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Hosted by Steve Phipps of Wayfind Marketing, The Growth-Minded Marketing Podcast simplifies marketing for B2B CEOs ready to grow with confidence. Each episode offers real-world strategies, step-by-step coaching, and inspiring CEO interviews—all designed to help you align your marketing with your business goals, stop wasting time and money, and scale without the stress. If you’re a growth-minded leader tired of vague advice and underperforming tactics, this is your next step.
Steve: What if I told you that your sales
team doesn't actually need more leads?
They need better leads,
AnnieLaurie: or maybe they
already have great leads, but
your process is so disconnected
that deals keep slipping away,
Steve: and that gap, the messy middle,
that's where your revenue goes to die.
Not because your people aren't trying,
but because your process or a lack
of a process is working against them.
AnnieLaurie: Today, we're
digging into how to fix that.
It's not about chasing more, it's
about aligning what you've already got.
When sales and marketing
actually work together, the
results speak for themselves.
Hey there.
I'm Steve Phipps.
And I'm Annie Laurie Walters.
You're listening to the Growth-Minded
Marketing podcast, where we give
practical guidance to help you lead
your marketing, grow your team, and
scale your company with confidence.
Steve: We are working through our five
part guide marketing framework, and
today we are on step number four, which
is develop and execute a sales plan.
AnnieLaurie: If you're new to the
podcast, go back and check out the
episodes before on the first three steps.
We started with an overview and
then moved into G for generate
Your Story and Strategy U for
Upgrade your online presence.
I for inform with content.
Now you can go back and hear
Those before you listen to today's
episode, just to provide context.
It'll Help everything make more sense.
But you can also start here
if this is the pain point.
Keep listening.
'cause Today we're going to dig into the
deed, develop and execute your sales plan.
But Steve, before we jump into
the tactical side of things,
I think we just gotta call out
the elephant in the boardroom.
Sales and marketing are notorious
for not playing well together.
Steve: Yeah, that's, uh,
that is incredibly true.
Unfortunately a lot of times
sales and marketing are like rival
factions inside the same company.
Sales complaints that the leads are junk
marketing says sales isn't following up.
Both sides are frustrated and nobody's
addressing the real problem, and
that's the teams are misaligned.
AnnieLaurie: We've seen it firsthand.
Meetings that feel more like turf war,
finger pointing instead of collaboration.
At the end of the day, it's the buyer
who suffers and so does your bottom line.
Steve: Exactly.
You could have great campaigns
and a killer sales team.
But if they aren't working together,
if they're not in sync, you are
losing deals, you're losing revenue.
And it's not about who's right.
It's how do you win together.
AnnieLaurie: And I think an important
thing to remember here is that if
your sales and marketing teams aren't
aligned, they're not singing off the
same page, you can bet that one of
your competitors are, and they're the
ones who are winning the business.
Steve: Absolutely.
AnnieLaurie: So let's break it down.
What does alignment actually
look like and where do you start
if you know things are off?
Steve: We're gonna start with
number one, and that is sales
and marketing meet regularly.
And so sales and marketing have
to talk and consistently ongoing.
And it's not just because a campaign
went sideways or the leads are ghosting.
What I mean is structured, recurring
conversations with shared goals.
AnnieLaurie: When we say regular meetings,
we mean conversations with purpose.
This isn't just checking in.
It's high value time where you're
reviewing leads, talking through buyer
feedback, and making sure sales and
marketing are aimed at the same target.
Are we attracting the right leads?
Is sales closing them?
What's working?
What's getting stuck?
These meetings should drive
action, not just be a box.
You check,
Steve: and when those conversations happen
consistently, alignment becomes easier.
Better decisions get made.
Marketing improves campaigns and
content based on real buyer feedback.
Sales gets clarity on messaging
and other marketing efforts.
It becomes a win-win.
And this is also where having tool
like HubSpot or Active Campaign, those
are two that we use and recommend.
It becomes really useful because when
those tools are set up correctly, they
give you a single record of truth.
And so now both marketing and sales
can see and watch the entire buyer's
journey from the first point of
contact where they came in through a
marketing campaign and as they journey
through and get handed off to sales.
Everybody's working from
the same information.
AnnieLaurie: So Steve, for a CEO
listening, who doesn't have a marketing
department, or maybe sales is just one
person, what does a regular meeting
even look like in that kind of setup?
Does it still apply
Steve: 100%?
You know, even if you have one
person in each role, or maybe
you are playing both roles.
It's still important to step back
and evaluate both your marketing
and your sales 'cause they're
still separate functions, even if
they're filled by the same person.
Are your marketing efforts
leading to sales conversations?
Are you getting appointments scheduled?
Are you tracking and seeing
what's happening to the leads
once proposals have been given?
It's important to track
that and look at that.
The discipline here matters.
Especially when you are the one
person wearing all the hats,
AnnieLaurie: and even if those meetings
are happening, that's just step one.
The real question is, are those
two teams actually working together
or are they just coexisting?
Steve, let's talk about that next.
Steve: Okay.
So number two is your sales and marketing
teams actually work well together.
Ask yourself, do my sales and marketing
teams actually work well together?
One side thinks that leads are weak.
The other side thinks
that sales aren't closing.
If that's what you're encountering,
that's not collaboration, that's not
working well together, that's a cold war.
AnnieLaurie: So how do we break it down?
Steve: First of all, it's
starting with empathy.
Everybody thinks they're doing what they
know to do with what they've been given.
But if those two teams aren't
aligned, there's always going
to be a natural conflict.
When something's not working well,
the natural default is to shift blame
to the other person, the other team.
And so just first of
all, start with empathy.
Assuming that your team is working
hard, come in with that approach..
have marketing, listen in
and shadow on sales calls.
If you're recording your sales calls, let
marketing have access to those so they can
hear what questions the buyers are asking.
That becomes a seed bed for content.
We'll talk about that in a little
bit, but also let sales listen
in on how campaigns are built.
It's easy for anyone outside of
marketing to assume that marketing's
just playing and goofing off.
They're just doing graphic stuff, they're
not really doing the heavy lifting.
So it's important that each group
understands the challenges that the
other team is encountering and facing.
And so when we have those
conversations, when we can work
through frustrations together, then if
you've got the right people in place.
You can start building some mutual
respect for what the other team,
what the other person is doing.
That's where collaboration starts,
getting them on the same page so
that they have a clear picture
of what's actually happening.
AnnieLaurie: let's say that the teams are
talking, but there's definitely tension.
They're working in silos.
Maybe they're paying lip service to
all the things, but they're still not
truly like synergy and collaboration
between the two departments.
Where should a CEO step in Steve?
How do you start to rebuild and
trust when it's already seen some
fracturing or maybe even dare I
say, passive aggressive attitudes?
Steve: Yeah.
Yeah.
Not that you'd ever see that or
encounter that, a lot of it comes
down to reframing the responsibility.
So rather than seeing, marketing and
sales, separately, it's reframing
their responsibilities as a collective
revenue team and that each has a part
to play in helping generate revenue.
Marketing's responsibility is creating
content campaigns and activities that
create awareness, drive traffic, and
start bringing some of those leads in.
Building the trust and credibility, and
then sales has the responsibility to
take those leads and start conversations
and take it across the finish line.
And so it's not a clear cutoff
point where all of a sudden
marketing's no longer involved
and it's just sales or vice versa.
It's the two working together.
If you take your hands and put ' them
together flat against each other, almost
like prayer hands, your hands are pressed
together, but that's not collaboration.
Whereas if you interlace your fingers and
your two hands are holding together, now
you have a picture of collaboration where
the two teams, or the two groups are,
more intermeshed and working together.
So the CEO, and the sales leader need
to start reframing this as a team that's
working together with a common goal.
Ultimately this isn't just who
owns the win per se, it's about
working together to get the win.
AnnieLaurie: As you're explaining all
of this, at risk of sounding cliche, I'm
picturing the whole football analogy.
It's like the CEO is the
coach on the sidelines.
You've Got your quarterback, you got your
players, they all have to work together.
They all have their role to play.
A quarterback without the other
players isn't gonna do much good.
And all the other players aren't gonna
do any good without the quarterback.
I think that's a neat picture
of visualizing how this can
work when it's working well,
Steve: It is.
And just to jump from that for just a
minute, in some cases what happens as on
a football team, often the quarterback
or a wide receiver or a running back,
those tend to get the most attention.
Their positions are the most
visible, especially if you have a
star player in one of those roles.
However, the best quarterback isn't
going to be successful if their
offensive line isn't able to protect
him while he's in the pocket.
So even some of those linemen
who might not be household
names, their role is critical.
And so it's having that willingness
to share the glory, if you will.
And yes, you need some
star players in some cases.
You also need to have team players and
getting rid of, the folks who think
that it's all about them and who aren't
willing to be a part of the team.
AnnieLaurie: Following on this
wonderful analogy Steve, you
gotta have plays to run, right?
And you gotta have a good, strong
playbook so the coach can be calling
those plays and everyone knows what
their job is to me, that connects us
straight into the next part of this,
which is documenting your sales process.
So once you have your relationships
with your team moving in the right
direction, it's time to document
the process so that you can all be
operating off the same playbook.
Steve: Absolutely.
A sales process, is a roadmap.
Documenting a sales process
can be super simple.
It could be something that you
sketch out on a whiteboard showing
the steps and what's happening.
At each stage of the buyer's
journey, who's responsible, and
what tools or content you're using.
But the idea here is making sure that
your marketing team and your sales
team all have a clear understanding of
what steps are involved in the process.
And a lot of times, companies we
interact with, they have a sales
process, and these are air quotes here.
They have a sales process, but
it's not written down anywhere.
It's an assumed process, but there's not
clarity in terms of who is ultimately
responsible for certain things.
Again, it might be assumed, which
can lead to the misalignment.
And so what a sales process does
is it helps keep things consistent.
And of course, that's critical
for companies that wanna scale.
AnnieLaurie: So Steve, what exactly
should go into a documented sales process?
How detailed does this need
to be to actually work?
Steve: As I said a moment ago,
it, I'm gonna say it depends.
We've had some clients that their sales
team was one person, and so the sales
process could effectively be put on
a whiteboard, and it gave them enough
clarity so they knew where to go with
a prospect, with a lead, depending
on the situation and the scenario.
In some cases, if you have a large
sales team or a detailed sales process,
then mapping something that we use a
flowchart tool called Miro, MIRO, and
maybe it's using a tool like that to
map out a more detailed sales process
where it's very clear what emails.
A lead is getting at a particular stage.
Who's responsible for what, what's
the content or the resources,
that you're bringing in?
Where's the proposal happening?
All of these different types of things.
But ultimately it needs to cover
every step of the buyer's journey
from first point of contact, all the
way through signing the contract.
It's including things like qualification,
needs, discovery, proposal negotiation.
The terminology is gonna vary.
Tools like ActiveCampaign and CRM
have built in predefined pipelines.
But ultimately it's making sure
that you have clarity about
what this looks like for you.
And knowing at each stage, what's the
goal, what's the next step, what are
the tools that you need to support it?
And once you have that defined, that
clarity saves you a lot of internal time.
It helps you close more deals.
Helps create some of this alignment
because everybody knows what's happening,
when and how, and who's responsible.
AnnieLaurie: Thanks, Steve.
That's great.
So when we have the process documented
and everyone is on the same page,
you have clarity on what to do.
But now we need to make sure
that we have everything that
we need to support these steps.
Especially when it comes to building
trust and moving buyers forward, that's
where we start looking at content
and creating content specifically
to support sales conversations.
I must admit.
When I came across this, it was an aha
moment for me, and I think it could be
an aha moment for a lot of our listeners
because my bent is marketing and my
background in sales isn't as strong.
And when I think about creating content to
support sales conversations, when I listen
to some of those sales conversations
that you've had that you've shared with
me, it definitely unlocks an entire new.
Section of content opportunities
That would be useful and
multipurpose, not just for sales,
but in other applications as well.
This is where content becomes more
than just a lead generating tool.
It becomes a sales accelerator.
Steve: Exactly.
And so this point number four is that
content supports sales conversations.
Here's what we mean by this one.
Most companies, treat
marketing content like,
a front end asset.
In other words, it's useful in
the very beginning of the buyer's
journey and sales process.
It tracks people in social media, email,
marketing, whatever content, you're using.
And once they're handed off to sales, then
marketing steps back, they're hands off.
But the reality is.
Even in that process, a lot
of buyers are still deciding.
they have questions, hesitations,
sometimes they're getting stuck in
research mode that's where content can
step in and help guide the conversation.
If you go back to our previous episode,
where we talk about inform with content,
one of the key things about this is.
Having the perspective that the
best content is educational,
informative, and building trust.
It's not salesy and pushy,
but it's educating the buyer.
That's why it becomes really
important, not just at the
beginning, but having content that.
Your sales folks can use as they're
interacting to continue that
education process, to continue
to build that trust faster.
AnnieLaurie: You know, this reminds
me of a concept I've heard you
refer to as assignment selling.
That might be a new term for some,
but can you unpack that for us?
What is assignment selling?
Steve: Absolutely.
And so I am a certified coach for
a marketing framework called They
Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan.
Recently he just put the third
version of the framework out.
His book just came out, a couple of
weeks ago called Endless Customers.
They ask you Answer 3.0,
focuses on building trust through
content, in both marketing and sales.
Assignment selling is when you are
interacting with a buyer, you assign
them a homework task, if you will.
You send them an article
to read, a video to watch.
A guide to go through, or an
assessment to complete all for the
purpose of helping educate them.
For instance, when we're working
with somebody to create content that.
The sales team can use
in the sales process.
One of the questions I like to ask is,
what do you, as a salesperson, what do
you wish your buyer already knew before
you had your first conversation with them?
And immediately.
I'll hear several different things.
Well, I wish they knew this.
I wish they knew that.
I wish they knew this.
So an example of assignment selling
would be before you have that first
meeting, the salesperson sends over, an
article that answers those questions.
Here are the top three questions that
buyers have about accounting services.
Send them that ahead of time.
Ask them to read it so that when you get
into the course of your conversation.
Some of those things have already been
answered, and you can get into more of the
specifics of what they're looking for, and
that could be done throughout the entire
sales process using videos and different.
Content formats.
But again, the idea is you're assigning
them, you're asking them to do something.
And to be honest with you, especially
for a lot of the B2B companies
we work with, we're talking about
higher dollar services and products.
So if they're not willing to take
five or 10 minutes to read an article
to educate themselves, how qualified
of a buyer are they going to be?
But that's the idea.
That's the concept of assignment selling.
AnnieLaurie: We actually have a blog in
our learning center on our website titled
how to Write Marketing Content That
Accelerates Sales and Closes More Deals.
If you go to our website and visit the
Learning Center, sort the articles,
and click on sales to sort by sales,
this blog post will come right up along
with a few others that are relevant
to this discussion and we'll be sure
to include that in the show notes.
So check that out.
for More context on these.
Concepts.
Okay, so what kind of content
are we talking about here, Steve?
We're not just handing over
blog posts and calling it a day.
What does it mean when we start writing
content that will accelerate sales?
Steve: One example is what I just
mentioned a moment ago what are the
things that you wish your buyer knew
before you had your first conversation?
But sometimes people want to
know how your process works.
or they want to know about pricing.
What kinds of results can they expect?
Sometimes we'll get the question,
who are your best competitors?
There are All numbers of questions.
A lot of times sharing case
studies is a really useful piece
of content because that lets.
Buyers, see what you do, how you do,
it, who you do it for, and what kinds
of results they might be able to expect.
I'm pulling this directly from, they
ask you Answer, which is a fantastic
framework that we use with our
client's, part of the Guide framework,
This is what's called an 80% video.
And the 80% represents
the top questions that.
80% of your buyers are going to
ask and you create a video that
answers those questions, and
send it to ' them ahead of time.
It lets you get into the specifics
of what they're looking for
by the time you actually are
having a conversation with them
when, a salesperson, is using content like
this intentionally, it saves them time.
It helps increase close rates.
They're not having to answer the same
questions over and over and over,
and they are equipping the qualified
buyers to move forward faster.
AnnieLaurie: And let's be honest,
a lot of salespeople don't
know what content they have.
Or they're not sure how to use it.
Here's a question for you, Steve.
What's a practical first step a
CEO can take to help their sales
team start using content more
strategically, especially if it hasn't
been part of their rhythm before?
Steve: I would say start by auditing
what content you already have.
Do you have content that's organized?
Do you have FAQs on your
website, internal FAQs?
Do you have.
Email templates that you've already
created, whether intentionally as
a team or maybe individual sales
folks have created a template, of
answers they give commonly, have
some of those internal conversations
to see what you already have.
If you don't have anything,
start by asking your sales
team are the the questions that
you're answering all the time?
What do you wish people knew?
Before you had your first call,
what is it that people are
consistently getting stuck on?
Then create content for those questions.
Keep it simple.
It could be a one page PDF, it
could be a short video using
a tool like Loom or Vineyard.
It doesn't have to be overly produced,
but even some of these simple pieces of
content can do a lot of heavy lifting.
AnnieLaurie: We've talked about how
content can help your sales team close
deals, but here's the next level.
What if the content your sales team is
using was actually built with their input?
This brings us to point number five,
sales and marketing plan content together.
Steve, this just feels like, like hearts
and rainbow unicorns and sprinkles
and glitter, is this actually reality?
Can this happen?
Steve: This can be, I know it
sounds too good to be true.
Let me also say we're not naive, getting
alignment between sales and marketing.
For some teams is going to be a
difficult process because it's
gonna require internal shifting.
It's gonna require having some difficult
conversations and in some cases it
might mean finding that some of the
folks on your team aren't the right
people because they're not interested
in alignment, they're interested in
what they can gain for themselves.
So again, simple, but
it's not always easy.
However.
When marketing and sales get aligned,
and I've certainly seen that we
have some of our clients that I'm
thinking of one client in particular
where I function as their CMO, where
sales and marketing are aligned.
It's a smaller team, but I can tell
you it makes all the difference
between content that sounds good
and content that actually works.
when sales and marketing are
planning content together, you get.
Marketing materials, marketing content,
and campaigns that speak directly to
the buyer's questions and objections.
We can focus on decision making
triggers because it's all rooted
in real conversations, not just
something that marketing's having
to try to figure out and assume.
AnnieLaurie: And this
really isn't complicated.
Your sales team is sitting
on a gold mine of insight.
They hear the unfiltered questions.
They know where prospects get stuck.
When they're involved in planning,
the content becomes sharper, more
relevant and way more effective.
Steve: Exactly.
And when sales can see their fingerprints
in the content, there's a higher
likelihood that they're actually going
to use it because they helped shape it.
AnnieLaurie: Let's say a CEO
wants to start involving sales in
their content marketing planning.
Where's a smart place to start that?
Steve, what's one way to make this
feel easy and not like a whole new job?
Steve: Start simple and.
Ask your sales team.
What do you wish your buyers already
understood before they talk to you?
Start there.
Those answers.
If your sales team Is getting
stuck, you can use chat, GPT,
to assist.
Keep a log of questions they get asked.
If you've recorded your sales calls
and have the transcripts, toss them in
Chat GPT and use it to analyze and
identify what are the questions that
we're getting and asked by buyers.
And if you don't have any of that and you
feel like you're starting from scratch.
Then , use chat, GPT or whatever
AI tool you're using, educate
it on who your buyer is.
Give it as much detail as you can,
then ask it to provide questions
it would have as your buyer.
Ask it for the questions it would ask at
different stages in the buyer's journey.
Share your sales process with it,
there are a number of different ways.
There's no reason why you
cannot get these questions.
And then when you do, even if you
just get a small handful, use that
to drive your content creation, your
next blog post, your next video,
your next sales asset, once you get
started, create a recurring meeting.
It doesn't have to be every week,
maybe it's once a month where your
sales and marketing team can meet and
bring their insights to the table.
Here again, we're not aiming
for perfection, we're aiming
for practical and useful.
AnnieLaurie: Okay.
Steve, how about a little,
coaching on stakeholder engagement.
Let's say marketing's bought in, CEO
wants it, but sales is giving pushback.
That's your job.
We're not doing that.
What would you say to help
them overcome that objection?
Steve: I would start with questions.
I've had some of these types
of coaching conversations and
sometimes it's not that the sales
team is opposed, they're uncertain.
They don't have clarity
on what this means.
Why are we shifting something?
Is this another meeting?
If I have to move into another
meeting, it means less time that I
have available to be out selling, which
means I'm potentially making less money.
So it's having the conversation.
It's asking questions to help the sales
team and the sales folks understand,
Hey, would it be helpful if there
was a way that we could reduce the
amount of time that you had to spend
answering the same questions over
and over again on a sales call.
I don't know a salesperson
who's gonna say no.
That wouldn't be helpful.
I would rather keep answering the same
questions over and over and over again.
Right?
Especially if it's a 30 minute
conversation, they're spending the first
10 minutes answering the same questions.
Wouldn't you like to get
that 10 minutes back?
Another question would be, it
be helpful to you if we could speed
up the qualification process so
that those that aren't qualified
got out of the pipeline faster.
Would that be helpful so that way you
can focus on more qualified buyers?
Again, I don't know any salesperson
that's gonna say, no, I wanna spend
more time with poorly qualified leads.
It's how it's positioned, so
that it is a benefit to them.
It helps speed up the sales process.
It can reduce closing time.
It helps.
Improve the number of qualified leads.
And so again, it's having some
of these conversations I would
even say just start small.
Set up an alignment meeting, find out
what are some of the frustrations I
remember in college, in a fraternity,
we had, what we call roses and thorns.
And sometimes it's having an open,
honest conversation about what
are the frustrations, what are the
thorns, what are these pain points?
If you need somebody to come in from
the outside, maybe you have a business
coach or somebody that can facilitate
that conversation that might be helpful.
Again, it's situational, but
ultimately it's starting small.
Start the conversation and
start it moving forward.
AnnieLaurie: Okay.
Just One last time.
For the skeptics or those who think this
is impossible and maybe not even worth
the energy and effort, just talk us
through what's at stake for people who
don't take the time to make this work.
Steve: Well, I would respond back
to them with how much time does.
Your sales team, or if you're the
salesperson, how much time do you
spend on leads that aren't qualified?
How much time do you spend doing the
same things over and over and over again?
I did this exercise with a sales
team a couple of months ago, and
we walked through and I asked the
question, who is the better buyer?
The one who comes in well educated,
understanding what you do, or the one
who comes in and really doesn't have
a good understanding, which of those
are you having to spend more time with?
So, well, I'm having to spend more time
with the one who's not educated, answering
lots of questions, and oftentimes,
even if they do become a client,
they're not the best type of client.
A lot of times they could be high
maintenance versus the one who comes in.
has Taken the time to educate
themselves, they've asked the questions,
they did the research, and they've
decided that this is the best fit.
Well, why spend more time on
poorly qualified leads who aren't
fully educated on what you do?
Well, part of this is it may be
they can't find the information.
So what if you provide
them with the information?
What if you help educate them?
Accelerate that process without
having to spend a bunch of time
doing it because you've created
content that does that for you.
This is a very pragmatic
thing, and it's all about what?
What's at stake.
What's at risk is you're having to
spend more time on less qualified
leads, which slows down the
sales process versus educating.
Providing them with content that's
going to answer their questions.
So it saves the amount of time
that you have to spend doing that.
It makes them a better buyer or
helps them quickly decide and
recognize they're not the right fit.
So ultimately it's your bottom line,
'cause you're talking about your
time, the quality of your leads, and
the number of leads and buyers that
you're gonna convert into customers.
AnnieLaurie: This is great, Steve.
This is so good.
Thank you for unpacking this for all
of us we've covered a lot, right?
So we've covered alignment,
process, content collab,
conflict resolution, all of it.
Let's bring it home for the CEO,
who's listening right now and
realizing we have a long way to go.
Maybe we haven't really done any of this.
Where should they start?
What's the first move that
creates momentum for them?
Without turning this into just one more
overwhelming thing on the to-do list,
Steve: start small.
This is not just a one-time thing.
For a lot of companies this is going
to be a shift and in some regards,
it's, this is a culture shift.
So this is not an overnight change.
this is a shift in how you're doing
things, so give yourself some grace and
recognize this is a long-term thing.
Start with an alignment meeting.
Sit down with whoever's
involved in sales and marketing.
Even if it's you and you're
wearing both these hats, walk
through the current process.
What's working?
What's getting stuck?
Where's the communication falling apart?
Then ask what's one thing that you can
clarify or document or fix this month?
And heck, I would just say, again,
start with that simple question.
Tell me three things that you
wish every buyer knew before
you had your first conversation.
Get those questions written down
and go write a few paragraphs
that they can copy and paste into
an email and send ahead of time.
Again, start small.
It doesn't have to be
anything huge and ginormous.
Even that and some of the clarity
that comes with that can help
start moving things forward.
And the other thing I'll give
you two more action items here.
One is you can reach out to us.
These are the types of conversations
that we help people have.
When we take on a coaching
role with a client.
But the other thing I'll mention is
get a copy of Marcus Sheridan's book,
endless Customers, because that's
where he goes into a lot of detail.
We coach people through this,
but you can read for yourself.
You can find information about
assignment selling annual, you've
already mentioned the article we have
on our learning center, on our website.
Start somewhere.
Start educating yourself and make the
commitment that you're gonna get your
sales and marketing teams aligned.
As a revenue team,
this episode is brought to
you by Wayfind Marketing.
If you are trying to align your sales
and marketing teams, but you don't know
where to start, that's exactly what
we can help you with
AnnieLaurie: our free guide marketing
assessment gives you a clear picture
of what's working, what's missing,
and where you can make practical
improvements without guessing.
Steve: It is a 25 question assessment
that will take you five minutes.
Once you complete it, you'll get a score
and you'll walk away with next steps in
the form of our Guide Marketing Playbook.
So that it's tailored to your
business and your assessment score,
head over to wayfind marketing.com
and you can take the
free assessment there.
AnnieLaurie: So your next step this week,
take what we've talked about today and
start mapping out your sales process.
Pull out a whiteboard or a
notebook and write it down.
What are the stages?
What happens at each one?
Where do buyers tend to stall out?
Steve: If you already have your sales
process mapped out, sit down with your
sales team and your marketing teams.
are they using content
that you already have?
Does it match the stages
in your sales process?
Where's the gap?
And if you don't have content, then
get those initial questions from
your sales team and create content
to answer those questions then have
them start using that with buyers.
AnnieLaurie: In our next
episode, we're wrapping up the
guide framework with letter E.
Evaluate and adjust.
It's all about measuring what's
working, fixing what's not,
and leading your marketing with
clarity instead of guesswork.
Steve: Alright, you have your
homework, keep making progress,
AnnieLaurie: If you're feeling stuck or
not sure what to fix first, reach out.
That's exactly why we are here.
Steve: We'll see you next week.