One of the classic question in the field: ”Is Marketing part of Sales, or is Sales part of Marketing?”
Sales would argue that Marketing is a part of Sales is because the ultimate goal of the two of them is to sell and score revenue. Marketing will always see Sales as a part of Marketing, with Marketing covering the whole commercial spectrum of market research, product development, pricing, advertising; with Sales being the end of the cycle, the closing of the deal: the brainless, muscular execution that puts the foot on the door.
At the rate this is going, I think we need to change our perspectives, and change the question. Who says that there are conflicting interests between these two? Who says that these two need to exist in exclusive, stand alone lobbies?
The question ”Is Marketing part of Sales, or otherwise?” is a problematic one because it creates an organizational issue. If the Marketing function is parked within Sales, it will suffer. The Marketing team will have lousy budget, unlistened, ignored, and it will just perform mundane support roles. If the Sales function is placed as a part of Marketing, the Sales bunch will be pressed, pushed, and treated as a door-to-door personnel, and when they missed their monthly target a few times, they will get a boot on their butt.
While Sales and Marketing can exist separately, it is not healthy for the organization. It is pretty much like a couple, each of them is fine being on their own, but they need each other to complete each and do things that they cannot do alone; and while they are together, they will argue with each other. (Let’s don’t talk about who’s the male and female. It was meant as an analogy and we should leave it that way.)
Marketing and Sales are quite different in nature. Marketing is “pull”, Sales is “push”. You have heard that in Marketing 101, but you forgot it. What frequently missing is the understanding that in order to sell better, you need both of them for most cases, and especially in B2B. An example of pure “pull” business is the airlines. Have an airliner cold-called you to ask if you would like to fly to Baghdad this weekend? Or a search engine. When was the last time their salesperson knocks on your door to sell you advertising space? An example of full “push” business is the cabbage peddler in the wet market, or an illegal ticket tout. How many of professional Marketers do you know work in those lines? Any other businesses between those extremes will need to work with “pull” and “push”, and if If these two were to work together effectively, they need to acknowledge exactly this.
Not so long ago (maybe until today), people would claim the Marketing’s most important responsibility to generate leads, and Sales’ is to close the leads. I can simplify it further: The job of Marketing is to manage impression, so that the company does not look like a money launderer with STDs. The job of Sales is to manage expectation, so that customers do not expect you to deliver miracle work for free by yesterday. Anything in between, is for the two to work it out together. Other things like database management, content creation, market research, customer survey, competitor watching, can be taken as shared responsibilities. If these two were to work together effectively, they need to acknowledge exactly this.
A Marketer cannot do a Sales job as efficiently as a Salesperson, and a Salesperson cannot do a Marketing job as good as a trained Marketer. Simple logic. If these two were to work together effectively, they need to acknowledge exactly this.
Marketing and Sales are intertwined, and for that reason we need to stop with all this segregation and silo thinking. Take these three in your work, starting today:
Sales would argue that Marketing is a part of Sales is because the ultimate goal of the two of them is to sell and score revenue. Marketing will always see Sales as a part of Marketing, with Marketing covering the whole commercial spectrum of market research, product development, pricing, advertising; with Sales being the end of the cycle, the closing of the deal: the brainless, muscular execution that puts the foot on the door.
At the rate this is going, I think we need to change our perspectives, and change the question. Who says that there are conflicting interests between these two? Who says that these two need to exist in exclusive, stand alone lobbies?
The question ”Is Marketing part of Sales, or otherwise?” is a problematic one because it creates an organizational issue. If the Marketing function is parked within Sales, it will suffer. The Marketing team will have lousy budget, unlistened, ignored, and it will just perform mundane support roles. If the Sales function is placed as a part of Marketing, the Sales bunch will be pressed, pushed, and treated as a door-to-door personnel, and when they missed their monthly target a few times, they will get a boot on their butt.
While Sales and Marketing can exist separately, it is not healthy for the organization. It is pretty much like a couple, each of them is fine being on their own, but they need each other to complete each and do things that they cannot do alone; and while they are together, they will argue with each other. (Let’s don’t talk about who’s the male and female. It was meant as an analogy and we should leave it that way.)
Marketing and Sales are quite different in nature. Marketing is “pull”, Sales is “push”. You have heard that in Marketing 101, but you forgot it. What frequently missing is the understanding that in order to sell better, you need both of them for most cases, and especially in B2B. An example of pure “pull” business is the airlines. Have an airliner cold-called you to ask if you would like to fly to Baghdad this weekend? Or a search engine. When was the last time their salesperson knocks on your door to sell you advertising space? An example of full “push” business is the cabbage peddler in the wet market, or an illegal ticket tout. How many of professional Marketers do you know work in those lines? Any other businesses between those extremes will need to work with “pull” and “push”, and if If these two were to work together effectively, they need to acknowledge exactly this.
Not so long ago (maybe until today), people would claim the Marketing’s most important responsibility to generate leads, and Sales’ is to close the leads. I can simplify it further: The job of Marketing is to manage impression, so that the company does not look like a money launderer with STDs. The job of Sales is to manage expectation, so that customers do not expect you to deliver miracle work for free by yesterday. Anything in between, is for the two to work it out together. Other things like database management, content creation, market research, customer survey, competitor watching, can be taken as shared responsibilities. If these two were to work together effectively, they need to acknowledge exactly this.
A Marketer cannot do a Sales job as efficiently as a Salesperson, and a Salesperson cannot do a Marketing job as good as a trained Marketer. Simple logic. If these two were to work together effectively, they need to acknowledge exactly this.
Marketing and Sales are intertwined, and for that reason we need to stop with all this segregation and silo thinking. Take these three in your work, starting today:
- If you hold a magic wand in the company, wed this couple, keep their functions, but name it something else, for political reason.
- If you are in Sales, accept that Marketing is the bigger umbrella than Sales (in other word, Sales IS part of Marketing), simply because Marketing covers wider area of applications. Don’t waste your time arguing it.
- If you are in Marketing, give your respect to the Sales people. You may disagree with them, but you may not be better than them at what they do. Plus. you need them as much as they need you.
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