Why can’t sales and marketing just get along? This battle has been going on since I have been working, which is three decades.
I have experienced it on both sides. When I was in marketing, developing product and sales training for the sales executives, they thought we were clueless and out of touch with what customers were actually interested in. They didn’t think we had anything to teach them.
Then, when I was a sales executive, I was irritated that marketing was telling me how I should do my job because they weren’t in the trenches and they weren’t personally held to a quota.
Susan Tyson has been posting some great content around this with the intent of moving sales and marketing closer to each other, more like chocolate and peanut butter than oil and water. Here is a recent LinkedIn post:
While a lot of marketers may secretly feel that sales people are overpaid spoiled brats who don’t work very hard, Susan actually loves working with sales teams, ensuring they have what they need to be successful. It’s a differentiator she calls out in her personal branding.
Some of her posts have gotten interaction from sales enablement experts. They agreed it is an issue, and that communication and cross-training can be part of the solution. Sales people should understand what marketing does and some of its challenges, and marketing should sit in on sales calls or presentations (when it makes sense) to get first-hand knowledge of what sales people are experiencing in the field.
In short, good communication and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes could be helpful in decreasing friction and increasing productivity and profitability. Sales and marketing are both measured on increasing sales, so they should – hypothetically – be on the same page.
If you are interested in how we bridge this gap between sales and marketing, I highly recommend following Susan Tyson on LinkedIn and joining the conversation.
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
