Sales = Marketing = Sales

For many years, I held firmly to the belief that salespeople should report to marketing people.  I don’t believe that anymore.  I’ll probably lose my membership in the American Marketing Association for saying so.  Regardless, it’s clear to me that marketing and sales groups share a symbiotic – maybe even mutually-parasitic relationship.While marketers may develop product, branding or promotional strategies, the success of those strategies depends heavily on good execution from salespeople.  At the same time, salespeople are often able to identify market trends before marketers.  Salespeople depend on marketers to create sound strategies.  Marketers depend on salespeople to make them work.

Since bloggers love lists – especially this time of year – let’s list the ways marketers and salespeople work together (or not).

1. Branding.  Marketers create a brand personality and brand promise.  Salespeople give elevator pitches.  If the brand can’t (or won’t) be communicated by the salespeople, it won’t stick.
2. Product strategy.  Marketers determine new products and launch them.  Salespeople generate orders for them.  If the salespeople don’t believe in the products, they won’t push them.  The products will fail.
3. Product strategy (2).  Salespeople demand product variations to fit a client’s request.  Marketers determine the broader viability and strategic importance of these variations.  If the marketer doesn’t do his or her homework, a costly, ineffective line extension can be created.  Or equally bad, the marketer may miss an opportunity to satisfy an important client.
4. Promotional campaigns.  Marketers like clean, orderly, linear sales promotions.  Salespeople make the phone calls and deliver the presentations.  If marketers don’t provide the necessary tools – or secure the buy-in of the sales force, the promotions are doomed.
5. Customer interaction.  Salespeople thrive on customer contact.  They are usually not afraid of cold calling.  Marketers love to be experts, but are often unwilling to initiate customer contact.  Unless marketers work closely with salespeople, they will miss the intimate understanding of a customer’s daily life.  That leads to missed product and revenue opportunities.
6. Compensation.  Marketers and salespeople are paid differently.  No news there.  The challenge is making sure marketers consider sales compensation when creating marketing strategies, and vice versa.  No marketing strategy that conflicts with (or runs outside of) a company’s sales compensation plan will be successful.  I have seen this play out in numerous companies.  It seems elementary, but too often, marketers are unaware of the sales compensation plan or don’t consider it an important element of a strategy.  Scary, but true.

Forging a strong, cohesive relationship between marketing teams and sales teams is critical to business success.  Without a hand and glove connection between them, businesses risk missing market opportunities, spending excessively on ineffective campaigns and alienating customers.

Marketers, hug a salesperson today.