Marketing vs. Sales?!

Recently, I have noticed more and more posts on LinkedIn on the topic of “marketing vs. sales”. Marketing and sales are far too often in direct competition. Both are courting customers, both want to get their message across, both want to be successful. It is a “natural competition” that shouldn’t be one, because this competitive relationship can quickly run the risk of becoming counterproductive.

It is indispensable that marketing and sales are in constant exchange with each other – which takes place at eye level! Both sides can achieve more together.

To put it bluntly: For marketing, a customer is often just a mass of data. We often only really have contact with people at events, while the sales people are in constant contact with the customers throughout the year. In marketing, we live a lot from key data knowledge, but we also need a feeling for our target group, beyond the pure target group definition! In order to create authenticity, statistics are not the decisive factor, it has to be emotional and the customers must not be seen as mere personas, but as people.

It has long ceased to be a question of the company or the product alone being the focus of marketing and sales activity, because it is much more about customer needs: a product is sought to fill a gap, to improve a process, simply to have a noticeable positive effect. This is where both sales and marketing meet, because they pursue the same goal: we want to be the solution to the problem. But how to be the solution?

Collaboration is the holy grail here. Each side brings its own expertise to the team and together success can be generated. The key is therefore not the mere exchange of ideas, but the extensive cooperation between the two areas that enables a holistic view and generates effective solutions.

I don’t do data analysis alone in my marketing cubbyhole; our sales department is an integral part of the analysis. After a campaign, we sit down together and determine the general pain points or specifically address individual issues. Does someone have a personal concern that needs special attention in sales or is the need for information not sufficiently covered? Sales and marketing work hand in hand, to the advantage of both sides.

In a company where there is open communication, people act very differently with each other. I would even go so far as to say that a completely different product comes out at the end, because a different philosophy lives in the people. Out of the entrenched silos, into a lived flexibility, in which cooperation does not steal the butter off anyone’s bread, but creates synergies.

But you also have to get rid of the shyness of always and everywhere having to be a mastermind in order to supposedly be able to assert yourself. You don’t always have to be an expert in all areas, everyone has something to contribute, has an area of expertise and competences. Inexperienced in marketing or sales? This is where new perspectives can emerge! We have to get away from “I know my job best, I won’t let you tell me anything!” – only together, a fresh perspective can be found or problems can be solved more easily.

Cooperation is not only useful, it is also fun. You can actively shape things instead of passively waiting for something to be shaped with you. And yes, this is also an important point that should not be overlooked.

Too long, didn’t read? Here is my conclusion-to-go:

• Collectively, we can achieve much more than one person can, especially with regard to the big picture.
• Break down silo thinking.
• Talk to each other and work together, not each in his own chamber.