Are we nearly there yet?

We were only part-way into a long journey and this question was the one I dreaded from my boys. I should have expected it from the wriggling and sighing coming from the back seat of the car, but patience back when they were small was a lot to ask when they didn’t understand where we were headed or what to expect along the way.

I decided to take a coffee break; to let them run round for a while and expend some energy whilst I planned how to make them look forward to the travel still to come.

We talked about the fun we would have when we reached our destination and the joy of spending time with their grandparents. We looked at the map together so they could see the route we were going to take. We made an ‘I Spy’ list together - places and things they could look out for on the way so they knew we were making progress. We planned our next travel stops and decided the games we would play and music we would listen to along the way.

The rest of the journey passed much more smoothly. They had fun looking out for things to tick off their list. They knew what were were going to do and in which order. Most importantly, they knew that seeing the castle would mean we were nearly at our destination.

With B2B sales often having a long lead time, the relationship between a sales team and their marketing department needs to be close to ensure sales targets are met and that marketing is both meeting the end goal (destination) but also making the potential customer journey through the sales process an interactive and engaging process (the route). Agreeing an “I spy” list for the journey (KPIs) means that progress can be tracked and milestones celebrated.

Often however, both teams are keen to charge on with their respective tasks so frustration and disconnect happens. Listen out for “Are we nearly there yet?” type questions, then take time to pause, review the situation objectively. By taking a ‘rest stop’ allows sales and marketing teams to work in collaboration so they know what’s happening when (and why), with the expected milestones being both mapped out and looked forward to.

The result? A cohesive and successful sales pipeline that creates business growth.