Three Things Marketing Wishes They Could Say to the Sales Team:
- “My marketing team doesn’t understand the value of the solutions you sell or the sales process well enough.”
- “It would be great to tell me what we are doing well or what we should do differently.”
- “Measuring marketing ROI is one of my top priorities, but you don’t seem to care.”
The marketing and sales teams —and their leaders— may not be aware of the other’s motivations, goals, and challenges, limiting communication.
Bringing up the type of statements below with the sales team can be daunting, but ignoring them gets in the way of building a more robust marketing team. Approaching these topics, thoughtfully and openly can help you work through them and allow the sales team to see things from the marketer’s perspective.
Here are three things on many marketer’s minds that they would like to say to the sales team:
1. “My marketing team doesn’t understand the value of the solutions you sell or the sales process well enough.”
Most marketers don’t come from a sales background, so they haven’t “carried a bag” or “walked in the shoes of a salesperson. While they often understand a solution’s description, marketers don’t always grasp how salespeople shape the value proposition during the sales process. The sales process is foundationally a series of steps and milestones that should mirror the customer’s buying process. If marketers don’t understand what it takes to move from one stage to the next, likely, they won’t be able to provide the marketing support needed to help advance the sale.
2. “It would be great to tell me what we are doing well or what we should do differently.”
Salespeople may not have a marketing background, nor the perspective of precisely the kinds of marketing support they need beyond “more leads.” However, experienced salespeople know that marketing’s support is essential to building awareness and understanding its solutions. The pandemic has shifted material portions of marketing investment online and virtual, and new to many organizations. More than ever, marketers need sales insight into how customers and prospects consume content and spend their time keeping up with industry trends and best practices.
3. “Measuring marketing ROI is one of my top priorities, but you don’t seem to care.”
The marketer’s mission is to drive revenue and brand awareness, and often the sales teams don’t seem to understand nor appreciate the challenges that the marketing team faces to prove ROI to the leadership team. Sales teams have a vested interest in marketing’s success, but they may be in the dark about their role in helping marketing measure ROI. Marketers’ reluctance to ask too much of salespeople when providing feedback may be considerate on the surface. The sales teams are usually willing to provide marketing feedback if their feedback is appreciated and marketing changes or improves marketing initiatives.
If you are a marketer, I suggest you forward this post to your sales team if any of the things above fit you.
If you are a sales professional, I suggest you forward this post to the marketing team to explore these topics and foster better communication and alignment.