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Should Social Networking Support the Sales Effort?

Written by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: Deborah Penta, my guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts, shed some light on how the relationship between sales and marketing should work. One of the things she said that I really liked was that executives "have an obligation" to market their companies and generate quality leads for their salespeople. An obligation! It doesn't get any better than that.

Should Social Networking Support the Sales Effort?

If sales and marketing were husband and wife the divorce rate would be much higher than that of the 50% for traditional marriages. Deborah Penta, my guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts, shed some light on how the relationship between sales and marketing should work. One of the things she said that I really liked was that executives "have an obligation" to market their companies and generate quality leads for their salespeople. An obligation! It doesn't get any better than that.

She also talked about the advantages of targeted, email marketing campaigns, including the ability to tweak them as you go along at very little additional cost compared with traditional direct mail.

Deborah talked about incorporating a sales and marketing philosphy into the company's sales culture - a comment similar to one made by Jim Stephens back on July 22.

She had some very sound ideas for how marketing and sales should work together for trade shows and she talked about how sales and marketing should communicate in general.

In an interesting series of comments, Deborah had some very strong opinions about the place for social networking in business. She believes that SOME of the social networking mediums are appropriate and even important for - pay attention - SOME businesses but not all. Her big point on this was that some companies throw pages up on Facebook and similar sites but fail to integrate those pages with the other parts of the overall marketing plan. The result is that the company doesn't use it the right way, the page is not consistent with the company's other messages, and it has the potential to become an expensive branding mistake rather than an inexpensive marketing tactic.

Click here to listen to the entire episode. Contact Deborah here.

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Article Tags: company ceo, direct mail, divorce rate, email marketing campaigns, entire company, facebook, html target, jim stephens, marketing plan, networking mediums, philosphy, s sales, sales and marketing, salespeople, similar sites, social networking, sound ideas, strong opinions, targeted email marketing, traditional marriages



Related Forum Posts
Re: How can a social networking site make serious money? - Hi There, It is quite interesting, that some Social Networking do produce an income. I think testimonials are always a benefit to share. See one below: This Social Network has changed my life! Every night is a Friday night and everyday is a Saturday!! Because of it, I have been able to leave the workforce 10 years early.It has given me back my life. Many of us would like to retire early. I am sure there are many more. The point is of focusing with great determination. The ongoing challenge is to stay focussed and not be sidetracked into a newer scheme or so. Also I have read, during this financial turmoil, more people turn to Social Networking for various reasons.
Re: Tactics for Blog Traffic - some more tips to drive traffic to blog or to promote a blog. Squidoo Lens Creation Hub Pages Creation Social Bookmarking (Digg, Delicious, Stumble, Reddit etc.) Be helpful in forums Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn etc.) syndication blog commenting (other blogs) Guest post
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Simple Idea - Great Advice. - What your success stories on Social Networking for more contacts and connections? Do you have any good business books to suggest? I love the idea of connecting and sharing with other entrepreneurs. Thank you for your input!
Re: Social Networking Site Endorsements - You must be cautious in endorsing any one on Social Networking site. You must ony endorse people you are very familiar with. Endorsement people you don't know is not a good thing.


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