Reviewing the sales and marketing conversation

In October 2015 we shared an article called “Five Ways Marketing Departments Help Marketers Catch Butterflies”. A ten-part article was recently shared with us, titled “What is the meaning of sales and marketing and its advantages?“And, I must say, it does a pretty impressive job of breaking down the differences, responsibilities, and links between sales and marketing functions. Why review this now? Because it has never been more apparent that the relationship between sales and marketing is still as misunderstood as ever, especially with advances in marketing technology.

Making things clear

Many in the business world, especially those who rely on sales and marketing for success, don’t really have a concrete idea of ​​exactly what sales and marketing is it so. Yes, the two are linked, but they are not the same. Sales departments trust marketing; There are marketing departments and strategies to fuel sales (note I didn’t say “manufacture” Sales). You wouldn’t be marketing if you had nothing to sell, and your sales strategy would be far less informed and far less successful if it weren’t for your marketing efforts. Yes, many old-school marketers (or enterprising small business entrepreneurs) are quite capable of driving the business themselves, and may even have some tried and true marketing tactics up their sleeves, but few have the time and skill. . , or technological resources to effectively capitalize on the true potential of your market.

A common mistake older, established companies make is to assume that salespeople are skilled at marketing and that marketing personnel are skilled at making sales. In some cases, this may be true, but certainly not across the board. While trying to conserve capital, many of these companies will try to combine their sales and marketing departments, essentially assigning their employees two job descriptions, and that’s usually a bad move. It’s no coincidence that more recently established companies, tech giants, and organizations that employ large numbers of millennials are killing it with their marketing efforts.

Breaking it

As the ten-part article explains, some of the key responsibilities of a sales team include:

• Tracing

• Building a relationship

• Closure

• Retention

The mark of a great salesperson is the ability to cultivate a personal relationship. Many consumers who have stayed loyal to the same brand, dealership or salon for years will say they appreciate the personalized attention they receive there. It is not the responsibility of a marketing employee to follow up with a seller’s existing customer after the lead has been delivered, nor is it their responsibility to convert a lead into a sale, “close the deal” or make sure the customer remains a customer. for many years. Aside from having a great relationship with a trained salesperson, product quality and an overall great experience are the top things that will strengthen customer retention.

On the marketing side, the main efforts are:

• Conscience

• Commitment

• Conversion (from anonymous to known)

• Retention

It is not the job of a salesperson to generate awareness or buzz about their brand, product or service. If they are expected to use their energy to make sales by nurturing leads and relationships, then how can you expect them to also have the time to do the groundwork that brings those leads to the table in the first place?

The marketing department creates awareness, fosters engagement by creating information that will invite audience members to take action, and targets and tracks engagement by motivating audience members to provide contact information or initiate a test. or free consultation (turning them from a cold lead into a known lead or potential buyer). It is important to note here that the retention function of a marketing department does not really overlap with the retention efforts of a sales team.

On the sales side, customer retention refers more to the seller’s efforts to use the customer relationship to continually communicate with the customer, trying to engage them in more discussions about additional products or services that they may be interested in. And look for referrals to clients. friends and family. However, on the marketing side, retention refers to maintaining a higher level of consistent engagement (through targeted marketing based on purchase preferences, interests, and history) so that the customer relationship does not end in the purchase. initial. Those email newsletters you receive after becoming a customer somewhere aren’t random – they serve a purpose and are often tailored to the things you’ve seen or expressed interest in. A sales team simply does not have the information, the time, or often the resources to execute these types of strategic campaigns.

The fine-tuned coexistence of everything

The ideal sales and marketing relationship is symbiotic. Marketers and salespeople work together to determine what consumers need and how to deliver it. Sales and marketing must motivate, inspire and feed each other. They must collaborate and live together. In the hierarchy of the business food chain, sales and marketing should not be seen as rivals or equals, but as counterparts. One can’t really exist without the other, but their skills are not the same, especially today where advances in technology require the modern marketer to have a very specific, honed, and competitive skill set that most marketers simply do. They do not need. I have.

For this reason, many marketers are introverts, analytical, and deep-thinking people. Whether they’re processing numbers and analyzing data, compiling reports on trends and conversion rates, or writing awesome ads and creating beautiful websites and bonus material, they need to focus intensely on what works and what doesn’t, and fine-tune their creative efforts. respectively. Typically, a marketing department will have more tech-oriented creatives, analysts, and people (who dive into the numbers and algorithms behind advanced marketing tools).

In contrast, however, many salespeople are outgoing – they light up a room, have excellent “people skills,” can easily relate to others, and have the ability to pick up on social cues that could really help them close a sale. Salespeople often have a broader focus, preferring to spend their days in appointments and meetings, relationship-building activities, rather than sitting behind a desk doing what a marketing department does best. For this reason, many salespeople have administrative assistants to help them with follow-up, paperwork, appointment setting, phone calls, proposals, and calendar management. This type of functional assistant role is less prevalent in the marketing arena.

Share your thoughts

Be sure to read the full article (and let us know how it compares to our post) for additional information on the relationship between sales and marketing teams. Join the conversation: In your experience, what have been some of the key components of a successful sales and marketing partnership?