Forging
An Essential Partnership Between Sales And Marketing
By Karin K. Schaff Glazier
Published in Business Strategies Magazine September
2003 issue.
Scenario One: Mrs. Smith stops by the showroom and says “I saw your ad
in XYZ magazine…” The salesperson says, “Oh, our new campaign – let
me show you the product we were talking about.”
Scenario Two: Mrs. Smith stops by the showroom and says “I saw your
ad in XYZ magazine…” She’s met with a blank stare.
How can you make sure your clients’ marketing and sales departments
are working together – and avoid scenario two?
Marketing can’t survive without sales and sales can’t sell without
marketing. Unfortunately, many businesses view them as two different departments.
The sales department is the frontline to the market and each individual consumer.
The marketing department’s value is in its ability to take what’s
happening on the sales front and turn it into brand image boosters and revenue
generators. Marketing sells a company’s image, and sales reps must leverage
that image to sell the products/services.
When sales and marketing work in partnership, it makes producing key initiatives
like corporate branding and segment marketing easier. In turn, companies can:
 Increase
brand awareness
Develop
new markets
Research
and produce innovative services and products
Improve
customer satisfaction and retention rates
Boost
bottom line profitability
So, what can you do to help your clients bring sales and marketing together
on the same team? Here are several proven methods to bridge the departmental
gap:
Gain
mutual ownership when developing sales promotions and marketing programs.
Have the marketing team talk with sales to ensure what is created will generate
qualified leads, open new doors for business opportunities, and ultimately
shorten the sales cycle. Focus on developing sales- specific materials that
convey benefits and values – not just features or company propaganda.
Ask sales what the top objections are to closing a deal and how they handle
them – then work information right into the marketing materials. Make
sure that both departments have vested ownership, accountability, and excitement
to support the success of each new program.
Cross-team
on department meetings. Invite key sales reps into marketing brainstorming
sessions and/or department meetings. Ask them what’s going on up on
the frontline, and what they need from marketing to help develop, maintain,
and close business opportunities. Let the marketing department show current
project ideas, and get direct feedback. In return, the sales department should
open its meetings to marketing so that this group hears about the day-to-day
experiences, what customers expect, and how the products and services are
performing. This information will be used to develop campaign concepts and
messages, as well as call-to-action strategies. It can also ensure that all
potential markets are being reached and addressed with appropriate messages.
Assign
a sales and marketing liaison. Either hire or assign someone to oversee (or
at least support) each department. This person must understand both departments’ needs,
similarities, and differences – but be objective enough to see what
needs to be done, and do it! Ultimately, this role ensures that each department
listens to the other and works together for the common good of the company.
Develop
shared compensation programs. A department’s compensation is naturally
tied to its specific goals – but for true success, compensation should
also be tied to how it works with other departments and teams within the
company. “Silo compensation programs” only consider one department,
while comprehensive programs view the role as an integrated part of the whole
picture. Companies don’t have to completely revamp the current compensation
plan – they can simply add monthly incentive programs that reward multiple
departments/teams for working together. When developing the program, all
department leaders and team managers should agree on key performance indicators.
This will help ensure ownership, involvement, and accountability – and
minimize the questions during the program’s launch. Companies may want
to conduct a test pilot between two departments/teams first, and gather information
to fine-tune the program before going corporate-wide.
New
Product and Service Development. What happens when R&D and marketing
think they know what the market wants based on business intelligence information
and general customer feedback? They miss valuable insights from the sales
reps, who are the company’s eyes and ears when it comes to actual customers!
Successful companies constantly ask sales for feedback on frontline customer
issues when creating new products and services. They create detailed lists
of questions related to objectives and goals, and have each team outline
what the market needs. And then they see then if sales and customer service
reps concur, based on their discussions with customers each day. If they
can’t reach a consensus, companies can develop an action plan to reach
out to those key audiences directly – in the form of surveys, outbound
call campaigns, sales calls, etc.
For information on how you can bridge the sales and marketing gap, contact
Karin K. Schaff Glazier at Pinpoint Positioning by calling 585.787.3164 or
e-mailing karin@pinptpositioning.com.
She is also available for speaking engagements and company workshops.
All rights reserved. No reproduction of any kind of
this article is allowed without written consent by author.
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