Dear Sales, Let's Get Cosy. Love, Marketing.

Dear Sales

Hope you’re keeping well.  Happy New Year by the way.  How’s the quarter looking?  Built your pipeline coverage for the year?

We talk regularly but I just figured that perhaps this was the year we stopped ‘talking’ about our alignment - actually pulled together and got on with it.

I know we collaborate - I help generate and accelerate your pipeline and provide you with new business opportunities but let’s face reality.

Often I’ll upload leads into the CRM system and then we have a monthly discussion about the quality of leads and how poorly qualified you feel some of them are.  On the other hand, I’ll want to know why you haven’t followed up on some of them.

It’s a tit-for-tat numbers game that neither of us can afford to focus on. I suggest we adjust our approach.

If there’s one common thing that truly unites us, it’s the fact we’re both here to help our customers succeed, so that we succeed.  That’s why we work here, right?  Why don’t we structure ourselves around that objective rather than how well we monitor lead conversion?  Yes, lead conversion is an important metric to watch…but the metrics shouldn't distract us from our united purpose

The truth is, we all know that our customer's buying journey starts with a Google search.   We all know they’re short-listing companies they want to work with way before we’re even on their radar.   In some cases they’re so well informed they know more about us than we do!

They’re doing this because digital has changed tipped the buying cycle on its head.  Buyers research.  They evaluate.  They inform themselves.  They listen and reach out for feedback about us…often without us even knowing!

So here’s the thing.  We both need to engage earlier in the buyer journey to support them through their journey.

You need to stay front of mind with of your network.  When they think “I need…” they think of your name and you can do this by sharing content that helps them with their research.

People buy from people.  Be present.  Be valuable.  Be a social seller…better still, be a social solver!  Feed them insights that will help them achieve their vision.

That’s where I come in.

I need to invest my efforts on creating and feeding you timely content that reflects what our customers are interested in and shift the focus from quantity to quality, from promotional to educational.

And by the way, those events and webinars that you keep pushing me for…honestly…we need to think again.  Don’t get me wrong, events have their place but further down the funnel when we already know who we’re engaging with.  An event driven strategy isn't going to cut it with the budget I have this year.

I suggest we both need to shift our effort, focus and budget to a united sales and marketing model that attracts audiences to our brand.  A model where customers want to engage with us.

Less pushing.  More pulling.

So what do you reckon?  How about we make 2016 the year where we align around the customer and not just around the numbers?

Best regards

Marketing