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I never cease to be amazed at the sales and marketing disconnect within many b2b businesses we work with. And having worked in-house myself for most of my b2b marketing career, this frustrates the hell out of me. Why? Because the benefits of a harmonious and truly integrated sales and marketing effort within a business, can be the difference between success and failure when it comes to results. And what’s more frustrating is that marketers and sales supremos often fail to realise this, paying mere lip service to this most critical of intra-business relationships.
I’m pretty sure much of this disconnect isn’t intentional, although politics can sometimes creep in. We all want to succeed, and we know deep down that teamwork is the name of the b2b results game. But often marketing's evident demonstration of hard core sales commerciality, and sales' lack of understanding about where marketing ‘fits’ in the sales process, can drive an immoveable wedge. And this isn’t merely an issue for SMEs, as the larger the organisation, the more remote the relationship often is - although automation is having some impact at this level in joining things up, sort of…
As a marketer, I took over responsibility for managing a 200+ sales force in my last role following the sudden departure of a Sales Director. As a result, I learnt valuable lessons about how to bring better alignment between the 'two twains' which have served me well to this day, shaping the way I think about every marketing pound I advise clients to spend.
As marketers, I think we can all too often blame sales for a lack of cooperation, when we ourselves can in fact play a key role in shaping a successful two-way relationship. So I thought I would offer a few practical thoughts of my own from the coalface as it were:
- Realise that sales supremos speak a completely different language to marketing - Pipeline, revenue forecasts, sales leagues, monthly commission targets and WIIFM all drive a different discussion to multivariate testing, lead nurturing, content delivery, opt-ins and TTL. Marketing professionals need to be able to talk this talk, and really get to grips with the different day-to-day focus of the sales team to gain the respect and trust of target-focused ‘dogs with a bone’. Sales folk in the main are not interested in the intricacies of our marketing matrices and web analytics – they simply want to know how we can make their job easier, or make them more successful. Once you accept this the relationship starts to work better.
- Any Marketing team needs to make sure that they understand the front line sale for their product or service - What wins a deal, what negotiations take place to win a deal, what price deals have to be done and what sells and what doesn't (in terms of product and messaging). How many marketing people regularly make the time to accompany sales people out on the road, or sit alongside tele-sales teams on a regular basis to keep in touch with the latest ‘selling approach’? How many marketers take time to understand complex commission structures which often drive product sales focus? How many marketers actually take part, alongside the sales team, in key sales presentations, rather than just focusing on crafting last minute proposal docs or presentations? These are all critical to positioning a marketing team at the heart of the business generation and retention process. You have to beat down the barrier and become part of the sales team by demonstrating your value, rather than showing off your marketing education.
- Marketers need to identify and get to know the sales rainmakers in their company - This can give you a shortcut to gaining sales credibility if you can prove your value to those who bring in the big bucks and get them on side as an advocate. These folk are usually the most difficult to track or pin down however, but perseverance pays in my experience. If you make friends at this level, sales and marketing integration flows better, if you make enemies however, well, it just won’t flow at all. Fact.
- Marketers need to continually demonstrate value in ‘commercial terms’ - All activity needs to be within the context of evaluation and lead tracking to show marketing impact - not just in terms of cost per lead or CTR, but proven 'contribution' to revenue generation in ‘wonga’ terms. A marketing report which shows marketing taking credit for a lead generated by a campaign and closed off by sales after a lengthy courtship will put even the most secure of sales noses out of joint. A quality nurtured lead passed over to sales at the right time, with intelligent insight and a plan of attack for driving the lead home will hold more sales kudos.
- Marketers need to keep their ear to the ground and get to know their competitors inside out – Sales supremos can often become obsessed with what competitor businesses are up to. From the latest competitor campaign that’s giving them more airtime than your brand, to this week’s pricing strategy that’s helping to grab market share. It’s tough out there on the streets, and true sales professionals understand that knowledge is power. So if you turn this on its head and keep one step ahead of the game as a marketer, pushing out valuable and timely competitor intel, then not only do you offer your sales team a little more power, but you also gain respect for being ahead of the game – high fives all round! And when I say competitor info, I don’t mean an up to date competitor file sitting on your sales portal or intranet – I mean personal one-on-one communications – picking up the phone to your sales rainmakers if you have something hot of the press from a journalist to share, or small group emails to specific people who need to know what you’ve discovered. Blanket weekly competitor intel emails that look pretty can be useful, but if sent on a Friday afternoon are often ignored!
My final point is get the basics right and never let sales supremos down – Sales folk have an extremely good grudge holding memory and take no prisoners. So if you let them down, don’t expect to hold on to their trust and respect. And don’t expect them to respond to your next campaign support requests either – marketing persona no gratia can quickly become a reality if you don’t deliver. Delivering can be as simple as helping out with a last minute plea for help in pulling together a multi-million pound proposal (!), or explaining how to insert an image into a PPT presentation. It doesn’t matter, you need to keep your cool and deliver the goods when you’re put on the spot – and trust me it will almost always be at the eleventh hour so learn to roll with it.
Hopefully I’ve given you some tactical insight to ponder here based on own life experience. If all else fails there’s always one other option to gain sales’ respect as a marketer– drink your body weight in bottled beer and be the last (wo)man standing at the sales conference – worked for me every time!
