Marketing vs Sales: The Marketers
[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!
