It’s an age old problem - marketing develops elaborate campaigns and complains that sales doesn’t follow up on leads. Sales says the quality of leads is not there. Marketing develops messaging for collateral and presentations and sales does their own powerpoints and adapts the messaging; marketing loses control and consistency of the messaging. Marketing wants data and analytics in the CRM system; sales people are too busy selling to enter the data.
As one who has been on both sides of the fence in my career, I’ve often witnessed - and can emphasize with - the frustration on both sides. There is often finger pointing in both directions and the problem becomes exacerbated and things are more disconnected as the company grows.
Working Together?
At the end of the day, sales and marketing must work together to articulate the value proposition and enable sales people to speak intelligently and clearly to customers. How do we get there?
Many companies start with technology and automating the lead generation process. Although this can satisfy the marketers who seek analytics and data to understand the effectiveness and ROI of their campaigns, it is still a one way process. And it feels burdensome to sales hunters who would rather be out spending time with customers then sitting at a computer.
Although we agree that automating sales and marketing processes can improve the capture and flow of information, it does not address the most important part of the issue: the people.
Understanding Behavior
We believe it starts with understanding the behavior, motivations, ambitions and measurements of success on both sides of the table. Sales people by nature are competitive, charming, outgoing, and emotional. They need to be flexible and juggle many deals and think outside of the box to solve customer problems. Marketing, as a discipline, is far more measured, analytical and data driven. It requires a high level of consistency, attention to detail and process as do the people running the function. Different animals, but both necessary for success.
Marketing and sales management should collaborate to develop a process to work together. Consider some team building workshops utilizing behavioral assessments to help both sides understand why they are different, what their role requires, and how they are measured for success. If both sides can understand and empathize with the other, it can form a good foundation for collaboration.
A New Model
Next, establish a new model that provides data in both directions. Sales and sales management should consider marketing as an extended part of the sales team. Include them in sales meetings so they understand the process of qualification and managing a pipeline. Share success stories, provide data on what’s working - and what isn’t - so that marketing can adapt. Consider an objection handling workshop to teach marketing where the pitfalls are so they can proactively address them in the messaging.
Marketing should view sales as a customer. Ask what they need in the way of sales materials. Involve sales to deliver sales ready messaging.
AMA Survey - Tools Not Leads
I found this graph to be of interest. A survey of 1,508 executives by Sales and Marketing Management/AMA, articulates the Most Helpful Tools for Sales. At the top of the list are sales enablement tools, not leads. Marketing can help most by delivering the tools to enable sales to sell.
What are you doing to bring sales and marketing together?
In today’s uncertain economy, marketers must do more with less, and assure that each dollar is spent wisely and on the right initiatives that drive business growth. At the same time, social media has disrupted traditional marketing and is now a critical element in the new marketing ecosystem.