As companies compete for customers and their loyalties, changing to meet the current market is crucial. Inevitably, change occurs from the inside out. For a business to show a consistent customer-centric face on the outside, inside practices might need an overhaul, too. According to the latest State of Marketing report from Salesforce Research, a majority of 3,500 top marketing leaders surveyed around the globe say they see a need for organizational change as they strive to engage with customers. “Over the past 12–18 months, 61% of marketers say they’ve become more focused on evolving from a traditional marketing structure to roles aligned with a customer journey strategy,” the report states.

In a traditional organizational structure, marketing, sales, and service teams tend to do their own thing. They reach customers in their own ways. Within the confines of this structure, each team has only a partial view of its customers. Not only is each team’s vision impaired, but the customers’ view of the business is as well. As customers receive varied messages from all three areas of the business, they develop a blurred view of the business, leaving them feeling dizzy. How can businesses bring their customer view into one, cohesive, central vision? Results from the State of Marketing report show that top marketing leaders employ customer relationship management (CRM) tools and collaborate with their sales and service teams to improve their customer focus.

Employ CRM tools

According to the Salesforce Research survey, high-performing marketing leaders are three times more likely to use CRM tools, such as Salesforce, than under-performing marketers. Having CRM tools is only part of the answer, though. The key is how you use them. Amazingly, “while 73% of marketers with a CRM system use it for a shared customer view between their service and sales teams, more than a quarter don’t,” the Salesforce Research report states. If you have CRM tools, but your marketing, sales, and service teams are not using them to share a consistent view of your customers, then your customers’ views of your business might be unclear as well. These two out-of-focus perspectives leave your customer journey strategy wanting. As a Platinum Salesforce partner, Simplus has a proven track record of clearing up this vision by helping businesses successfully implement CRM tools.

Collaborate with sales teams

In addition to sharing tools for a consistent customer view, collaborating with organizational teams is paramount to success. “Sixty-four percent of marketing leaders believe customer journey strategies require organizational shifts—for example, redefining how sales, service, and marketing teams work together,” the State of Marketing report states.

Top marketers develop a healthy relationship between sales and marketing teams. “High performers are 2.2x more likely than underperformers to say marketing consistently provides sales with quality leads—and 2.1x more likely to say sales regularly provides key insights that shape marketing efforts,” the Salesforce Research study reports.

Related: 2018 marketing trends

Collaborate with service teams

Not surprisingly, since leading marketers see collaboration with sales teams as a priority, they foster relationships with their service teams as well. “Top teams are 2.2x more likely than underperformers to alert service to special offers and promotions — and 2.5x more likely to say service alerts them to suppress marketing when there’s a known issue,” the report shows. Also, they know that coordinating efforts in social media channels has its benefits. The report states, “To accommodate changing customer behaviors, 64% of marketing teams work in tandem with service to manage social inquiries and issues.”

Manage change

The ideal picture of marketing, sales, and service teams working together and effectively employing CRM tools to meet customer demands is clear, but how do businesses make it a reality? Professional help is available to implement CRM solutions and help businesses change their organizational structure. If your organization has been stymied by an antiquated marketing structure, working with change management experts like those at Simplus can help you clearly see your way clear to a positive future. Simplus can help your company develop the right strategy for change, make the transition easier, and ensure the changes last.

Look what Simplus experts have done for past clients like Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America and Damballa. Then, if you’re ready to improve your focus on successful customer journey strategies, contact Simplus.