7 Tips for Better Meetings (Infographic)
Let's be honest: meetings su-- ahem, aren't fun. We've all been there: trapped around a conference table, air conditioning set to "arctic blast," listening to a manager's endless monologue about customer acquisition strategies or abstract quarterly goals. At best, you might get a free pastry. At worst, it's an utter waste of your time. Here's the good news: it doesn't have to be this way. Meetings can actually be a useful way for colleagues to work together, overcome challenges, and generate exciting new ideas. Start following these simple tips to keep your meetings productive. 7 Tips for Better Meetings 1. Keep it short! 30 minutes max. You won't hold anyone's attention much longer than that. 2. Set clear expectations ahead of time. Include what will be covered and what preparation, if any, attendees need to complete beforehand. 3. Send meeting materials in advance. Agendas, slides, spreadsheets: let people review everything before the meeting starts. The meeting itself is for actually getting things done. 4. Stay punctual. Be respectful of your teammates' time by starting — and ending — when you say you will. 5. Encourage discussion. If someone's dominating the conversation, step in to redirect or ask for another person's opinion. 6. Stay focused. If a discussion veers off on a tangent, or turns into a dialogue between two people, table the conversation for a more appropriate time. 7. Record key ideas and action items. If your meeting produces genius ideas, what's the point if you don't capture them and ensure follow-through? Curious about exactly how much time and money is sunk into ineffective meetings every single day? (Hint: it's a lot.) Check out the infographic below for more details and stats, including the root causes of bad meetings and tips for keeping virtual attendees engaged. Source: Fuze Want a reputation for hosting awesome meetings people actually look forward to? Take a look at these 4 Simple Steps for the Perfect Meeting.
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Keep Your Team Members on the Same Page with Wrike
Adoption of Wrike brought quick improvements both to managers and team members. “Wrike has been the most productive tool we have added to our arsenal since I started this business nearly five years ago,” says Dan Tipton, president and CEO at Tipton Communications. Read the whole interview with Dan to find out why Wrike turned out to be the best match for the company’s needs and how the workflow at Tipton has changed since it adopted this project management software.
How to Break Down Work Silos Between Departments
why aren't more people collaborating? One major reason: corporate silos and the silo mentality. This is where groups or departments within an organization refuse to share information with others, which results in turf wars and inefficiency. If you're going to break down silos, you will need a mandate from management. But then you will also need the right culture and the corresponding tools that can help lay your cards on the table.
Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding Campaign Tools and Resources
Crowdsourcing is a testament to the power of collaboration. Hundreds and even thousands of individual efforts combine to create something world-changing. If you’re jumping into the chaotic world of crowdsourcing to fund your startup or passion project, you’ve got a lot of hectic days and coffee-fueled nights ahead. Running a successful campaign, standing out in a sea of creative projects, and coordinating all the moving pieces takes a lot of hard work. Use these tools and resources to stay on top of it all and start writing your own crowdfunding success story. Step 1: Choose Your Platform There are hundreds of crowdfunding sites to choose from. Discover the key differences, strengths, and drawbacks of each platform and pick the right one for your project. 26 Top Crowdfunding Sites by Niche: Consult this list of popular crowdfunding sites, sorted by project type, for crucial details on fees and platform restrictions. Inc.’s 22 Crowdfunding Sites (& How to Choose One) Infographic: Answer a series of yes or no questions to discover exactly which of the top 20+ platforms fits your needs CrowdsUnite.com: Read reviews of hundreds of crowdfunding platforms to learn from others’ experiences and find help choosing the best option for you. Step 2: Do Your Homework Polish your reading glasses, find a comfy chair, and read up on platform requirements, best practices, and words of wisdom from the crowdfunding community. 10 Essential Elements of a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign: Crowdfunding success doesn't come by accident. These 10 tips will help you create the strongest possible campaign. Kickstarter's Creator Handbook, Indiegogo's Playbook, and Kickstarter Blog's "Tips" page: Peruse these guides for platform-specific requirements, plus targeted advice for your project's niche — from games to gadgets and beyond. The Crowdfunding Bible: Learn what to expect from the process, read advice on building a team and community around your project, get planning tips, and more. Nathaniel Hansen's Crowdfunding Best Practices: Follow this pre-launch checklist to help you make the most of every opportunity and resource at your disposal. 5 Rookie Crowdsourcing Mistakes: Watch this webinar for the inside scoop on the "Green Bar Effect," proven marketing strategies, and avoiding common mistakes. Kickspy: Get an inside peek at today's top Kickstarter projects and research past projects similar to yours. Crowdsourcing & Crowdfunding LinkedIn Group: Join this active hive of over 26,000 crowdfunders, with dozens of new discussions each month. CrowdfundBeat and CrowdfundingForum.com: Catch up on the latest crowdsourcing news and trends. Step 3: Read the Fine Print Don’t get caught off guard by legalities. Cover all your bases and make sure you know exactly what you’re signing up for! Crowdfund Capital Advisors, Understanding Crowdfunding Taxes and Kickstarter & Taxes: Do crowdsourcing donations qualify as income or gifts? What can you deduct from your taxes? Give these guides to your accountant and be prepared come April 15. JOBS Act review: The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act makes it easier for small businesses and startups to raise capital. Get all the details you need on this important legislation — in plain English. Step 4: Set Your Budget Time to talk numbers. How much do you need to turn a profit? Can you afford to offer that awesome backer reward? Think Before You Kickstart's Budgeting Tool: Play around with different rewards ideas to see how each one affects your overall project costs and total budget. Rewards Pricing Template: Input details like materials and shipping costs to determine exactly how much each reward type will cost you and its impact on your bottom line. Important!: Your budget must include more than just your project costs. Don’t forget about pesky fees — like the percentage the platform will take as its cut, bank fees, state and federal taxes, payment processing charges, and all the miscellaneous costs incurred when setting your final fundraising goal. Step 5: Plan and Manage Your Work Buckle up! It’s time to put the pedal to the metal and make your project plans a reality. Project management tools like Wrike: Track every task, coordinate all the moving pieces, get help from your team, and adjust to any bumps in the road. Google Drive, Dropbox and Box: Store important project files in the cloud, where it's easy to share with your team and access them from anywhere. Step 6: Build Your Product Find creatives and craftsmen to help with everything from brainstorming the perfect product name, designing an eye-catching logo, and building a professional prototype. 99 Designs, CrowdSpring, & Elance: Submit a description of your needs and designers will pitch you their work. You pay for the submission you like best. Some crowdsourcing platforms require you to have a prototype in hand before accepting your campaign. When it’s time to create a physical mockup of your idea, here are a few options: Thomasnet.com: Find the parts you need, or hire a local prototype developer. Shapelock and Sugru: Shape your prototype by hand with moldable plastic or rubber. Ponoko: Upload your copyrighted design, get a quote, and they'll make one for you. Shapeways: Get a 3-D print of your product in one of 30+ materials. Step 7: Create a Killer Campaign Page Flex your creative muscles! Showcase your project (and your personality) with beautiful visuals, compelling text, and enticing rewards. Anatomy of a Greater Kickstarter Project Page: Read tips for creating an exceptional project profile that will get people talking, sharing, and reaching for their wallets. Video 101 from Vimeo: Follow these 3 steps to great video, from choosing a camera to editing and post-production. Stupeflix and Animoto: Cut a stunning video with these online editing tools. Free Music Archive, JewelBeat, Freesound.org: Add something special to your video with these free or low-cost music selections and sound effects. Fiverr.com: Hire voiceover talent, artists, musicians, translators & other creatives for just 5 bucks. LinkedIn ProFinder: Leverage the vast LinkedIn network to find quality independent and freelance professionals in a variety of fields, from graphic design and copywriting and web and product development. ODesk and Guru.com: Get creative and technical help from talented freelancers. Vimeo and YouTube: Use these popular hosting services to embed your finished video on your project website or profile. Slideshare: Stand out from the video crowd with a sleek slideshow. Pixlr and FotoFlexer: Beautify your photos with these easy-to-use editing programs. Step 8: Generate Buzz Spread the word about your project, attract more backers, and build momentum to power your campaign across the goal line. Crowdfunding Promotion Beginner's Guide: Find tips for writing a convincing pitch, harnessing the power of friends and family, and brainstorming great rewards. Hubbub's Tips to Make Your Project Stand Out: With over 150,000 projects launched on Kickstarter alone, these tips will help you get noticed. LaunchRock Platform for Launching Startups: Create "coming soon" pages, build anticipation for your product, accept pre-sales, and more. Wordpress and Blogger: Set up a product blog to chronicle your progress, share exciting news and achievements, and build a community around your brand. Or, use Paper.li to create and share an online newspaper with the latest details. MailChimp and Boomerang for Gmail: Send sleek email newsletters to your backers with the latest news, and optimize Gmail by scheduling outgoing messages when you're away from your desk. Hootsuite and Buffer: Schedule social media posts and manage all your social networks in one hub. Use Twilert to get real-time notifications when your brand, hashtag or keyword is mentioned on Twitter. Kicktraq: Review analytics for your Kickstarter project for insights on how your promotional efforts impact the number of backers, page activity, and dollars pledged. CrowdfundingPR.org: Send your press release to this list of blogs, publications, and influencers that cover the crowdfunding industry. Crowdfund Mafia and Seeding Factory: Call in the professionals for help with press releases, media distribution, email templates, and more. Step 9: Get Your Products Made & Rewards Fulfilled Congratulations! Your project reached its goal! But you can’t breathe easy just yet — it’s time to deliver the goods. US Domestic and International Shipping Rates: Check out this cheat sheet to calculate shipping costs down to the penny. ShipStation: Import your backers list, print labels in bulk, and schedule shipment with all the major carriers. ShipWire: Free up your garage by storing excess product in their warehouses, then let ShipWire automatically select the ideal carrier and route for each shipment. CustomInk, CafePress, and Zazzle: Print quality custom T-shirts. Tee Launch even ships directly to your backers. Thomasnet.com: Restock your manufacturing supplies, find local shops, download CAD models, and more. BackerKit: Manage and track each reward as it's delivered to your loyal backers. TaskRabbit and Zirtual: Hire a helping hand or personal assistant to cross daily tasks off your growing to-do list. Step 10: Keep Your Project Alive After the Campaign Clock Runs Out Your campaign may be wrapping up, but that doesn’t mean your project has to end. Create a place for new customers to find and buy your product, and for current backers to stay connected to your brand. Vendevor: Embed an online store that can accept credit card payments on any site — like your project blog or Facebook fan page — with a single line of code. Swish.com, Outgrow.me, and TinyLightBulbs.com: Continue selling your products after your crowdfunding campaign ends through these online shops. We applaud all the artists and innovators who build a collaborative community around their enterprise. And with these tools, you’ve got all the resources you need to successfully launch your own passion project. Have you ventured into the wild world of crowdfunding? What tools did you find useful during your crowdfunding campaign? We'd love to hear from you in the comments! Other articles you might like from Wrike: 10 Essential Elements of a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign 26 Top Crowdfunding Sites by Niche Image Credits: Crowdfunding by Rocío Lara. Some rights reserved.
How Pixar, Google, and Facebook Fight Bad Meetings (Infographic)
Let's play a game. Would you rather: A) Sit through an hour-long status meeting in a frigid conference room with no windows B) Pull out your own tooth with a rusty pair of pliers How many of you had to consider your actual preference for a moment? Ok, all joking aside, meetings may not be quite that bad. But sometimes it's close! With so much time spent — and often wasted — in business meetings, we looked to the experts for new tips on making meetings worthwhile. Share this infographic with your peers (or your boss... *cough cough*) on social media or using this embed code: Infographic brought to you by Wrike Say goodbye to bad meetings! Cut out needless meetings (and improve the ones you do have) with our infographic decision tree: Should We Have This Meeting?
Cross-Tagging in Wrike Opens Up Your Team’s Project Visibility (Infographic)
What does the Wrike CWM platform offer that the others don't? Cross-tagging. Cross-tagging in Wrike is a one-of-a-kind feature that gives you, your teams, and your organization better visibility and end-to-end transparency into every activity, all the way down to the tasks level. This is valuable because, without it, you'd have duplicate tasks, folders — everything — for different teams needing access and the flexibility to roll-up tasks, folders, etc. into larger projects or campaigns so that other teams can track the work. Here’s a more visual look at cross-tagging in Wrike.
Top 3 Trends Shaping Project Collaboration
Collaboration remains a hot topic because it still works. In fact our CEO recently wrote a guest post on Inc.com stating that collective wisdom, crowdsourcing, and project collaboration are essential for the growth of a business or movement today — they should be integral parts of every company's DNA in order to survive and thrive. If you look at the factors that enable collaboration to occur on a massive scale, you’ll see three main trends shaping project collaboration and driving the adoption of new tools in many organizations. Let’s take a look at these trends one by one: Trend 1: Remote Work is Rapidly Spreading Today, the fact that I can easily decide to work from home as needed is a huge change for me. Ten years ago, that would’ve been impossible with the companies I was working for and with the technology available to me. But you don't need to look back that far to notice how the times have changed. Wrike recently surveyed over 1,000 employees and discovered that 43% of them currently spend more time working remotely than they did 2-3 years ago. Moreover, 80% of respondents now deal with remote workers on a daily basis, either working with distributed colleagues, or as remote workers themselves. These figures show remote collaboration growing and infiltrating the workplace at an impressive pace. And this growth isn't exclusive to specific industries or organization sizes, either. It's becoming more and more common for every kind of business to have people collaborating across multiple locations. Trend 2: Accidental Project Managers are Multiplying Then there is the rise of the “accidental project manager” — those who must take on a project management role out of necessity. They usually lack any formal certification in PM, or may be new to established PM methodologies and practices. According to our survey on remote collaboration, 70% of accidental project managers have no special training or certificate when they take on the role. Which means, there are entire groups of people tasked with project success who may not have time for formal training. Therefore, they need to do several things quickly to hit the ground running, such as: find educational resources to their increase knowledge, adopt a more collaborative environment in order to learn from colleagues, and find the most efficient tools and technology to support that collaboration. Which brings us to cloud services... Trend 3: Collaboration is Increasingly Done via Cloud Collaboration Tools Remote teams battle challenges that co-located colleagues typically don’t have to worry about. Such challenges include inefficient coordination, reduced visibility into one another’s work, and, as a group, the inability to maintain high velocity. To combat these obstacles, the online services industry — A.K.A. cloud collaboration services — has boomed, allowing teams with remote members to continue working together efficiently. Instead of storing files in network drives that would require VPN access for remote workers, file storage services such as Dropbox or Box can be used securely. In place of lobbing different versions of a Microsoft Word document back and forth through email, Google Drive can be used. Then there are communication tools like Skype and Google Hangouts to facilitate meetings, as well as work management tools like Wrike enterprise collaboration software that help teams delegate tasks and coordinate projects both large and small. Cost-effective technology now exists that enables remote collaboration without breaking the bank. In fact, these tools are often free in their simplest versions, with tiered pricing based on an organization’s needs. Now Build a Better Team Understanding these three growing trends can help you better understand the landscape in which collaboration occurs so you can enhance the way your own organization collaborates. Now it’s your turn. What factors affect how you presently collaborate with your team? Hit the comments and share.
3 Lessons on High-Performing Teams from TED Talks
If you were handed 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti, 1 yard of masking tape, 1 yard of string, and 1 marshmallow and then told to build a tower with the marshmallow at the top, what would you do? Believe it or not, this exercise gives us a lot of insight into building high-performance teams. During his TED talk, Tom Wujec reveals three major lessons you can learn from playing with your food. After the timer began, the average team spent their time doing the following: 1. Orienting — Talking about the task and subtly (or not so subtly) determining leaders 2. Planning — Deciding the best way to tackle the task 3. Building — The majority of their time was spent here, just getting the task done 4. Crossing their fingers — Tower built, marshmallow in hand, they placed the sugar bomb on top and hoped the spaghetti didn't break Some towers broke. Some towers stayed up. Some towers stayed up and surpassed new height records. So what was the difference between a wildly successful team, a mildly successful team, and a failing team? Three major factors were common among the wildly successful teams: 1. They took an iterative approach. The did not pick one plan and stick it out to the end, hoping their spaghetti would hold. They modified their build as they went along by periodically testing out the weight of the marshmallow against whatever structure they currently had. 2. They had diverse skill sets in the group. Surprisingly, CEOs + Executive Admins worked better together than groups made up solely of CEOs. Some team members were good at managing (we'll let you guess who) and others were good at executing next steps. A good mix of skills and personalities make a stronger, more effective team. 3. They had prior experience with the task. Four months after the first exercise, the worst performers were given the marshmallow construction problem again. They were all successful, blowing previous height records out of the water. Being able to learn from their past failure, these teams enjoyed success the second time around. Here's an idea: Since you're already building your own high-performance team in your organization, why not run the marshmallow experiment with your colleagues? It should prove to be an enjoyable exercise in team dynamics. Or you could simply learn from the short TED Talk on high-performing teams below. It's less than seven minutes long, but loaded with lessons on creating your own top-notch team! Think there are other important factors that go into building a high-performance team? Share them with us in the comments below! Image credit: Photo by Creative Sustainability. Some rights reserved.
How to Fix the Fragmentation of Information in the Workplace
Welcome to the age of abundant yet fragmented information in the workplace. There is a very real fragmentation problem. Because, to put it bluntly, our work information is all over the place. And it is affecting our work speed and overall efficiency, both as individuals and as teams.
Why Your Employee Morale May Be Low & What to Do About It
Employee morale is the number one contributing factor to higher engagement, productivity, and retention levels in the workplace. Here's everything you need to know to effectively boost workplace morale with your employees and make your company the best it can possibly be.
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: How to Drive People to Do Amazing Work
It’s well known that happy, engaged employees are more likely to provide outstanding customer service, leading to happier clients. But what keeps your employees happy and engaged: Intrinsic or extrinsic motivation? Read more to find out how to incentivize your employees to do amazing work.
How to Deal With Conflict in the Workplace
Conflict is a reality of the working world. You deal with different people every day, people with varying perspectives, opinions, and convictions. When contrasting opinions and dynamic personalities collide, expect conflict and disagreements. As with anything in a professional setting, a little politeness goes a long way to help diffuse the situation.
7 Easy Steps to Encourage Self-Organization in Your Team
Self-organization is a hot trend in many creative industries nowadays, and it can help your team greatly increase efficiency and motivation. The main aim of self-organization is to encourage self-actualization of the team members. When the team members can influence the decision-making process and are allowed to adjust their workload at least at some level, they feel more responsibility for the decisions made and, thus, are more motivated to execute them. So if you decided to move to this concept within your company, what is with the best way to start? Here are 7 easy steps to begin the process. So if you decided to move to this concept within your company, what is with the best way to start? Here are 7 easy steps to begin the process. 1. Arrange a short intro meeting A short introductory meeting is the best way to get the process started. Introduce the concept of self-organizing teams to people, as it may be new for some team members. Let them know about the benefits of it, such as improved efficiency, agile reaction to changes and self-actualization of the team members (you can find more of them in one of the previous posts). If the team isn't new, ask if there’s anything they’d like to improve in the way the team works right now. If it's a new team, find out what will make the team work well for them. While you are not obliged to implement each suggestion, they can be a great source of understanding of how the work process is really organized within the team and what can be optimized. Finally, let the team know how you are going to implement this concept, using the suggestions below as a starting point. 2. Set sensible milestones and checkpoints The point of this kind of team is that it only has to regularly check in, but there are things both managers and team members can do to make the self-organizing team work well. First of all, you need to do the planning at the beginning of each iteration. This means setting realistic milestones and checkpoints to enable the team to work efficiently to deliver results, and being sure that your team understands what is strategic capacity planning. Regularly working under the pressure of checkpoints is bad for the team’s morale. At the same time, the feedback cycle should be short enough so that you can quickly adjust things if you don’t get what you expected. That’s why you need good capacity planning strategies — split the workload into small, actionable items you can regularly overview upon completion. Team members also may set their own internal deadlines on the team meetings to enable them to meet the overall project goals. Your role here is to make sure that the team members' way of working is in harmony with the overall project schedule and recommend adjustments if necessary. 3. Let people leverage their talents Once milestones are set, allow the team to decide on the tasks to do for the next iteration cycle and then let team members choose the ones they want to accomplish. This way, they can pick what they like most or what they are best at. Of course, if some tasks turn out to be unpopular, someone will still have to do them. In this case, you can be guided by the team members’ experience in this area and their current workload. If the team has embraced the self-organization concept, everything will get done, as it greatly increases personal motivation and awareness. 4. Don’t interrupt people once they start It might be difficult, but you have to let the team get on with the project once they have started work. Give people their workload and set the checkpoints to see results. Don’t get into the minute details of how they do their jobs, and try not to switch priorities during the process. Of course, emergencies happen, but remember that each intervention lowers the efficiency of your team, and it should be done only if you find it indispensable for the project. Monitor progress according to the checkpoints you have set, and don’t forget: In self-organizing teams, the role of management is to check in, not check up. 5. Facilitate the information exchange Good communication is the key to making self-organizing teams work well. Set up a transparent communication structure for the team to keep each other up-to-date, as well as to provide feedback at set checkpoints and to talk to you if issues arise that need external help (such as altering team selection). All team members should participate in regular team meetings (ideally weekly) and have a chance to speak out. You and upper managers need to be open to dialog with the team and must be ready to compromise when needed. Also, make sure the team runs regular internal meetings where they can keep each other in the loop of what each member is currently doing and ask for assistance, if needed. 6. Avoid a culture of blame When things go wrong, it’s very human to start finger pointing and to try to find someone to blame. However, no one can avoid failure, and there are better ways to tackle it. For instance, the quite known conception of “little bets” suggests considering failure as an important feedback from the reality that can help to adjust your project and get closer to success. With a self-organizing team, managers must accept that this is part of the process of creation and innovation. Instead of assigning blame for failure, focus on the steps needed to achieve success. 7. Regularly review and readjust the team’s work process Use team meetings and check points as a great opportunity to review how the self-organization concept is working for your team and make readjustments, if necessary. Self-organization is sensitive to the team members’ personalities and circumstances. That’s why it requires constant balancing and individual adjustments to be made. For instance, if you see that some team members don’t get along with each other, you may make sure they don’t work together on one task or even move one of them to another project. Of course, fully adopting self-organization is quite a complex process, and you need to be sure that it is the right approach for your company. This type of team may not work well for banks and government organizations, which have a strict hierarchical structure. However, more creative organizations can benefit from this type of team structure. Self-organization also works well for distributed teams, which require a more flexible team structure, and good project management software can facilitate the decision-making process. Finally, don't forget to measure results as it is the only way to see if a self-organizing team is right for your organization. The real test of this type of team is productivity, efficiency, improved product quality and revenue growth. If your self-organizing team achieves all this, then it is a success.
How the Best Sales Teams Collaborate to Get Better Results
There are sales teams, and then there are world-class sales teams. What sets the highest achievers apart from the average Joe? We looked at research around the web and, of the many factors that help a sales team run like a well-oiled machine, we were most interested in one particular finding: high-performing sales, sales operations, and sales enablement teams are better at collaborating. To create a world-class sales team, your organization must capitalize on collaboration within your team (from individual to individual), as well as between teams (from sales to marketing, IT, support, etc.). We're sharing stats we found online that show why your team needs to focus on collaboration if you want to keep things moving "up and to the right." World-Class Sales Organizations Collaborate Within Their Team A yearly study conducted by the Miller Heiman Research Institute reports the best practices of identified high-performing sales organizations versus average sales organizations. We compared results from their 2015 study to the results from their 2013 study to see how the trends in sales collaboration are changing. Sales organizations were asked to rate the performance of their teams based upon the following statements: On collaboration between management and team members: "Our management team is highly effective in helping our sales team advance sales opportunities." World-class teams are continuing to focus on collaboration between managers and team members, as other teams pick up on the trend. On collaboration between top performers and their colleagues: “We know why our top performers are successful.” Building a world-class team comes down to not only HAVING top performers, but also knowing WHY they are top performers so you can educate the entire organization on successful practices. "We leverage the best practices of our top performers to improve everyone else." (only reported in 2013) High-performing teams take time out of the week to teach the winning behaviors of top performers to the rest of the company, so everyone can perform better. World-Class Sales Organizations Collaborate with Other Departments Stats on cross-department collaboration including the sales organization from the same studies done by the Miller Heiman Research Institute: On collaboration between sales and other departments via shared tools: "Our CRM system is highly effective for enabling our organization to collaborate across departments." (only reported in 2015) With the rising popularity of CRM tools, world-class sales organizations focus on adopting a tool that enables collaboration between teams, instead of siloing their information within one team. On collaboration between sales and marketing: "Sales and Marketing are aligned in what our customers want and need." World-class and typical sales teams are both focusing on aligning with their marketing team to deliver better results. And it's not only the Miller Heiman Research Institute reporting findings that cross-department collaboration helps sales teams perform better. Together, Salesforce and The TAS Group reported numbers on the benefits of aligning your sales and marketing teams: Where sales and marketing are aligned on their initiatives and goals: — Sales win rates increase 15% — Company revenue can increase as much as 25% — Salespeople are 57% more likely to be high-performers And if your sales and marketing teams work together to take your leads from day 1 to the end of a sale: — Email marketing has 2X higher ROI than other channels (Direct Marketing Association, via Smart Data Collective) — Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (The Annuitas Group) Is Your Sales Organization Collaborative? The trends are clear: collaborative sales teams perform better. So how would you classify your sales organization? Are you highly-collaborative, or do you still have room to improve? Share your team and cross-department collaboration wins in the comments, and help other sales, sales operations, and sales enablement teams learn more about what really works. Thanks for sharing your wisdom! If you're ready to improve team and cross-departmental collaboration for better business results, see how Wrike can help with a free Wrike trial.