There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to marketing and sales departments. They either work together perfectly, or they’re always doing their own thing. Expecting the other department to bend its practices. There is a lot that can go wrong with siloing your marketing and sales.
The Marketing Silo
The goal of the marketing department is to build and grow the company brand image and bring in fresh leads for the sales department to follow. Different marketing teams may have more specific goals, but as an overall overview that is the purpose of marketing. To generate interest. Now, this interest can come from anywhere, which is the danger. With no communication of where the interest is coming from or where to find the interested parties sales teams can be left to generate their own interest. Unfortunately, this can create scenarios where inbound leads are just ignored. The marketing team doesn’t sell, they only care about the website visits, social media figures and viral marketing campaigns. As long as there is growth in those numbers they are set. But, this doesn’t help the company grow, this only proves that the marketing department is capable of marketing.
The Sales Silo
On the opposite side, you have the sales team. Left to their own devices they will of course look to generate their own interest and leads. Leading to conflicting messages throughout the business, which can damage the company reputation or cause confusion. It can also cheapen the business with the marketing materials being created and designed by a team with no history of either. Wonky powerpoints and poorly designed marketing materials mean the sales team have to work harder to convince any prospects to go forwards with them. Not everyone is a design snob, but you obviously want to ensure you’re working with the best in the industry and nothing screams unprofessional than spelling mistakes and cheap design.
Without the collaboration of the two teams, there is also mixed messaging on the sales focus within the business. Are you focusing your attention on a new product or existing service? It’s harder to achieve the goals you’ve set when two teams are walking two different paths.
Merging Marketing and Sales
There is a lot of discussion, backlash and interest in merging the marketing and sales teams. Maverrik founder Dean Seddon even discussed this notion in a recent vlog on his Youtube Channel. Should companies bite the bullet and merge the teams?
One problem that could arise in doing so is tracking progress, do you count the figures you’re pulling in with your campaigns or the number of sales? Well, surely revenue generated would be preferable for any business than views and visits. Another issue may be current skill sets will need to change. Marketers will need to adapt to selling methods and vice versa. It’s the Armageddon scenario, is it easier to train a marketeer to sell or a salesperson to market? It’s no end of the world scenario, but it could be the end of your business if you don’t get it right.
No matter how you look at it when teams are just working, without thinking about the business as a whole working unit, you simply can’t grow as a business. An all-star marketing team won’t generate you as much revenue as another team working together with a good sales team. So, if you’ve got two departments simply not communicating you need to intervene and bring them together.
