Recently I was talking with a CEO who wanted to increase his sales
and grow revenue to expand his business. The CEO wasn’t sure whether he should
focus additional resources on the Marketing or Sales departments, wanting to
allocate his limited budget wherever the company would get the biggest “bang
for its buck.”
Because marketing and sales are so intertwined during the customer
acquisition process the line where one stops and the other starts isn’t always clear.
One question to help answer the “sales or marketing” question above is:
Do you
need to do a better job generating awareness or interest in your company and
its products/services to find more (or better) prospects OR do you need more
help closing the prospects you have or closing those interested prospects
faster?
The former is Marketing, the latter Sales.
Marketing works in a one-to-many manner with the whole target
market with a longer term focus. Marketing broadcasts key messages and benefits
about the company and the products/services being sold to create awareness and
interest from the entire market to identify prospective customers. These leads” get handed off from Marketing
to Sales for the individual interactions required to turn them into customers.
Sales is the personalized one-on-one interaction required to build
a relationship, understand the unique requirements a specific prospect has, and
communicate the benefits and value gained by becoming a customer. (Sales also
interacts with existing customers to buy more products or services.) Sales has
a near term goal to close a deal or get a specific contract signed.
Marketing should be done in coordination and consultation with the
specialized knowledge sales, customer service, product development and others
have. And Sales should rely on the expertise Marketing has to create the sales
tools needed to communicate key messages and get customers interested enough to
ask for more information and engage sales directly. Regardless of your answer,
both groups need to work together for you to really get the most “bang for your
buck” and the best marketing and sales for your company.
ELIZABETH ANDREINI:
As the President of Accelerate Marketing, LLC, Elizabeth Andreini, is the “secret weapon” CEOs turn to at key growth points when they need to transform marketing and product management and grow it to the next level critical for revenue and profitability. In addition to providing experienced executive insight and guidance, Elizabeth often comes in as an interim CMO or VP to provide the hands-on leadership needed to rearchitect marketing and product management and improve execution from the inside.
Elizabeth Andreini, founder & president of
Accelerate Marketing, LLC.
Accelerate Marketing, LLC
206-769-3420 or elizabeth@accelerate-marketing.com
Twitter: @acceler8mkting
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethandreini
