Bridging The Gap Between Sales And Marketing

Bridging The Gap Between Sales and Marketing Speakers: Greg Anyon Rob Fearn Peter McPartland Ian Roe

Introduction Rob Fearn Chair, CIM Merseyside

“ Bl**@y! sales” CIM Member “ Simplifying Key Marketing Messages” Event 4 th May 2006 “ A WAR!” Kotler, Rackham and Krishnaswamy “ Bl**@y! marketing” CIM Member “ Simplifying Key Marketing Messages” Event 4th May 2006

A “war” that seriously hurts performance 1 Day a week

So who is prepared to put the “gun” down first?

Agenda Introduction Understanding the sales process The current relationship between sales and marketing Creating a new partnership between sales and marketing What we can do to check and change our behaviour

Understanding the sales process Greg Anyon CIM Course Director

Overview Protect and grow existing business Identify and win new business

The physical process Identify suspects Research Qualify to prospect status Identify key contacts & DMU’s Create contact strategy and messages Initiate contact Discover needs Qualify needs/ create interest Extract and handle objections Present proposition Close for next stage Negotiate, close and rollout solution Up-sell and cross-sell Defend

Along the way Networking Recommends Respond to leads Database suspects and prospects Territory and time management Update portfolio knowledge Create/ utilise promotional campaigns Relationship development

The current relationship between sales and marketing Rob Fearn Chair, CIM Merseyside

Two “different worlds” … Sales campaigns Relationship development Identifying needs Contract development Selling Reporting and forecasting Fire fighting Contract management Debt management Market research Product development Message development Sales collateral Marketing campaigns Internet/intranet Internal/external comms Press and PR Trade fairs and events Corporate hospitality

… that just need reconnecting and aligning Advocacy Loyalty Hand-over to the business Purchase Purchase intention Hand-over to sales Brand preference Brand consideration Brand awareness Customer awareness Marketing Sales The whole business

Creating a new partnership between sales and marketing Peter McPartland CIM Ambassador, SME

The current split between Sales & Marketing Research Plan Target Introduce Engage Expose Propose Close OPPORTUNITY REALISATION Campaign Leads Pipeline Forecast Order Book FOCUS ACTIVITY DELIVERABLE FUNCTION MARKETING SALES

Sales – a Marketing function! Marketing and Sales are not integrated as a process. Marketing has little exposure to customers and prospects. Marketing has little desire to influence performance of Sales people Marketing is seen as a ‘Cost Centre’.

Why do we fail in the Sale? Listen Ask the right questions Understand the client’s buying cycle and processes Understand the history of the relationship Position themselves against competition Know their own range Respond with a proposal 67% 52% 38% 37% 37% 30% 17% Salesforce: July 2006

Why do we fail in the Sale? Listen Ask the right questions Understand the client’s buying cycle and processes Understand the history of the relationship Position themselves against competition Know their own range Respond with a proposal 5 67% 52% 38% 37% 37% 30% 17% Salesforce: July 2006

Marketing needs to take responsibility for business development Research Plan Target Introduce Engage Expose Propose Close OPPORTUNITY REALISATION Campaign Leads Pipeline Forecast Order Book FOCUS ACTIVITY DELIVERABLE FUNCTION BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Taking responsibility Communication of Key Messages Making it Easier to Buy Enhancing the Customer’s Experience

1. Communicating key messages Only 14% of sales people can clearly “articulate”: What their organisation does? Why their organisation is unique? Why a buyer should do business with them?

Challenging ourselves and the business “ The materials many sales people are given are poorly developed and lacking in clarity” Salesforce: June 2005 WHY This isn’t on our agenda. We don’t know it either. 14%

Preferred communication styles Authoritarians Key Points Analysers Facts Logically Presented Visionaries Themes Supporters Contribute and Personalise Visual People Imagery and Colours Auditory People Speech Kinaesthetic People Emotions

2. Making it easier to buy Pre sales resource can underpin every sale. Makes the cost of sale more expensive. Difficult to maintain momentum. Risk damaging credibility.

Business Development Research Plan Target Introduce Engage Expose Propose Close OPPORTUNITY REALISATION Campaign Leads Pipeline Forecast Order Book FOCUS ACTIVITY DELIVERABLE FUNCTION BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Productisation Create standard offerings. Influence the qualification process. Move from brochure production to proposal production. Treat the Sales Team as a Customer when developing Tools.

3. Enhancing the customer’s experience How we engage can be a differentiator. Interrogate the whole Business Development process. Test / Measure / Learn Familiarise the ‘whole business’ with the process. Encourage enquiries from every angle

Taking responsibility – challenging the business Communication of key messages Understand the principles of effective “personal” communication Develop skills of those interfacing with customers Making it easier to buy Provide tools for responding to Customer’s throughout the process Use as a platform for continuous communication. Enhancing the customer’s experience Make it easy for the customer to buy

What we can do to check and change our behaviour Ian Roe CIM Ambassador, Cheshire

Where do we go from here? What is our current situation? How can we align sales and marketing? How can we stop sales and marketing conflicting?

Integrate sales and marketing processes Our sales figures are usually close to the sales forecast. If things go wrong, or results are disappointing, neither function points fingers or blames the other. Marketing people often meet with key customers during the sales process. Marketing solicits participation from Sales in drafting the marketing plan. Our salespeople believe the collateral supplied by Marketing is a valuable tool to help them get more sales. The sales force willingly cooperates in supplying feedback requested by Marketing. …………………………

“ To change, or not to change” move to Integrated move to Aligned move to Defined A common process or business funnel can be created for managing and measuring revenue-generating activities. Even with careful definition of roles, there’s still duplication The market is commoditized and makes a traditional sales force costly. Products are developed, prototyped, or extensively customized during the sales process. Product life cycles are shortening and technology turnover is accelerating. Conflicts are evident between the two functions. There’s duplication of effort between the functions The functions compete for resources or funding Tighten the relationship between Sales and Marketing if… No Culture of shared responsibility. Sales and Marketing report separately. Sales cycle is short. Products and services are cut and dried. Traditional marketing and sales roles work No clear and compelling reason to change. Company is small. Good informal relationships. Marketing is still a sales support function. Don’t change if… Aligned Defined Un-Defined

Integration checklist Split Marketing into upstream and downstream teams. Hire a chief revenue officer. Emphasize shared responsibility for results Emphasize metrics. Tie rewards to results. Enforce divisions’ conformity to systems and processes. Implement systems to track and manage joint activities. Utilise and regularly update shared databases. Establish common metrics for evaluating the overall success of Sales and Marketing Create reward systems to celebrate successful collaboration between Sales and Marketing Meet regularly to review and improve relations. Require Sales and Marketing heads to attend each other’s reviews with the CEO. Involve Sales and Marketing in product planning and in setting sales targets. Involve Sales and Marketing in generating value Propositions Involve Sales and Marketing assessing customer needs. Involve Sales and Marketing signing off on advertising materials. Involve Sales and Marketing analyzing the top opportunities by segment. Integrate organisational structures Enable the culture Integrate processes and systems Integrate activities

Enough theory – do something practical Recognise and accept there may be a problem Develop an understanding of your sales process Assess current situation Identify sales and marketing needs Develop and agree shared sales and marketing objectives Define and utilise respective strengths Build trust

Enough theory – do something practical Build joint sales and marketing plans for growth Link marketing activities to the sales cycle/process Develop better insight through talking to real customers Share and review market analysis, key issues, future developments. Differentiate through innovation Facilitate new/different customer dialogs Improved marketing messages Develop sales force market feedback

Summary – Marketing and Sales … Are two parts of the same process that need to be reconnected Need to understand what each can do and how best we can support each other Need to be better integrated with common, shared goals Need to align ourselves better and focus more of our energies on producing joint deliverables that support the selling process Need to take greater responsibility and more active involvement in the business planning process and the whole business development activities

Sources CIM North West web-site “ Ending the war between Sales & Marketing” Philip Kotler, Neil Rackham and Suj Krishnaswamy http://www.cim-nw.org.uk/handouts.php Sales Force Magazine

Bridging The Gap Between Sales And Marketing

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