As a demand gen marketer, how do you think about your relationship with sales and the revenue team. What are some best practices you reccommend?

I think the relationship with Sales should be seen as a Partnership where both sides have insights to deliver to one another (not just a one-way relatinoship where Marketing delivers Leads). This partnership should be built on trust and understanding.

I was lucky to have done a Field Marketing role prior to leading Global Campaigns when I was at Google, and what I learned during that initial role is that Sales knows the field better than anyone. They understand what content resonates with prospects/customers, what competitors are doing to appease these audiences and what our brand's key differentiators can be, and what a target audiences' true painpoints are.

Some best practices I found in striking a strong relationship with Sales are:

• Have common goals: At the end of the day, Marketing and Sales all have the same goal -- increase revenue for the company. How each team goes about that is where we differ. Ensuring there's a strong handoff from Marketing Qualified Lead to a Sales Accepted Lead is critical. Also making sure Marketing is providing the right tools for Sales to take that Lead to the finish line is where the Marketing/Sales partnership can either fall flat or succeed. 
• Educate them & Make them a co-partner in your work: I co-created a Sales Council that met monthly where it was a two-fold experience: 1) educating Sales on what Marketing did so they understood we did more than just Events and 2) gathering their feedback on messaging, upcoming campaigns, and more. 
• Lean on their expertise to improve meessaging: I was charged with building Sales scripts for Inside Sales teams as a first touch for a Marketing Qualified Lead. I was the expert in the campaign but not necessarily the expert in the ideal length of a LinkedIn InMail or a first-touch email. So I often went to Sales colleagues I had a strong relationship with and would ask for them to review the messaging and gather tips on how to improve it. 
• Keep them in the loop: I would often meet with Sales Directors and other Sales Specialists to share campaign reporting and where we were looking to pilot or optimize the flow. Often times, Sales does not fully understand the Marketing funnel or how it works. So it's great to educate them on general reporting and areas that need improvement. Sometimes I would find myself brainstorming tactics with them that we employed in the campaign as a pilot and they would show success. 

As a demand generation marketer, your relationship with both the sales and revenue teams is critical to success. When aligned, as a team, you are in a much stronger position to drive the desired business outcomes. Here are a few best practices to set you up for success:

• Communication. Err on the side of over-communicating. It's important to get ahead of questions and keep the sales and revenue teams informed. Foster a relationship where continuous feedback loops are established, and effective communication is demonstrated.
• Alignment of goals and objectives. It's crucial to be on the same page with your north star. What tactics is marketing deploying in support of sales? What is the overarching revenue goal, and how does the revenue team define a successful partnership? Aligning on goals and objectives ensures a unified approach.
• Be data-informed. While there may be overlap, marketing, sales, and revenue teams may have their versions of dashboards and KPIs. Speak a common language with data and align on what success looks like. Utilize data to drive decision-making and optimize strategies.
• Collaborate on marketing assets and sales enablement. Engage in discussions with the sales teams to gain a better understanding of what matters to customers. Tailor your marketing messages accordingly and speak to areas that prospects and customers care about. Additionally, collaborate with sales teams to provide the necessary assets for their success. Ensure that the marketing message and sales pitch are aligned.
• Ongoing measurement and optimization. This is an iterative process. Continuously evaluate and measure the effectiveness of strategies and tactics. Engage in ongoing conversations with sales and revenue teams to understand what is working and what is not, and position optimization as an evolving process.

By following these best practices, you can foster a strong relationship with sales and revenue teams, align strategies and goals, utilize data effectively, collaborate on marketing assets and sales enablement, and continuously optimize your efforts to drive success in demand generation marketing.