Part 1 - How to Ruin Company Growth
Good news!
95% of you reading this article are already on the right track. You only need to keep doing what you’re already doing to severely stunt your company’s growth.
Take the following story:
A group of soldiers takes cover behind a small hill – and they’re pinned down. Outgunned, outmaneuvered, they need help. Now.
Yelling over the radio, they’re calling for air support: “Get down here now!”.
Air support, eager to help: “What are the enemy coordinates!? Where do we fire?”
“Just help! Do something!” the soldiers reply.
No usable information communicated.
If we replaced ‘soldiers’ with Sales and ‘air support’ with Marketing, would this be the story at your company? Would your Sales succeed? Or would it be the alternative written in this tragic story?
The Cost of Disconnected Sales and Marketing Teams
2027 is approaching and Sales and Marketing teams STILL aren’t working together. Why is it that these two teams which, by every logical reason, should be the most connected teams in any company – simply can’t figure out how to communicate and work together effectively?
For many Sales teams, Marketing is a department used to create a few pretty pictures. For many Marketing teams, Sales is the older brother that never takes your ideas seriously.
The cost? According to LXA, fractured Sales and Marketing teams experience crushing issues:
These are seriously detrimental impacts to an organization and many business owners have no idea what this cultural ‘normalcy’ is doing to their business.
So what is the solution? (There are two components)
How to Connect Sales and Marketing
1. Marketing must evolve beyond ‘Marketing’ and into a business development function.
As a marketer, you believe you drive business. But are you really able to show it on paper and with data? Does the Sales team regularly see this impact? It used to be difficult to measure the effectiveness of billboards, radio ads, etc. It is no longer difficult to measure the leads AND business opportunities that develop from your digital ads, email campaigns, and webinars. If this tracking is not in place, if you are not actively working (yes ‘working’ – not just passing) leads with Sales, the Sales team likely does not believe you are helping them achieve their goals.
They believe you are useful for the one-off requests that help them illustrate an idea. But until you shift your department into a revenue-generating, business development-minded function, the Sales team will have reservations about your impact on firm revenue.
2. Sales must give Marketing a seat at ‘The Table’.
If you ask any salesmen ‘what percentage of the buying process do you dictate?’ What will they say? ‘100%’ of course! Unfortunately, that is not reality. Today’s buyer has so much information at their fingertips, they are able to research 50, 70, even 80% of their consideration options and the offers available before they even inquire to a sales person. 80% of a buyer’s consideration is driven by Marketing – and ignoring this fact is costing you serious money.
Marketing must be ‘in-the-know’ on your Sales goals, client interactions, team learnings, industry insights – everything that gives your team an edge in the market, Marketing needs the chance to optimize it so you, the salesmen, have every opportunity to close a lead.
Good marketing should equip a sales team with everything they need to sell.
Great marketing should open doors, generate interest, and give a salesperson immediate credibility when they enter a room.
This cannot be achieved without giving Marketing a seat at The Table and equipping them with competitive insights into the Sales world.
In Conclusion
I leave you with two serious questions:
1. As a marketer, are you able to show the direct financial impact your department is having on the business?
2. As a Sales organization, does your Marketing department honestly have a seat at ‘The Table’?
If you answered ‘no’, you need to seriously diagnose why that is and ask yourself if it is worth the crippling impacts on your business development efforts.
References:
LXAhub
Sarah O’Neill, Sales and Marketing Alignment: Stats and Trends for 2023, LXAHub, June 5, 2023