The relationship between marketing and sales

When comparing marketing with sales and considering how they relate to each other I always think of the medium size business where I got my first job. Marketers department were serious and analytical, always busy with statistics and campaigns and meetings. The sales people were breathless, always moving, always on the phone or going to meet with clients, always on the verge of some huge deal, a little 'magic sale that would have catapulted the company's sales as the target year. As a junior I felt that the marketing people and sales people were from different planets. Now I know they were simply two parts of the same continuum.

Marketing can be described as the set of activities that are conducted to generate leads, while the sale is the act of turning a prospect a hot lead into a buyer and then a regular customer. The functions of marketing and sale of any organization are glued together by cables. If there are no cables, the two will fall foul each other. I saw this in that area I described above. But the door in both directions. The marketing department must provide them and the sales department must act upon them for maximum benefit. But the door must first be generated and this is why marketing tends to overwhelm the sales function, when the two are discussed.

The various forms that marketing takes are well known because they are so visible. It goes from door to door cold brand or corporate advertising, up to more targeted types of marketing such as direct response advertising and referrals, which explains the particular benefits of the product to the customer. If this is done correctly, then the prospects of bringing people actually qualified for sales assistance. Vendors like those clues. And 'in fact when the sales people take over the function of communication that the cable ceases to be an advantage and becomes a potential customer, then a customer and, finally, a regular customer.

Actually I have painted a somewhat 'idealistic relationship between the main function of marketing and sales function. It's not just that simple because not all cables are the same. A very small percentage leads are customers who are ready to buy. Most of them are just interested in possibly buying at a future date and some are only mildly interested, just browsing. That's why it's important to have a kind of lead management system so that potential customers can be turned into buyers and buyers can become repeat customers.

All follow-up communication should be friendly and informative, it is certainly difficult to sell. The representative of the company must be regarded as an expert rather than a good sales person angry. Fortunately many of the functions of follow-up can be automated to take the form of email, direct mail, broadcast voice and fax transmission. Obviously the lead would be encouraged each time to call directly if you have questions or ready to buy one. The follow-up effort is usually a function of marketing and sales departments combined....