Sales VS Marketing

As our firm consults with clients we continually hear growth plans that center on hiring more salespeople while expecting immediate results. When asked about marketing strategy, sales process, or leading indicators we get a variety of responses, but only in rare cases is the plan fully outlined. Without this clarity, it is impossible for the team to understand the expectations and leverage the individual skills they are good at. I have fallen into this trap myself as effective sales and marketing strategies involve many skill sets and a properly thought out plan is fairly complicated. We have found that hiring a mass of salespeople without the proper tools and marketing support is a repeatable cause for failure.  

We traditionally start with the mantra of "Marketing creates conversations and sales close business." With this in mind, we can separate our expectations of the individual roles within the organization and have them focus on tactics that lead to an outcome. We can define how the team will work together and where efficiency and hand-offs may exist. Dividing the roles, investing in proper marketing to drive leads, and training the team on their specific role results in increased results and a happier team!