Does your organization combine sales (or development) and marketing into one group? Every time I see the two functions combined in one department, group, or reporting structure, it ends up being trouble. Why? I think it’s because the jobs are related but the goals, functions, and people who perform them are so different that they need to be separate. This is why:
Good salespeople are hunters. Every day they live to get up in the morning, go find it, kill it, bring it home, and eat it. They are hard-charging individuals who have a goal and they intend to win. They are at their very best when they are in the hunt. Are they good at logging their daily hunting activities? No. Are they at their best mining customer data trying to find the key to a kill? Nope. Do they excel at big picture thinking and carefully deconstructing ideas? Not on your life.
Good marketers are farmers. They derive their joy from watching the habits of the herds, learning what they eat, when they graze, when they travel, where they drink. They live to create the plants that the herd craves and lead them down a path to the watering hole. A great marketer can tell a hunter what tree to stand in to have the sun at your back when the herd passes. But they usually lack the killer instinct and drive to hunt on a daily basis. They don’t find the tension exhilarating, it’s brutal. They don’t feel rejection is an interesting challenge, it’s devastating.
Sales and marketing have a symbiotic relationship. They need each other, but they are completely separate functions. They are best when they communicate well with one another and share data, but usually fail when marketing is run by sales. Marketing requires a long-term approach, attention to details, an appreciation of craftsmanship, and an ability to see in the abstract. The sales process is immediate and results driven. The pace and interaction is completely different. In my experience, when sales runs marketing, there is usually very little marketing. So, divide and conquer.
Marketing should be responsible for setting the table, so to speak. Their efforts influence brand perception, call attention to market needs generating demand and deliver qualified leads to the sales pipeline. Then marketing provides support information throughout the life of the sales cycle and ultimately throughout the customer lifetime.
Sales is responsible for establishing the relationship and closing the deal. Ultimately, sales is responsible for continuation of business through a close working relationship with marketing and customer service functions. Without sales, there is no business. Without marketing, there are generally very few sales. Sales and marketing have a symbiotic relationship in the business ecosystem. This isn’t a new idea, or rocket science. It’s just surprising how often it’s misunderstood and inappropriately structured. Get your ecosystem in order and the world is all yours. Don’t mess with Mother Nature.
I have to agree. I am NOT a salesperson but I love mining for data, learning new strategy and communicating with the consumer. I cringe at the thought of sales. I prefer strategy to get the process going.
Love the metaphor or is it a simile? NO matter, you are spot on in the comparison.
However, I disagree with your assertion they should be separate. I believe they should be together and managed towards a single goal. Integrating them makes them much more powerful.
The challenges you talk about, in my opinion, are leadership challenges not “Mother Nature”. A good leader in that position will know how to balance their unique traits, map them accordingly and capitalize on their symbiotic nature. A poor leader will default to one or the other leaving one completely under utilized.
It’s not the functions, it’s the leaders.
Great insight! Thank you. I agree that the two functions should be integrated toward a common goal, should work together to make it happen, and should cooperate in sharing and critiquing information. I also agree that leadership is a core driver in making the integration work. I think we may disagree with one another as to who should be responsible for the leadership. I would place that type of leadership responsibility at the desk of the president or CEO. I think we may be splitting hairs.
I just found a great article from a Harvard marketing professor that covers this subject and makes both of our points! He even used the hunter/farmer metaphor, only differently.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3154.html