Why Sales and Marketing Need to Get Along

A few days ago, I was participating in a conference call with a prospect, and we were giving a presentation of an on-demand application we offer that allows a company's sales staff to send out variable, custom direct marketing materials. The prospect said something I found interesting, "Let's talk again once we have separated sales from marketing."

My first thought was,"Why would you want to separate them?"

Over the years, I have frequently heard sales and marketing departments within a company complain about each other. It's a bit like sibling rivalry. Sales says that marketing doesn't give them good enough leads. Marketing says that sales doesn't follow up on the leads they give them.

I'm still surprised by the number of companies who have sales and marketing in different "silos." The two departments work independently from each other, and often have different goals and objectives.

With today's down economy and uncertainty in the marketplace, now is the time to unite marketing and sales to create a well-oiled machine. Competition to win your customer's business is at an all-time high. If you don't streamline your process so that you're making the sale, your competitors will.

Why is it so hard for sales and marketing to get along?

First, sales and marketing people often have different personalities. Marketers get squeamish when they think of doing sales. And the best salespeople usually don't enjoy marketing activities. By the nature of their jobs, salespeople tend to be reactive. They must constantly deal with customer questions, leads that need to be contacted, and putting out fires. The sales personality thrives on chaos and the rush that comes from closing the sale. Marketing is more proactive. They are making plans, creating programs and campaigns, and developing strategies and tactics. They are thinking in terms of weeks and months rather than what's on my plate today.

Second, because sales and marketing are often separated within a company (both physically and mentally), they may feel they are competing with each other for respect and recognition within the company. When in fact, for a company to be more profitable, both departments need each other.

Here are some ways to help your sales and marketing departments get along:

Develop a team game plan.
Many times sales has its own strategy and goals while marketing has its own plans. Both departments have the same goal: to bring in revenue. So, create an overall strategy that outlines how marketing will create programs that bring in the customers and prospects, and sales will follow up and seal the deal. It should be a continuous loop with ongoing communication.

Bring them together.
Many times, sales and marketing people are literally across the building from each other. Or even in another building or entirely different city. If possible, have them meet regularly. Have sales people sit in on marketing planning sessions. Have marketing people go on sales calls. When both sides are able to see the whole picture, it can bring a new dimension to your sales and marketing efforts.

Keep everyone in the loop.
Ask for salespeople's input early in the planning process. The direct marketing company I work for, was creating a new series of collateral brochures for an insurance client. Before we developed the creative, we surveyed the field agents to get their input on what messages, graphics, and copy points worked best when they were face-to-face with prospects. By working in the elements the agents wanted, we created stronger collateral materials and increased usage of these materials because agents felt directly responsible for the content. On the reverse side, sales needs to let marketing know if materials should be tweaked, or if the leads that are being generated need to be higher quality.

Think about customization.
Salespeople like to send out marketing materials that they feel are relevant and speak to the customer or prospect. In addition, salespeople may be targeting different audiences or sell only certain products and services. By creating more variable, on-demand marketing materials, sales can use only the materials they need. In addition, they can customize the materials with their name and contact information so that the mailings are truly one-to-one communications. To decide if on-demand is right for you, check out a blog I wrote called "Are you ready to go on-demand?"

Coordinate your programs.
Marketing must let sales know when programs are going to launch. Sales also needs to know what types of leads they will be receiving. What was offered? What was the messaging? Based on this information, sales can modify their approach for follow up calls. And sales needs to follow through on leads with more than one phone call or email. Make sure all leads are solidly pursued.

Talk to each other.
The most important thing is to communicate. Marketing needs to keep sales informed about the campaigns they are running and the frequency. Sales needs to let marketing know how things went on the back end. Were the leads good? How could the programs be improved to get better leads?

Times are tight right now. Both businesses and consumers are shopping around before they buy. Now is the time for sales and marketing to work closely together – from understanding your customers and prospects to creating a strategic plan and closing sales.

Selling in a Down Economy

How do you sell when times are tight and people are nervous? A down economy creates an opportunity for smart salespeople to grow their business and even thrive.

So, what can you do? Now is the time to take a hard look at your sales efforts and see how you can adjust your strategy to maximize opportunities.

Here are 5 strategies to help you sell in a down economy:

1. Maximize each lead.
In an economic downturn, buyers take even longer than normal to research potential purchases. A prospect may need more hand-holding and solid, reliable information to make a decision. They are looking for facts, figures, testimonials, and case studies to verify that you can do what you say you will do. Be prepared to spend a little extra time educating prospects, answering questions, and reassuring them they are making the right decision.

2. Nurture your current customers.
We all know it takes more time and money to get a new customer than keep an existing one. Your firm may have less money to spend on acquiring new customers. So, spend more time marketing and selling to the people you already know. Contact customers just to let them know you care. Offer them something free or provide them with an extra little perk. For instance, give a business owner a calculator and tell him how you can improve his bottom line.

3. Remember the end of the buying cycle.
You may find that you need to focus more than ever on closing the sale when prospects are actually ready to buy. You can supply additional information to give prospects that extra push to make the purchase. For instance, a financial company can give details about its stability and track record. Or, you can provide white papers, buyers guides, checklists, or evaluations to show why your product or service is a sound financial decision.

4. Give prospects what they want.
If you haven't already, now may be the time to consider and on-demand system for marketing and sales. You can contact prospects and customers with communications that are more meaningful, industry-specific, and speak to the challenges of your target market. It allows you to nurture existing customers, cross-sell customers, and send specific, customized information to prospects. For instance, if you know that customers who lease from you also purchase insurance, you can send a cross-sell promotion to those customers. Or, you could send a series of mailings to prospects that contain information only about the products or services that interest them.

5. Appeal to common sense over emotion.
Buyers are looking for rational, practical reasons to buy your product or service. Spontaneous purchases of luxury items are replaced with more deliberate, cost-conscious purchases. In the past, you may have been able to appeal to desire to "keep up with the Joneses" or just because it's cool, but now consumers (both businesses and individuals) are looking to justify the purchase as essential, or a good business decision.

The bottom line: keep doing what you're doing. Now is not the time to panic and drastically change your sales efforts. Continue your sales and marketing efforts – just find ways to adjust your approach to address the needs and concerns of your customers and prospects.