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Sales Training Classes - What Does the "&" Mean in Sales & Marketing?

Whilst we generally place a considerable amount of trust in our Corporate Sales & Marketing teams to help drive our business growth if we look more carefully at the daily workings we may find a hidden disconnect.

We can easily assume, based on this mutual goal that all is well and each function operates effectively and as mutually exclusive as need be. Yet nearly every corporate sales and marketing function the world over seems to be constantly working with a hidden disconnection.

To better understand where the disconnect may exist just think about how often sales people are asked to report on any or all leads provided by marketing. Now also think about the usual responses from sales people with regards to the usual leads generated: "...because the leads are not very qualified, they are not warm enough, not senior enough, not ready to buy, I don't know how this could be called a lead, they won't return my calls or my emails when I follow up". Many sales people reading this article may be nodding their heads furiously in agreement.

Simply and bluntly put: sales people are questioning both sales management and the marketing function with; "Are these leads qualified and real?"

Frustrated marketers are always trying to generate more qualified leads in the hope of increasing lead quality. Despite this goal, company management are putting pressure on more leads. This can result in a trap for a short term "numbers game" fix which effectively speeds up prospecting and telemarketing whilst reducing quality with much low level, high pressure leads.

Alternatively a barrage of fancy time consuming (and often delayed) online marketing techniques could be engaged as marketing (aka advertising type) campaigns can be more of a shotgun approach to target audiences in the hope of achieving the all important one-on-one interaction ready for the all important and more effective sales related conversations.

Why not achieve higher quality sales conversations with senior executives? Can this be done you ask? Yes there is an answer and it is only a matter of time before Sales & Marketing can be more tightly connected...the secret is in the "&" along with the "why" behind the "&"

Why do Enterprise Sales & Marketing teams need to work together?

Businesses the world over need revenue to sustain their operations. Sales people are highly rated on the amount of revenue they can generate whilst marketing people focus on the messages and audiences best suited to attract revenues.

The disconnection seems to be mutual - both sales teams and marketing teams assume that the other knows what to do and in many cases each lets the finer (strategic) detail fall between the cracks assuming that each other will address certain expectations thoroughly - WRONG!

How can Sales teams & Marketing teams actually work well together?

It's really quite simple! There needs to be a realistic shift in thinking by both sales and marketing people. There is a reason behind the "&" of Sales & Marketing and this is quite simply a mutual understanding and respect in achieving the business sales revenues targets together - there needs to be a kind of joint ownership and share in risk as well as in reward

Marketers should learn to think more like Salespeople and Salespeople need to think more like Marketers. Perhaps if Marketers thought more about how to begin high level engaging sales conversations and Salespeople slowed down to think about their target contacts and the target organizations and the kind of conversations that they need to have - that this would be half the battle overcome.

There is an opportunity in the business world for marketing to almost re-invent itself from being solely driven as a general brand building / events management marketing type function to a strategically empathetic business thinking function that kick starts high level qualified sales conversations for their sales teams.

Maybe a sharing of business revenue targets where sales owns the external execution of conversations whilst marketing provides the necessary support for sales, such as real life experiential messaging from existing customers and leveraging of all existing relationships resulting in credible reference material and testimonials

So how can this disconnect be fixed in the shorter term
There are many ways to address this on-going battle, perhaps the most effective could be any or all of the following;

1. Clarify your Market Messages

How many marketing brochures the world over actually say in plain English what your business does and how your products solve problems - almost none, you might say (underneath your breath). Why is this? Perhaps it is a symptom of the sales & marketing disconnection?

What if you could have a series of simple keywords, paragraphs, one pagers and case studies all supporting your sales efforts for each and every target audience you work with?

Perhaps if the marketing team can change their thinking from a primarily brand building attitude to a more real and specific sales conversation with your most ideal target audience then the leads provided to sales teams may be more powerful and relevant.

2. Be introduced at the right level

What if you could be referenced into a target organization via the CEO or the most relevant Senior Executive of that very organization you would like to do business with?

How would you prepare for such a meeting? Would you be ready?

In case you didn't know it, there are mentoring businesses that can help with approaching a target organization whilst helping Marketing to better connect with their sales teams and sales people.

3. Engage in valuable conversations

Some specialist marketing services can provide targeted high level private events such as Executive Roundtables with a whole specialist dynamic that avoids the abuse of sales pitching and instead engages subject matter experts, clients and prospects as an effective way to begin sales conversations and business relationships

Final note

As further food for thought, why not change your thinking with regards to marketing and how it can really help the sales team. A subtle change of thinking can go a long way and see a very tightly linked sales & marketing organization celebrating the power of business growth and development through collaboration.

Source: Paul Rahme link

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