Marketing and Sales – an Unbeatable Combination

Many people think that the principal job of Marketing is to generate qualified leads. In fact, Marketing’s job varies greatly throughout the lifecycle of a company. In the early days, lead generation is especially challenging, due to the lack of one or both of these key elements:

·         A known and respected company/brand

·         A credible solution

While leads can be generated, their worth is often questionable in the absence of the above elements. To overcome this early barrier, Marketing and Sales need to work together to quickly and diligently break down the obstacles.

Let’s examine a couple of situations:

1 – A big-name, well-known company develops a new product and introduces it to the marketplace.  With a full marketing machine, lots of money to invest, and a strong company name to leverage, Marketing can provide Sales with lots of qualified leads.  The driver: company and brand.

2 – A lesser-known company develops an innovative product and makes early sales to early adopters who, through demonstrations, see the clear benefits of the product in terms of cost savings, flexibility, etc. Even without an established marketing machine or lots of money, the company can expect that prospective customers will react to the demonstrated benefits, and Sales will find it easier to close deals. The driver: credibility.

Contrast these with the situation at many startups:  it’s an unknown company that has developed an innovative product but does not have a credible product or a proven track record in approaching an existing market in a new way (or creating a new market.) In this case, which is all too common, Sales and Marketing will need to work collaboratively to help build a healthy pipeline and remove the obstacles to future success.

What does this collaborative approach look like?

The effort must start with a solid value proposition and clear, differentiated messaging, which come initially from the marketing group. The focus must be on the target buyer, the pain to be solved, and the benefits of this solution.

Marketing can then begin to build awareness through press outreach, regular briefing of industry analysts and key journalists, and submitting contributed articles to help elucidate the value proposition and show why it matters. This helps build awareness for the company, so it’s no longer an unknown name.

The Sales team can take use the value proposition and messaging to begin evangelizing the solution. It is vitally important for Sales and Marketing to collaborate closely in this endeavor, since the Sales team will receive first-hand feedback from the field about what works and what doesn’t. In our experience, the more closely Marketing participates in early sales calls, the better it can fine-tune the messaging and align the value proposition to the precise needs of the target customer.

By working collaboratively with Sales Marketing can enlist the help of early customers to articulate the value they have received from the product in their own words. These early customers can become spokespersons for the product and the company. This entails working with them to develop case studies and testimonials, and perhaps even grooming them to speak to journalists and analysts, or give talks at industry events.  This helps build credibility for the product.  High-profile, vocal customers who sing the praises of the product can generate buzz across the industry, helping develop brand awareness and establish credibility.

An example shows how this works in practice:

In the mid 1980’s, when Sun Microsystems was a young, virtually unknown company in a field of much larger, established names such as IBM, DEC, and  Hewlett Packard,  Marketing worked to provide the Sales team with strong messaging and a way to show the value of the product. While Sales pursued early deals, Marketing was focused on providing air cover by engaging in heavy press and analyst relations to build buzz, and grooming early customers to be spokespersons.  But the Sales team often encountered pushback from prospects who failed to understand why they should deal with an unknown company as opposed to a safe, known vendor. The Marketing VP and Product Marketing Managers immediately started going on calls with Sales to hear first-hand the issues, and improve the messaging. By the end of the first year, there was constant collaboration between the two teams, and the company was able to quickly build an impressive pipeline while its brand became better known.

In the Sun example, strong sales people worked hand-in-hand with an eager Marketing team to jointly evangelize the solution, learning from prospects and early customers, and continually honing the message while simultaneously working to build awareness and credibility. 

To ultimately generate good leads and accelerate sales, both Sales and Marketing must deal with the fact that there is no brand name recognition and no established credibility in the marketplace. Collaboration is critical for Sales to succeed, and for Marketing to provide the tools and resources needed by Sales. Each has a responsibility and a distinct role to play, involving communication and collaboration on the messaging, value proposition, product set and features - an ongoing basis.