Can your marketing team sell?

Can your marketing team sell?

"It looks great but our customers don't really talk like this. They don't use these words and phrases".

We were working on a thought leadership piece that the sales team could send to prospects coupled with product specs.

The design and copy were on point.

Until the sales manager had a look at it.

How did we miss this?

Marketing did not collaborate with sales.

A core part of the marketer's job is to know thy audience. And the best place to start gathering information is from your sales force!

They are the closest to the customers, and understand their vernacular, pain points, complaints etc.

But in most organisations, marketing and sales operate in silo.

Two parallel lines; one motivated by closing deals and the other, doing cool s*it.

Here's how sales looks at marketing...

How marketing sees sales:

The marketing department's priority is to set the stage for selling to happen.

So creativity is a means to an end, not the end in itself.

A trendy Tik Tok video is of no use to a sales team selling high value medical equipment. Nor a product explainer video to a business that sells clothing and merch.

When we work in silo, we miss the fundamentals of marketing - understanding the customer.

Messaging without a deep understanding of the customer misses the mark. Or if lucky, creates a little blip.

Often, marketers run campaigns based on assumptions, or basic demographic information.

Marketing is too damn important and expensive to do things on assumption.

A single marketing activity that addresses your audience's pain points, and presents your solution using their vernacular is more effective than a fully-fledged campaign driven by creativity alone.

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