Intent intelligence combined with thoughtful account-based marketing can be the common ground that aligns sales and marketing teams. B2B marketing and sales play important roles but sometimes disjointed roles even in account-based marketing (ABM). Yet ABM is an area where alignment is especially critical and very achievable. 

Sales and Marketing alignment brings measurable benefits like these:

• Jointly planned, personalized campaigns move prospects steadily through the funnel.
• More efficient planning about account outreach reduces sales timelines.
• Informed sales teams get better at closing deals, and thus generate more revenue.

Speak the Common Language of Intent Signals

The two teams might be a part of the same business, but often track different metrics and address each other using terms the other side might not understand. Both departments must speak the same language for this partnership to work. Intent signals provide a common rallying point, and ABM a common infrastructure.

ABM and intent data play synchronized roles to play off the services and product categories of interest to target accounts. Intent data activated by ABM and a marketing cloud acts as a platform over which marketing and sales can collaborate and monitor results. You know the accounts, and thanks to intent, you can specifically monitor them and engage as signals indicate. 

3 Ways to Align Sales and Marketing Around Intent and ABM

An alliance around intent-driven ABM can take different forms. Depending on how you prefer to utilize it, intent data can help teams align in multiple ways. Try these to launch or enhance team alignment in your organization:

1. Build buyer personas together

Aligned teams jointly use intent signal intelligence to collaboratively build detailed profiles of target accounts. This coordination gives both sales and marketing teams more visibility into how the other works and contributes. 

Whether it’s for content assets or a sales conversation, the team will better understand how to engage by promoting the unique selling points (USPs) as per buyer interests and requirements. Intent data also helps B2B marketers and sales create a clearer picture of different client personas within targeted buying groups. 

2. More productive, efficient lead generation and delivery

Generating qualified leads is just the tip of the iceberg when building a growth powerhouse for your ABM pipeline. Generally, you would think of automating that flow of information, and that’s where Intent data can help you save some time. Depending on the buyer’s readiness, leads can either be forwarded to sales or put into nurture campaigns.

This method of ABM plus intent provides better lead quality analysis. B2B marketers have accurate data-driven insights to identify in-market accounts likely to buy, while sales teams receive a steady flow of qualified prospects. With an automated system to distribute leads appropriately, companies can actively pursue the high-qualified sales leads.

Monitoring existing customers gets more manageable. Intent data reveals if any of your clients are reaching out to competitors or searching for additional solutions that you offer, but haven’t sold to them yet. The sales team can rapidly take action on this information and prevent clients from dropping and shifting to competitors.

3. Personalize content strategies

The results can be powerful when Marketing and Sales collaborate on building go-to-market content strategies for emails and messaging. Each team brings unique insights to the table and that leads to a 360° view into customer experience, buyer interests and their requirements. Intent signals help redirect efforts around issues and solutions clients are actively looking for to boost ROI. 

Instead of just shooting messages and ads at your ABM audiences and Intent data, personalize your activities as per intent signals. Through relevant, intent-driven content, your brand is positioned as the solution that serves all the client’s requirements. Well-structured cooperation between sales and marketing around common messaging will leave a strong impression on buyers. 

Content marketing is another area where intent data helps bring team goals together. As a content journey unfolds, buyers investigate problems and engage with information. Sales and marketing teams work with intent data partners to activate account-based marketing around personalized content. You can quickly serve up relevant solutions or content that data shows these personas will engage with. Providing prospects with relevant content that tackles their pain points builds trust and makes it easier to convert to the next step in the journey.

Align Sales and Marketing Teams Around Intent-driven ABM

ABM and intent intelligence help sales and marketing teams align around common revenue-based activities, rather than acting as siloes. Synchronized teams make it easier to optimize lead generation, plan content strategies and prioritize prospects. Sales and marketing alignment should result in Marketing Qualified and Sales Qualified Leads that the sales team will eagerly pursue. 

To explore more about how intent intelligence brings Sales and Marketing together, you’ll find good ideas in these articles:

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