In many Brisbane small businesses, marketing and sales operate like two separate islands. Marketing is busy posting on Instagram and sending emails, while Sales is frustrated that the leads aren't 'ready to buy'—it’s a classic disconnect that costs you money.
Aligning these two functions isn't just about 'getting along'; it’s about creating a single, seamless journey for your customers that turns interest into revenue without the friction. When everyone is rowing in the same direction, your cost per acquisition drops and your conversion rates soar.
What you’ll need before starting
- Access to your CRM: (HubSpot, Pipedrive, or even just a shared Google Sheet).
- Historical data: Your average lead-to-sale conversion rate from the last 6 months.
- Your team: At least one person representing 'Marketing' and one for 'Sales' (even if that’s just you and a part-timer!).
- A quiet hour: This requires some deep thinking away from the daily grind of emails.
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Step 1: Define Your 'Ideal Customer Profile' (ICP) Together
This is where most people get stuck, and honestly, the interface of your CRM doesn't help because it just gives you empty boxes. Marketing might think a 'lead' is anyone who downloads a PDF, while Sales only wants to talk to people with a $10k budget and an ABN.Sit down and agree on who you actually want to attract.
- Pro tip: Look at your top 5 most profitable Brisbane clients from the last year. What do they have in common?
- Action: Write down five non-negotiable traits of a 'good' lead. If they don't meet these, Marketing shouldn't be spending budget on them.
Step 2: Create a Shared Vocabulary (The 'Smarketing' Dictionary)
I’ve seen so many arguments start simply because people use the same words to mean different things. In a small team, you need to agree on what a "Lead" actually is versus a "Marketing Qualified Lead" (MQL) or a "Sales Qualified Lead" (SQL).- Lead: Someone who gave you an email address (e.g., for a newsletter).
- MQL: Someone who has shown intent (e.g., visited your pricing page three times).
- SQL: Someone who has asked for a quote or booked a discovery call.
Step 3: Set a 'North Star' Revenue Goal
Instead of Marketing aiming for 'Clicks' and Sales aiming for 'Closed Deals', give them a shared revenue target. In an Australian context, this might be your EOFY target or a quarterly revenue milestone.If your goal is $50,000 in new business this month, work backwards:
- To get $50k, you need 5 new clients (if your average deal is $10k).
- To get 5 clients, you need 20 Sales Qualified Leads (at a 25% close rate).
- To get 20 SQLs, Marketing needs to generate 60 MQLs.
Now, Marketing isn't just 'posting on Facebook'; they are on a mission to find those 60 MQLs to help Sales hit the $50k mark. It changes the whole vibe of the office.
Step 4: Map the 'Handover' Process
This is the trickiest part—everything after is easy once you nail this. You need to decide exactly when and how a lead moves from Marketing to Sales.- The 'Handover' Trigger: Is it when they fill out a 'Contact Us' form? Or when they click a specific link in an email?
- The Notification: Does Sales get an email? A Slack message? A notification in HubSpot?
Step 5: Establish a Feedback Loop (The Weekly Stand-up)
Yes, another meeting. But this one is different. Spend 15 minutes every Monday morning purely on alignment.- Sales says: "The leads from the LinkedIn ad last week were all tyre-kickers with no budget."
- Marketing says: "Okay, let's adjust the ad targeting to only show to people in specific industries or with certain job titles."
Without this loop, Marketing keeps spending money on ads that don't work, and Sales keeps getting annoyed. This is where you pivot and optimise in real-time.
Step 6: Sync Your Technology
If your marketing tools (like Mailchimp or Facebook Ads) don't talk to your sales tools (your CRM), you're flying blind.- Screenshot description: When you look at a contact record in your CRM, you should be able to see exactly which Facebook ad they clicked or which email they opened. If you see a blank 'Activity' timeline, your systems aren't synced.
Step 7: Shared Accountability and Incentives
In larger Aussie firms, Sales gets commissions and Marketing gets a salary. In a small team, this can create a 'not my job' attitude. Consider a small team-wide bonus when the monthly revenue target is hit. This encourages Marketing to care about the quality of the lead, not just the quantity.---
Troubleshooting Common Issues
"Marketing is sending leads, but Sales isn't calling them."- The Fix: Check the 'Speed to Lead'. If Sales takes 3 days to call, the lead is cold. Agree on a Service Level Agreement (SLA)—for example, "Sales will contact all MQLs within 4 business hours."
- The Fix: Start with your best guess based on your bank statements from the last quarter. It’s better to have a slightly wrong goal than no goal at all. You can refine it next month.
- The Fix: Honestly, this is the most common issue. Strip it back. If your team finds the CRM too complex, move back to a simple, shared Trello board or Google Sheet until the habit of tracking leads is formed.
Pro Tips from the Field
- Record Sales Calls: Have your marketing person listen to a few sales calls. Hearing the actual questions and objections from Brisbane business owners is the best market research they will ever get.
- Joint Content Creation: Have Sales tell Marketing the top 3 questions they get asked every single day. Marketing should then write a blog post or film a video answering those questions. This is 'pre-selling' and makes the Sales team's life 10x easier.
Next Steps
- Audit your current leads: Go back through the last 20 leads. Where did they come from? Did they buy? Why or why not?
- Book your first 'Smarketing' meeting: Set it for 30 minutes this Friday afternoon.
- Need a hand with the tech side? Setting up CRMs and tracking can be a headache. If you'd rather focus on running your business, contact the Local Marketing Group team and we can help you get your systems talking to each other.