Years ago at the first conference I attended as a sales rep, I recall our marketing manager giving a very boring talk on the need for us to sell slow moving products. However, his last sentence was this: 'Because it's important for the company to succeed in this exercise, for the next six weeks you will each receive 5% commission on your sales of slow moving products.' A brave salesman in the front row said 'Would you mind starting the presentation again please?' Fancy finishing a speech with the point we were most interested in! And he was one of the so-called key managers, the leader of marketing no less, and he didn't have a clue how to sell to the sales team - the people responsible for passing on marketing's enthusiasm to the customers!
Sadly, much of the modern marketing 'support' for sales people falls equally short, relating usually to just company product activities. This is unfortunate because not one customer has any interest in our products at all! The customer is only interested in one product, and that is his own product, which happens to be his business. Accordingly, he has a perfect right to wonder 'How can your products help my product to succeed?' Most sales people do not possess the answer to this unstated question, the reason being that they themselves are being sold the wrong ideas by their own marketing teams. Instead of learning how to create new and welcome results for customers, they are most often educated and equipped to 'talk product'.
To correct this unintentional and unproductive situation, marketing must realise that whether customers are failing or succeeding in their own businesses, they all need to improve their current performance! The language of sales people then must always be about 'business progress', and to express themselves effectively in this critical area, they need several devices from their marketing colleagues:
1. Clear evidence of how the marketing initiative will help create success for customers, and in this way the sales team are ‘sold’ (sales people need ‘market truths’ to take to market, not ‘office lies’)
2. A creative communication tool to involve customers in seeing and appreciating the 'business opportunity' being addressed (a professional and uniform consulting device)
3. A business-like presentation format that clearly outlines the company's 'recipe' for success (again, uniformity and high standards in sales communication…as opposed to ‘product material’ from the ad agency)
4. A simple, dynamic plan that indicates how the sales person will organise success through an action and performance schedule (the customers must buy and succeed, not just buy)
5. A CD to keep in the car, featuring simple ‘support messages’ from marketing/sales management (reminding sales people how to succeed with key initiatives…as they need to hear it)
6. Initial and ongoing training involvement from their sales managers, designed in simple formats by marketing and sales management, to reinforce the knowledge and skills of the sales force. This week by week, ‘dietary’ training must involve the sales team in writing out the sales objectives and selling strategies - to make absolutely sure they actually heard what marketing thought they said! The sales force must also be required to ‘rehearse’, in a professional manner, so as to reach the market with conviction and enthusiasm (never let a sales team rehearse on ‘opening night’)
If marketing provides and sells these devices to the sales force, success at market level will be far more attainable. If it does not then sales people will go to market resembling couriers, delivering messages they don't understand, to customers who refuse to take delivery. A 100 word weak sales presentation will be defeated by the customer, using just one strong word. And marketing must never leave the sales team to its own devices, especially since most of the team may not have any! Marketing writes the songs, so to speak, and sales people sing them…with the help of marketing.
Ultimately, the best marketing teams are those that understand the [unstated] needs of customers, and who accept the key role of leading the sales team to satisfy the needs of customers. Accordingly, organisations committed to continuous growth, need marketing leadership, and not just marketing management.
The Problems Caused By Marketing for Sales - To learn more about this author, visit John Lees's Website.
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John Lees
(Visit John's Website)
Former director of marketing & sales for
Schwarzkopf in Australia and NZ, achieving
market leadership (against the giants
'L'Oreal and Wella) and best operations
internationally for the organisation. Then
worked as a consultant to the German
company in the US, Canada, the UK, South
Africa and leading Western European
markets. These days operates as a speaker,
trainer and consultant...specialising in
sales & marketing. Author of 10 books on
business development and a member of the
Institiute of management consultants.
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