What’s the difference between sales and marketing?
Marketing feeds sales. Marketing activities and marketing campaigns should generate enquiries and leads for the sales team to convert. Most people get confused with mixing the two roles together – sales and marketing teams, sales and marketing directors. Although the teams can work together, they are definitely two very different disciplines. Certainly this is true of modern-day marketing, which is split into both a traditional side and a digital side.
A sales team is more about taking opportunities and going through a process of engaging the prospect into becoming a customer.
Working in Harmony
So where does it go right?
It goes right when the two teams work together in harmony, from planning and strategy to implementation.
Where does it go wrong?
It goes wrong when the two teams are fighting against each other. I’ve seen this a lot in business – marketing and sales teams blaming each other for failed campaigns or enquiries that do not convert. That’s counterproductive, and to work together properly is majorly beneficial to the business overall.
Sales teams need marketing teams, and marketing teams need sales teams. Once you understand that, the whole relationship gets better.
People have said to me before, how far does marketing go before becoming sales?
Marketing’s function is to generate leads for a sales team to convert, but sometimes a marketing funnel can become a sales funnel. If you are sending people to a website where they can buy your product via a marketing campaign, for example, then there is no salesperson involved in that process. In a digital flow, then a marketing campaign can do 99% of the job, whereas in a more traditional environment marketing needs to be able to pre-qualify a prospect. Is it the right potential customer, with the right budget? Once pre-qualified, the sales team can take over, turning a prospect into a customer.
Too many times, marketing teams send out a campaign and conclude that’s their job done – wrong, it isn’t. We need to monitor the success of that campaign. You may believe you have created an amazing campaign that will win lots of business, but if it does not – or it wins the wrong type of business – then that should be fed back by the sales team to the marketing team. We call this 360 degree feedback, and it is extremely important. Sales and marketing teams together must analyse each campaign, learning why it was or wasn’t a success. For example, a campaign harvested leads that were not right for the sales team due to a lack of budget or interest. This 360 degree feedback mechanism will enable the marketing team to create better campaigns, which will in turn create better returns. These are the things we, as marketers, must do to support our sales team – and having a close relationship with a sales team is very important.
The best unit is the unit that works closely together.
Do your sales and marketing team work together well? When was the last time you were able to say you not only met your targets but exceeded them? Is your marketing approach fully integrated with your sales team, and do your sales team get the support they need from your marketing? We want to help you. Contact us for expert help to create and meet your business targets.
