How do you drive buy-in of a new narrative style with Sales teams?

Driving buy-in for a new narrative style with the sales team shouldn’t happen in a marketing vacuum. It starts with working closely with sales leaders—and, depending on your organization’s size, your CRO should advocate and drive buy-in from the top down. While it might seem like a no-brainer to introduce a new process, timing is critical. If the sales team is focused on other priorities, pushing a narrative shift won’t gain traction (and unfortunately, you'll waste a lot of time spinning your wheels in the process).

Once you have buy-in from sales, collaborate closely with sales enablement (if you have it). If not, start by defining the key components with a few select sales leaders. Once everyone is aligned on the format and framework, bring in key stakeholders from across the organization—product, SEs, and sales ICs—to test, gather feedback, and refine the narrative. By involving them early, they’ll feel like they have a stake in the process and will understand their role in shaping the new direction.

The more involvement and ownership each group has in shaping the new narrative, the more likely they’ll adopt it and naturally incorporate it into their conversations with customers.