It’s very fru
strating and still too common – Sales and Marketing teams not getting along. Each blaming the other for poor outcomes. Saying how the “other guy” just doesn’t get it. Shutting down information flow.
It’s not an “us” vs. “them” proposition. Sales and Marketing are really two points along a single continuum.
Their mutual goal is to identify a lead and nurture it to a completed sale. Period.
Elemental Truths –
- It’s a SINGLE JOURNEY. Three participants – marketer, prospect, salesperson – but one journey.
- Either everyone succeeds or no one does.
- Success comes only when everyone agrees that the vendor has what the buyer is looking for.
- Smart marketers know that they have to understand the “end game” in order to bring in the right prospects.
- Smart salespeople know that they have to understand the tools of “initial attraction” in order to end up with prospects they can close effectively.
- Savvy marketers learn to think like salespeople and work with sales teams.
- Savvy salespeople keep the marketing teams informed of what’s working and what the “field players” are saying and doing.
- Sales and Marketing should sit down together. Literally. It’s a lot tougher to get ticked off at someone when you see them regularly and get to know them as a “real” person, not a faceless cog-in-the-process. And it makes it easier to keep one another informed.
Remember – It’s not about you or your product. It’s about how your product enables the buyer to achieve their goal.
Sales success hinges on your ability – as a team – to unify the prospect’s needs with your solution.
Use the above list to remind yourself what matters. To learn to think differently about the sales—marketing continuum.
At any/every step of the buyer’s journey, both marketers and salespeople can fully participate. One may take the lead at a given stage. But if the other isn’t aware of what’s happening at each stage and why, they cannot contribute to the success of the sale effectively.
Learn to appreciate the unity within your mission. Adjust your thinking. And then you really can build a better team approach for sales success.