Together: where there’s heat, there’s fire. Maybe. Should be.
Regardless of what you sell: Ball bearings or billable hours, technology or tongue depressors, you or your candidate or chairman or company, you need fire. You need to want to face each sale head-on and do it in a way that translates into confidence and commerce.
And the sale is a profession, a vocation both valuable and valued. It matters because it moves money. You do that. You make that happen.
Marketing and sales together
So when you walk into a room, a meeting, a lunch, to face your fortunes and your prospect, you know to be armed: Facts, figures, competitors — suitability for the prospect and how what you sell is key to their future. You’re a shining example of all that is good in the effective conveyance of a sales message, for goods and services, and how they matter.
And you look terrific. Your delivery is flawless. Well-parsed humor delivered dead on. Laser-focused eye contact. Now, in for the kill…And then…
“Relax, I know more about you and your company than you think I do. Your marketing people are doing their job, and you pretty much confirmed what we’ve heard.”
Stopped in your tracks, you lean back. You clench your teeth to keep your potentially audible WTF from moving past them.
“From the first time you contacted us, we’ve been checking out your company online and following you on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. You’re all pretty straight up over there about who you are. The only other competitor of yours we were considering hasn’t posted anything substantial in three or four months. Pity. They could have given you a run for your money.”
You suddenly realize that despite your schmancy suit and pats-on-your-back about your personality and confidence, you didn’t do this alone. Your company had that back. You’re doing your job, and marketing is doing theirs. So this is what do they do all day.
Sync between two parts
Many consider that alignment between the goals of sales and marketing teams, and great cooperation between them immensely impact the overall performance of the company together with its revenue. In this way by communicating in the right manner, about which I will talk in a minute, it is important that both teams have equal goals, target groups and simplify the process of their workflow in order to perform better. I wish this happened all of the time, with every company. It’s sadly fascinating, the prevailing disconnect between sales and marketing. And a pity. Because when they sync, there is power.
Think about it.
- Marketing can support you before you even get there. Your calls, emails, even your reputation can be better received if you’re a known entity first.
- If sales and marketing aren’t communicating, what are the chances marketing’s messaging through media supports what sales are saying on the street?
- Marketing may have demographics and data, but more often than not, sales have a very real-world picture of the prospects. Hook it together — the best of both — a hella hybrid.
- Stay connected. What’s working? What not so much? Group. Regroup. The Key is that you are a group.
Sales and marketing alignment is potentially a great opportunity to improve and boost your business performance, which is often undermined by separating these two departments. When marketing and sales teams work together and have a single revenue cycle, it has been shown that return on investment (ROI) increases leading to top-line growth. Sales and marketing together share a common goal. Healthy sales revenues. If they’re not connected, they are probably together two very expensive departments not coming anywhere near to reaching their potential.
Worse, their disconnect can be fatal.
Frank Bastone can be reached at 718 662 8581, or schedule time for a chat here.
