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The Not-So-Secret Connection between Sales & Marketing
July 11, 2023
by Stacy Hilber
We've all seen the memes on LinkedIn or other social media, haven't we? Sales picks fun at marketing for "not doing anything," and marketing criticizes sales for taking all the credit.
If you're a versed growth marketer, though, you understand the critical connection between sales and marketing, and advocate for the relationship with persistence and keen sales-like persuasion.
If you're reading this as an executive or business owner, you might be asking, "What do you mean, and how much is this going to cost?" Unfortunately, if your sales and marketing teams are not fighting the good fight in the trenches together, you've already lost more than a few good men -- leads, acquisitions, deals, what have you.
But why?
It comes down to branding. Marketing is the meaning and the message behind your brand -- your why -- and sales is your well-propositioned delivery of that message -- your why us. Your brand is a representation of who you are, why you do it, and why you do it better than your competitors. Your unique brand messaging, often called your unique value proposition or UVP in marketing, should be cohesive companywide. This includes social media and email marketing, your website, sales pitches and presentations, and B2B and B2C print & digital collateral.
Your marketing team should understand the sales and operations team's pain points and processes so they can help patch any holes. Your sales and ops teams are in direct contact with your clients and customers daily, whereas your marketing team's duty is to forge connections with them passively, digitally. Open the lines of communication between your sales and marketing teams to align your message, patch the holes, and better promote and SELL your business.
Your marketing teams should know how your business makes money so that they understand how to drive revenue and profit. It would be unrealistic for your marketing department to provide you accurate success measures reflecting return on investment if they had no baseline from which to work.
What's the revenue in acquiring a new relationship?
How much does it cost to lose a customer?
What's the overhead cost?
What's the sales team's incentive plan?
What's a suitable margin for your business?
Marketing teams cannot be expected to balance budgets, either, without knowing this information. Armed with this and other cost/revenue data, the marketing team can help establish appropriate ad budgets, etc.
So, here's the good news! Forging a profitable bond between marketing and sales teams is possible anywhere, and can be done with:
Proper, all-encompassing buy-in from executives & decision-makers
A plan, including goal-setting, clear expectations, manageable timelines, and defined measures of success, or SMART goals
Time, consistency, and patience
Fostering the relationship between your sales and marketing teams should be considered, in my opinion, the keystone to your growth strategy. I say this to you as an experienced marketer and content developer with nearly 10 years of sales experience in a retail environment.
I am currently in pursuit of a full-time growth marketing opportunity, either fully remote or hybrid position, with a robust benefits plan. Please reach out to me at srhilber@gmail.com to set an interview.