Marketing & Sales - Friend or Foe?

Marketing and sales – two parts of the same united whole or destined to be rivals jockeying for position and importance within a business? An age old discussion but one that never ceases to amaze me in terms of the lack of joined up approach to these critical aspects of business growth and continuity.

Coincidently, signing in at my gym last night, I overheard a conversation between two young ladies at the desk, one of whom had obviously been job hunting and been offered a career in sales. “God forbid” she cried “I can’t think of anything worse… marketing would be fine but sales…never!”

Whilst hiking across treacherous terrain on the cross-trainer (!), I pondered this with a mixture of amusement and frustration – it’s not the first time I’ve come across this view of “sales” as a less desirable profession and indeed somewhat of the poor relation to marketing.

Amusement because I’m “in sales” and very proud of it, love it in fact – the sales training, coaching, consultancy and the actual selling of my own products and services. I find it hugely satisfying and fulfilling, getting people to buy into what I do and helping them to understand the value of my offering to their business. After 25 years in sales, I still get a huge buzz from winning business and enjoy monitoring my own sales performance, targets, sales forecasts, conversions, pipeline – this still turns me on and keeps me focused and motivated.

Frustration because I know lots of good marketing people and businesses who invest heavily in great marketing but have poor sales conversion record because they don’t get the vital link between “sales & marketing” or are uncomfortable with the actual required sales steps, when conversion doesn’t automatically happen. The bottom line is… successful marketing will drive people to your business but great sales will convert and maximise on the opportunities. I recently heard “Marketing is the activity that gets the customer in the door with cash in hand. Sales is the activity that gets the customer out the door with product in hand. Support is the activity that keeps the customer coming back for more.”

Your R.O.M.I (return on marketing investment) will be in direct proportion to the “skill-set” and “will-set” of you and your sales team. Otherwise your marketing spend is in danger of being “WASTED” or not delivering (Free forthcoming seminar on this topic “WASTED” coming soon – register here)

Now interestingly, I’ve been working recently with a business to help improve sales conversions. Sales had dipped dramatically over the past year for a number of reasons and the owner needed to take dramatic action to drive new business activity. Heavy investment into a new website and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in order to increase the number of inquiries – SUCCESS – inquiries have gone up 800% over past two months. Sales – disappointing, limited conversions. I got called in to do a little digging – didn’t have to go too deep to find some classic symptoms of a lack of structured sales process and focus which was impacting significantly on R.O.I from marketing spend.

A couple of highlights to consider whether relevant to your business:

• E-mail inquiries from website not followed up promptly or consistently
• A lack of reaching prospect by phone resulted in voicemail left or e-mail and no further action – the ball was left in prospect's court.
• Follow up e-mails & voicemails not exciting, inviting, clear or benefit focused.
• When engaging with prospect by phone, the call handler was more an “information giver”, rather than an “assistant buyer”. This requires exploration of need, diagnosis of problem and presenting right solution to match need.
• No effort to close on the phone – delay tactics and procrastination on both sides. This prolongs the sales process and the buying process and both parties lose out. The aim is to move the sale along comfortably and positively to the next logical step, without being too pushy. Specifically, if you are receiving inbound inquiries as a result of your marketing, this is a real expression of interest. Now it’s about creating the right fit and getting agreed ACTION or commitment! No loose ends or vagueness in terms of what happens next.
• Rushed call and not taking time to build relationship and identify other opportunities.
• Lack of timely follow-up once you’ve engaged – lack of firm close with agreed follow up time scales and who does what in the meantime.

 

Quite simply having great marketing in place is vital to create awareness and trigger interest and in some cases will actually result in immediate purchase. However, unless structured and appropriate sales processes are put in place, backed with intelligent and motivated solution based sales talent, you are wasting a significant % of your marketing spend and not maximising on opportunities.

Which brings me to my final point – motivated and intelligent sales talent! I am often surprised at how little thought is put into the recruitment process for such an important role in the business – the person responsible for converting inquiries. This is a pivotal part of the marketing process and requires someone with the right will and skill-set, not just someone who’s been reluctantly shoved or cajoled into a “quasi-sales position”. It requires someone with passion, conviction and preferably enough knowledge, lots of mojo, coupled with a strong desire to succeed; then add in the sales skill-set, which can be trained, and you’ve got someone who can make a difference.

A final definition of Marketing :

"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” (approved by the American Marketing Association Board of Directors)

With this broader definition, I see a really vital and worthwhile role for effective sales and sales people, which maximises results, minimises wastage and creates successful businesses of integrity.

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