Sales vs. Marketing and Marketing vs. Sales
Sales and Marketing are so often intertwined that it’s rare (if ever) a client comes to us knowing where the line is drawn. Sales and marketing grow from each other. They support each other. Of course, when one facet is doing poorly, it’s often very quick to blame the other…
The truth is, Sales and Marketing have two completely different goals. So when one fails, it fails because of its own merit. (I know. It’s a tough pill to swallow).
Here is the very basic breakdown:
Marketing brings people to your door
Sales gets people to stay
I say this all the time. If you don’t have a solid sales force to close the deal, your marketing is pointless. You can have thousands of followers, hundreds of calls, or dozens of Facebook messages, but if there is no one there to interact with, pick up the phone, or answer that message - then how are you expecting to make a sale?
And it’s at that handoff where some companies struggle with differentiating between a sales professional and a marketing professional.
Your marketing professional is creative, strategic and scrappy (sometimes we have to make last-minute decisions that still uphold our overall goals). Your sales professional, on the other hand, knows your business from the inside out. Can make promises that your team (should be) able to commit to, and pivot a conversation in the best way to make a sale.
Your marketing professional should be an outsider, or, at least have outside counsel. They need to know who your client is - but they don’t need to know every name of every widget you use to achieve such high results. You know why? Because your client doesn’t have the attention span for it. They just need to know how to talk to your clients without boring them to death.
Your sales professional is someone who lives, eats and breathes those boring details (that are definitely not boring to you!) and can wow your would-be client with all their knowledge of how it’s going to benefit them.
When it comes to marketing, think of everything your clients see before they ever reach out to you.
When it comes to sales, think of everything you want your client to know that will help them say “yes” to giving you money.
It’s a fine line, with some areas of grey, but it’s there.
Need help determining that line between your marketing and sales? Let’s chat. We’ve got your back.