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Why Can't We Just Get
Along?
Sales and marketing must be on
the same page
Focus on education
Focus eJournal speaks with Matt
Highsmith, President,
TailoredMail
Part 2 of 4 in a series
As we discovered in part I of
the series, when marketing and
sales live in two ivory towers
without knowing what the other
side is doing, it can often
spell disaster. For example, say
marketing creates a message, and
the sales force needs specific
information to turn interested
parties into customers. However,
that carefully created message
for the outside world often
isn't applicable to sales.
How can both teams be more
aligned? One way is to have the
marketing team work with sales
managers and product teams to
determine two things: First,
what values and strategic
benefits does the product offer
the customer? Second, what are
the possible objections and pain
points for that customer?
Once these two points are
clarified from the sales
perspective, the marketing
department should deliver those
points in a way that's
accessible and easy for a large
sales force to retain. Two
innovative and proven methods
for creating educational
materials will ensure the sales
team uses and appreciates the
materials:
Broadcast marketing.
Create an audio or video "talk
show" that answers specific
questions from the sales team
about the product(s). These
shows nudge the sales force to
think about the conversations
they have with potential
customers.
A library that talks back.
Build a library of materials
specifically targeted to the
sales team. Combine diverse
audio files, video files,
PowerPoint presentations and
brochures into carefully
coordinated, strategic
communication tools. But the
library alone isn't enough. Have
the marketing department
electronically track the
materials to see which ones are
most used -- also encourage
feedback from the sales force on
which materials are most
effective.
Broadcast marketing
Most companies think producing
audio or video communications
for the sales team requires a
big production company and mega
bucks. On the contrary, creating
brief in-house productions is a
cheap and effective way to get
marketing's message to the sales
masses.
Almost all new PCs and laptops
come with a microphone jack.
Plug in a microphone and you can
host your own "talk show," or
podcast, as most audio shows are
called now. Software for
recording, editing and saving in
audio format often costs less
than $100, is even free with the
PC or is "open source" (freely
available).
Video recording and editing is
typically more expensive, but
not by much, so it's doable. You
can record a high-quality audio
interview with good lighting, a
high-quality digital video
camera and low-cost software; in
fact, you can start your own
in-house video production
department on a limited budget.
The idea is to transfer
marketing's product knowledge to
the sales force in a way that's
useful. Taping a five or
10-minute interview is one good
way for marketing to share its
perspective. Have a sales
manager interview a marketing
manager, product manager or an
expert. This helps the sales
manager know which questions a
typical salesperson would ask
marketing or product managers.
This format allows sales to
start creating its own business
script as it hears customer
objections and pain points
articulated during the
interview. It also breaks down
complex information about the
product and message into
digestible parts.
Like any form of mass media,
build "stickiness" into the
show. This could be creating a
series of shows, each one ending
with a tease for the next show.
Position your shows as sharing
"insider secrets" from
successful sales people. People
can't resist the appeal of
inside information, especially
if it boosts their careers.
After a few of these shows are
produced, the library of
information contained in them
becomes valuable. Current sales
people can listen to the shows
before a big client meeting or
while driving between
appointments. The library of
audio presentations can also be
used to quickly train new sales
team members.
Most importantly, these taped
conversations dispel the biggest
fear of all salespeople -- not
being able to answer a
customer's reasonable questions.
By taping conversations between
sales and marketing (and product
experts), most such questions
are answered and are easy to
reference.
A library that talks back
Marketing and sales need
different types of communication
materials to do their jobs well.
Marketing creates materials that
demonstrate why people get
excited about the product. Sales
needs materials that accurately
describe the customer's current
problem -- and how this
particular product solves that
problem.
To bridge the gap between sales
and marketing, the marketing
team can start by tweaking its
own communication materials to
speak more directly to the needs
of the sales force. The revised
materials could allow the
salesperson to get information
quickly to the customer that's
accurate, consistent and
persuasive.
How does the marketing
department know if its materials
work for the sales team? That's
where feedback comes in.
Technology tools for building a
library of marketing/sales
materials also report the
effectiveness of those
materials.
With proper customer
relationship management (CRM)
technology in place, marketing
can learn which materials have
been accessed most often, and
which are sitting there unused
and unneeded. Beyond that, the
sales team can provide direct
feedback on the materials within
the library. As a result,
marketing has a better idea of
which tools are most effective
and why.
Having an interactive library
with sales-related marketing
materials also builds a
consistent brand and message for
the product. Sales people won't
have to repeatedly recreate
materials -- or risk omitting or
misreading an important message
about the product.
Best of all, marketing now has
one part of the closed-loop
feedback that's critical to its
credibility. The ability to
track the effectiveness of the
sales materials it creates means
learning more about what sales
specifically needs in the
future. Building on this
knowledge provides an important
means to bridge the gap between
the two departments.
A successful odd couple
Producing marketing materials
targeted to the needs of sales
is the first step to putting an
"and" between the two
departments, instead of
"versus." This first of four
steps helps the two teams to
more clearly understand their
different goals -- and how those
different goals lead to a common
purpose.
Building a library of in-house
"talk shows" or media files
gives the sales force the
answers to questions about the
product. The dynamic library
lets marketing have access to
feedback on the effectiveness of
its materials, thereby giving
the sales team a voice in what
materials it needs to do its job
better. The library provides
marketing with credibility as a
responsive part of the sales
process.
All dogs and cats may not play
together nicely, but
occasionally you see an odd pair
that gets along. Rather than
struggling to stay competitive
in a global economy, by taking
the first step with education,
sales and marketing can hold a
truce -- and enjoy a boost in
profits.
This
series of articles explores
how these four cornerstones can
reshape the relationship between
sales and marketing into a
business model that exceeds
expectations. Next month's
article provides practical
strategies to build better
education between the two vital
functions.
TailoredMail
