Conrey is for Closers

[Part 2 of the Marketing vs Sales Series -this post is graciously guest written by Dave Cooke aka "The Sales Cooke" see more of his writing on sales at http://www.salescooke.com]

The challenge between sales and marketing is that they don’t communicate. Sales resents marketing because they are theoretical, internally based strategists. Marketing resents the sales teams because they are the non-conformist cowboys who get all the credit and do nothing the way they are expected to. It is the rubber-meets-the-sky-team (marketing) vs. the rubber-meets-the-road (sales) team. How could they not like each other?

The reality is that these two groups do not get along because organizations have not realized that collective and effective growth requires a collaborative, interactive, and strategically joined-at-the-hip partnership between these teams. The most effective customer feedback can be obtained directly from the market by sales. The most disciplined sense of strategy and organization comes from the marketing mind. Instead of having marketing develop a campaign in their functional silo, the marketing team could be working with the sales team to help bring their creative ideas come to life in collaboration with the sales team.

Until businesses realize that there are collective strengths associated with collaboration between the two groups, there will be a schism between the two groups. They both have their functional value. However, that value is exponentially enhanced if the two would actually work together, not apart. Yes, sales ultimately receives the high praise for their success. It is because their efforts can be easily measured in tangible, real terms – closed deals and sales related revenues. If the marketing guys want that type of credit, they will have to hit the street and close some deals. Ofcourse, we know that won’t happen. If they could actually sell, that is what they would be doing. Instead they will continue to hide in their offices working on charts and graphs and promotional campaigns and complaining about those sales cowboys.

[Part 1 of the Marketing vs Sales Series -this post is graciously guest written by James Archer of Forty see more of his team's thoughts on marketing at http://fortyagency.com]

Why Marketing and Sales Don’t Get Along

Marketing is about getting 25-35 year old soccer moms with 2.5 children to buy. Sales is about getting Sally Jones, 28, with red hair and 3 kids to buy. You’d think those goals would overlap enough that Sales and Marketing could get along, but somehow the feud has continued for decades.

The root of the issue is perspective. (Isn’t it always?)

From the sales dog’s perspective, the marketing hack is dealing with the imaginary concepts and hypothetical demographics, while he or she is working with living, breathing human beings.

The marketing hack, however, looks down on the sales dog as “one-at-a-timing” it, while he or she is working on the *entire* potential client base at once.

I’m on the marketing side, so I can totally understand that perspective. Our job isn’t to sell the one hot lead in front of us at the moment; it’s to sell hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people at the same time, even though we seldom get to actually see or hear them in person.

It’s an esoteric pursuit that blends art and science, creativity and psychology, design and function, to influence the thoughts and behavior of large numbers of people with minimal resources.

…and then some sales guy gets to take the call from an already buttered-up potential customer, “make the sale,” and claim all the glory. Jerks. It’s just not fair!

In the interest of trying new things (and keeping new content up here) I’ve asked a couple of guest writers to step in for me and help discuss the blood-feud between Sales and Marketing teams. Stay tuned for a couple of smart guys on here.