SALES & MARKETING ALIGNMENT
Sales and Marketing: Together at Last?
MALCOLM FLESCHNER
Remember when “synergy” was the hot corporate buzzword? And then, for a while, “vertical inte- gration” was all the rage. Then, the big push in executive boardrooms was for “total operational effectiveness.”
No matter what it’s called, though, the concept generally boils down to different elements of an organization working toward a common, well- defined business goal. Like sales and marketing not only coexisting but working as a team. Or, as one expert puts it, the first step in making sales and marketing an effective dual coop- erative force is to define your objec- tives – and your teams.
“The moment a company de- fines itself as a marketing and sales
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organization,” the expert says, “the underlying value of the company means each business unit within the company is going to share the same sense of priorities of making sure they’re addressing customer needs in a manner that offers more value than the competition.”
The operative goal, he explains, is that every contact from the com- pany to individual customers builds continuity in the customer’s experi- ence with the company.
He adds that marketing’s job is to collect, assemble, and arrange infor- mation in a way that differentiates the company’s offerings and creates perceived value in the customer’s eyes. It’s then the field sales force’s responsibility to promote that mes- sage and provide a conduit for feed- back to marketing so the message can be constantly adjusted. “Your customers are always trying to do the right thing for their cus- tomers,” he explains, “so they must have a sense that there’s something new and better they can do. It’s mar- keting’s role to be sure the wealth of information they have is always presented in a way that addresses the downline customers’ needs.” That’s the big picture, but he adds that success in sales and marketing can often also boil down to doing all the little things right. One example: making sure your contact informa- tion is up to date. “You have to be sure all your own data in whatever system you use is correct,” he says. “There’s no excuse for having more than 2 percent
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