Scaling a marketing or sales department is no small feat. As the team grows, so does the need for clear and concise communication between sales and marketing. However, one of the biggest hurdles to a cohesive sales and marketing team is the lack of a centralized source of truth.
70% of CFOs agree that a single source of truth is critical to their organization, according to a report by Business Insider. Sadly, marketing and sales teams often work with different (and sometimes outdated) data sets, which can lead to a disconnect in the buyer’s journey and misalignment between the two departments.
Moreover, this data disconnect can ripple effect across an organization, causing inefficiencies and decreased productivity.
While there are challenges inherent in maintaining a single source of truth, the benefits far outweigh the costs.
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What Does a Single Source of Truth in Marketing and Sales Even Mean?
The “Single Source of Truth” concept isn’t new. Gartner suggests that roughly 7 out of 10 companies have already implemented an SSOT for some critical data. The problem is, however, that most companies have only implemented an SSOT for specific data sets, not across the board.
For example, a company may have an SSOT for product data but not customer data. So, regarding the customer data that sales and marketing rely on, each department works with different (possibly outdated) information.
An SSOT for marketing and sales data means one central repository for all customer data that both departments can access and reference. This data is continuously updated, so everyone works off the most recent information.
An SSOT ensures that everyone in an organization works with the same data set. This way, when sales and marketing teams make decisions, they can be confident that they’re working off the same information.
What’s more, an SSOT can help reduce the risk of human error. If multiple data sets are floating around, it’s easy for someone to accidentally use the wrong data set or make a mistake when inputting data.
With an SSOT, everyone is working off the same page, which helps reduce the margin for error.
Why Is Adopting an SSOT Essential for Marketing and Sales Alignment?
Without an SSOT, it’s nearly impossible for marketing and sales teams to be aligned. After all, how can two departments be working towards the same goal if they’re not even using the same data?
The trick to successful marketing and sales alignment is creating a smooth handoff between the two departments. An SSOT can help facilitate this by ensuring that both teams work off the same data set.
This way, when a lead enters the top of the funnel, marketing knows exactly what information to give to sales. And, when sales is ready to close the deal, they have all of the information they need about the lead at their fingertips.
Some other benefits of implementing an SSOT might include:
- Less time spent on data entry: When there’s only one data set, there’s no need for multiple people to input the same information into different systems. This can help save your team time and increase their productivity.
- Improved data quality: With an SSOT, you can establish data governance rules and processes to ensure that the data being inputted is high-quality. This way, you can be confident that the information being used by marketing and sales is accurate.
- Increased customer satisfaction: When marketing and sales are aligned, they can provide a better customer experience. After all, they’re working off the same data set, so there’s no risk of miscommunication or confusion.
Ultimately, an SSOT can help your marketing and sales teams work more efficiently and effectively. By having a single source of truth, you can establish trust and confidence between the two teams, leading to improved results.
Of course, implementing an SSOT can be easier said than done. But there’s one key driver that’s essential for success: marketing operations.
Marketing Operations: The Secret to a Successful SSOT
The secret to a successful SSOT implementation is leadership’s clear and consistent intention. Without this, getting buy-in from different teams and establishing the necessary processes will be difficult.
Research from Gartner reveals that companies with a marketing operations leader are 35% more likely to develop a successful SSOT than those without one.
What does this mean?
To create a successful SSOT, you need someone who’s dedicated to making it happen. Someone who can champion the initiative and ensure that everyone is on board.
This doesn’t mean that you need to hire a new marketing operations leader. If you don’t have the budget for it, you can assign this responsibility to someone on your team.
But whoever takes on this role must be committed to seeing the project through. They need to be the glue that holds everything together and ensures everyone is working towards the same goal.
Everything starts with the intention of better operational efficiency.
From there, you can develop the processes and protocols needed to make your SSOT a success.
For instance, you’ll need to determine which data sets will be used as the source of truth. This could be your CRM, marketing automation platform, or even a simple Google Sheet.
Once you’ve decided on the data sets, you’ll need to establish rules and processes for inputting and updating information. This will ensure that the data is accurate and up-to-date.
Finally, you’ll need to create a feedback loop so that you can track the success of your SSOT. This will help you identify any areas that need improvement and ensure everyone is on the same page.
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How To Create an SSOT for Sales and Marketing
At this point, you already know why an SSOT is essential and how to set one up for success.
Let’s look at how you can create an SSOT for sales and marketing.
1. Develop a centralized repository of information
The first step is to develop a centralized repository of information. This will be the “source of truth” everyone in your organization refers to.
There are a few different ways you can do this:
- CRM systems: A CRM system is an excellent option for storing customer data. This way, everyone in your organization will have access to the same information.
- Shared drives: Another option is to create a shared drive where everyone can store and access files. This can be helpful if you have a lot of marketing collateral, for example.
- Web portals: You can also create a web portal where people can log in and access information. This is a good option if you have sensitive information you don’t want to share with everyone in your organization.
Depending on your needs, there are a variety of options to choose from.
You can even use multiple methods — to ensure everyone knows where to find the information they need.
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2. Create SOPs for managing data
The next step is to create SOPs (standard operating procedures) for managing data.
This includes how often you should update data, who is responsible for updating it, and what should happen if there is a conflict.
Creating SOPs will help ensure that everyone is on the same page and that data is managed consistently.
For instance, you may want to create an SOP that says all data must be updated weekly by the marketing team. You might also want to create an SOP that says data should be corrected immediately if there is a change in product pricing.
SOPs can be as simple or complex as you need them to be. The important thing is that everyone understands and agrees with them.
3. Involve your team during the process
There’s nothing worse than implementing a new system and having it fail because no one uses it.
That’s why it’s crucial to involve your team during the process.
Get their input on which data sets should be used, what the SOPs should be, and how your team should implement the system.
The more buy-in you have from your team, the more likely they will actually use the system.
4. Encourage team members to share knowledge
Knowledge management is a crucial part of any SSOT.
Encourage team members to share their knowledge by creating a system that makes it easy for them to do so.
For instance, you might want to create a knowledge base where people can submit articles, create FAQs, or share best practices.
You might also want to create a process for tagging and organizing information so that it’s easy to find.
A knowledge base will help you train new team members and keep everyone on the same page throughout the product lifecycle.
5. Keep your data clean
Cleaning up your data is essential to maintaining a single source of truth.
There are a few ways to do this:
- Use data validation: Data validation is a process of ensuring that your data meets specific standards. For example, you might want to ensure that all data is entered in a consistent format or that required fields are filled out.
- Use data cleansing: Data cleansing is the process of identifying and correcting errors in your data. This can be done manually or through automated tools.
- Use data deduplication: Data deduplication is removing duplicate data from your records. This is important because duplicates can lead to inconsistencies and errors in your data.
Clean data equals accurate data, which is essential for making sound decisions.
To Centralize or Not To Centralize
Creating a single source of truth requires careful planning and execution. But the effort is worth it when you see improved communication, increased efficiency, and better alignment between sales and marketing results.
That said, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The best way to implement a single source of truth will vary depending on your organization’s needs.
Sometimes, it may make sense to centralize all data in one location. In others, it may be better to keep data decentralized and allow each team to maintain its data.
The important thing is to carefully consider your options and decide what will work best for your team.
Remember, the goal is to improve communication and alignment between sales and marketing. If you can do that, you’ll be on your way to success.
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