sales plays. Analyze metrics such as win rates, conversion rates, and customer feedback to identify areas for improvement. Continuously optimize and refine your sales plays based on these insights, ensuring they stay relevant and impactful.

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Conclusion

By implementing these actionable strategies, you can create and scale standardized sales plays that drive consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness across your sales team. Clear steps, defined messaging, leveraging success stories, providing sales enablement resources, continuous training and feedback, and regular evaluation are key elements for successful implementation.

Remember, sales plays should be adaptable to different customer segments and buying stages.

Regularly update and refine them based on changing market dynamics and customer feedback. Standardized sales plays serve as a valuable resource for your sales team, enabling them to navigate complex sales processes with confidence and increase their chances of closing deals successfully.