Traditionally, there has always been a divide between the sales and marketing functions of an organisation. Sometimes these are because of ideological reasons and sometimes they are a result of personality clashes – and other times, no one is entirely sure what the divide is, other than that it exists and overtly so! But with the world changing and routes to markets converging, it’s imperative that sales and marketing (and arguably, sales, marketing, PR and communications) all work far more closely together, as integrated functions with the same over-arching objectives.

Learning from Other Cross-Functional Departments
It wouldn’t be the first time either that two differing functions have learned to work together in organisations. Look at product designers, who have learned to work with manufacturing and production at the start of creative process. They understand the constraints, possibilities and opportunities around the practicalities of production and use them to help refine their design ideas. Working means less time and effort is wasted and leads to increased value for the end customer.

Time to Move On
Sales and marketing teams have the same opportunity. It’s time to move away from the blame game – where marketing blames sales for poorly executing its strategic plans and sales blames marketing for poor pricing or other decisions in the marketing mix which make the product difficult to sell. All too often, the two functions fail to notice each other’s strengths and focus on the negatives. The source of this strife is often found to be both economic and cultural. In the current climate, the economic argument can become all the more compelling. When both departments are competing for budget, marketing believe that they require the most in order to execute planned campaigns to acquire and retain customers and sales feel that investment in their front-line sales people would be the wiser move.

The Impact of Not Changing
Such divisions damage the company. Departments that are out of sync waste time, energy and resources. Time spent warring with each other also saps creativity, spark and passion and encourages talent to leave. With business facing more challenges than ever, there’s an imperative to shake up old ways of doing things and embrace new approaches. This is one of those new opportunities that cannot be ignored.

The Potential
Conversely, for organisations that get it right, the benefits are considerable – the cost of sales becomes lower as market-entry costs decrease. Sales can have a view of when marketing should be producing communications and promotional activities and shore up their resources to capitalise on them. Each function can listen to the viewpoint of the other and act accordingly and cohesively.

There are also cultural advantages. Marketers tend to be data driven and analytical. Usually more formally educated, they will be project focused and ruthless about cutting projects which fail to perform. To sales people, however, this analysis and performance doesn’t look like genuine action, as it takes place in the office. Sales people spend their time talking and engaging with customers.

They’re skilled at building relationship and live for sales. Managed well, the two different approaches can learn to co-exist and the organisation can reap the benefits of both. For example, sales reminds the business of the importance of actions, achievement and targets every day. Marketing reminds the business of the longer-term objectives and how to gain competitive advantage.

Finally, economic advantages may be possible. A joined-up team may be able to shed duplicate support functions to free up budget. Closer working on cross-functional projects means quicker outcomes and lower costs. Clearer decision making and a shared view reduces squabbling over budgets and helps to create one single plan.

How to Manage the Two Together
It’s clear that there are potential benefits to be realised by integrating the two teams. Firstly, education is crucial. Sales and marketing teams tend not to understand what the other does. So put cross-functional groups in place to work on proactive, positive activities, such as planning for a series of trade shows, rather than leaving meetings for conflict-resolution situations. Get both teams together on joint training and planning, so they begin to integrate naturally. Consider sharing structures, rewards and management systems as well. There will be fewer boundaries and staff across the teams will begin to cross-skill and become more rounded. A shared budget can also help greatly and will slowly build a shared mentality.

Improved communication is also critical, as are controls and processes that involve people from both teams. For example, it can be agreed that marketing material will not go to print until the sales representative has signed it off. Also, you could move the teams physically together, so they interact and communicate naturally within the office. Management will certainly be key in implementing the changes and helping to build a cohesive, high-performing culture where the customer remains at the heart of all business activity, rather than internal divisions.

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26th April 2012, Reading, Berkshire.

Attending events and networking is a key part of your sales role and honing this very effective skill to a high standard will keep you in business for the rest of your career. There are 9 stages to effective networking; at this interactive workshop you will experience 2 of these steps…

For the full story please visit the ISMM website.

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1st March 2012, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire

The messages delivered through TV & magazine advertising, junk mail, telesales and every other marketing channel have led our prospects to run away. They now hide behind spam filters, voicemail and gatekeepers so they are all but unreachable with our ‘unique’ offerings. Even if we do get through to them they won’t be paying attention.

It can however be different. Instead of you selling, it could be them buying. Instead of you shouting to be heard, it could be them listening.

For more information please visit their website.

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The Bank of England has claimed that although the UK economy will “zig-zag” in and out of growth this year, it is heading in the right direction.

In the latest quarterly inflation report, the Bank defended previous forecasts for low growth ans falling inflation but predicted fewer risks of recession than in previous months.

Sir Mervyn King did however warn that the UK economy still faced “choppy waters” and added there was no easy remedy to the consequences of the financial crisis.

The Bank appeared to endorse market assumptions that interest rates will be held at historic lows of 0.5% until 2014, a move which will please homeowners but anger savers.

Sir Mervyn said: “We can take some reassurance from the fact that inflation is now falling. But we are steering a course through choppy waters, and many people are experiencing difficult times.”

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Nothing is more important to prospecting – other than actually doing it – than the quality of your opening statement, according to blogger Sam Parker. In person or over the phone, windows of attention are typically slammed shut in less than 10 seconds. This means you have to maximize the impact of every word, syllable, and pause in your lead off statements. They need to be works of art – compelling to the extreme degree.

Read the full article on the Just Sell website.

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Everything in sales is changing at the moment, and no one is really sure which way it’s going, the only thing that we can be certain of is that it’s an exciting time.

In order to prepare you as best we can for the year ahead we’re taking a look at some of the emerging trends that we believe will be big next year in the sales world and the impact they will have on hiring.

Selling to people
The next year will see a change in the way sales teams sell. People will be at the centre of sales strategies, with the necessity for individuals to change from being perceived as salespeople. Instead, they will need to portray themselves as business partners who can provide ideas and solutions.

Dominic Quirk, Director of Advancing People, a recruitment company that specialises in hiring sales people says that there will be a bigger onus on business development in 2012. Clients can find out a lot about products or services online so many sales that were closed face-to-face will fade out. This means that field sales teams are likely to decrease over the coming 12 months.

Instead, sales teams need to be able to advise how the product/service will aid the growth of a business rather than providing only small details. This means sales people will need to learn new skills in patience, listening, creative problem solving and dealing with ambiguity and complexity in order to bring the sale from the first discussion and lead the client through the process.

Sales skills
In a tough climate to get that job, you need ensure your sales skills are sharp. Your product knowledge and presentation skills will need to be learned, practiced and polished. These fundamental abilities are at the core of every good sales person. It is imperative that you get them right if you are to be successful in 2012. If you can work on two or three skills a week you will greatly improve your chances of employment next year.

Sector-specific knowledge
Sales roles will be more prevalent in business areas that are seeing growth. Dominic Quirk says: “In particular with our clients, were expecting growth within the IT sector. They are in a good position to grow so we should see an increase in sales roles. Also, an increase in recruitment as things begin to lift, the recruitment companies will need to deal with that. Construction sales could have a bit of a turnaround as well.”

Dominic Quirk adds: “Along with generic sales skills, we’re seeing clients want more sector-specific experience.” Gaining knowledge of the sector will help sales people as they will become aware of how the client fits into the bigger scheme of things.

Coaching
A few years ago, there was a high demand for sales management roles, which meant that there was a focus on retention rather than acquisition. However, due to the economic climate, businesses want new clients and therefore sales management roles are hard to come by. Dominic Quirk, agrees saying: “Manager roles are the least available. They are a luxury for companies that need people to bring in new business, not just look after the ones that they already have.”

For sales managers to succeed in this difficult climate they need to be able to provide coaching to their staff in order to improve the bottom line. A trend in sales training seems to be an emphasis on neuroscience. Sales managers need to make sure that in these tough times, with increased pressure on their sales team to meet targets; their people do not burn out. Sales managers need to have a sound knowledge of how the brain works and the reasons behind our feelings and ultimately, how to master those feelings.

Closer links to marketing
Sales will see more collaboration with other departments including HR and in particular marketing. As marketing changes to include more data collection, sales teams will need to be able to interpret and use this data to their advantage. New customer groups will emerge and the only way to find them and know how to do business with them will be for the sales team to work closely with the marketing team to make sure the appropriate marketing approach is taken. Therefore, a useful skill for sales people to develop would be the ability to ability to position the same brand in different ways for different audiences.

In general, sales people will need to start thinking creatively in order to gain those difficult new sales. The old tried and tested methods unfortunately no longer have much impact. But this does offer an exciting opportunity for sales people to develop skills in new areas.

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“Great moments are born from great opportunities,” said the late Herb Brooks, one of the world’s most famous hockey coaches. According to blogger Jeff Beals, Brooks certainly seized opportunity during his career. He agreed to coach the 1980 US Olympic team that beat the “unbeatable” Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York during the famous “Miracle on Ice” game on the way to winning the gold medal. It was a modern-day “David vs Goliath” matchup. Many coaches would refuse such an overwhelmingly difficult job. In fact, several did.

Read the full article on the Eyes on Sales website.

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CRM and salespeople are in a love-hate relationship – in that CRM loves salespeople, but salespeople hate CRM, according to MyCustomer.com.

One of the most common reasons cited by organisations for the failure of their CRM systems is a lack of adoption by the sales team. Data isn’t inputted. Records aren’t kept up to date. And the value of the whole system is subsequently undermined.

For more information visit MyCustomer.com.

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I’ve been wanting to write this article for a while but it has never been the right time. Ideally I’d like to do a series of articles on the daily deal / group buying space as it is still a fascinating model and still an early market sector. I must be one of very few people, perhaps the only one in Europe, who has been involved in co-founding and running a daily deal site on one hand and then flipped to run a company that sells a product and service on the other.

For more information visit Techcrunch.com.

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There is a saying, mostly used in the world of athletics; “You can lose with great people but you cannot win without them.” According to blogger Tony Cole, clearly this theory applies to many competitive situations, not the least of which is business. As in athletics, winning in business starts with hiring the right people for sales and sales management.

For more information visit the Eyes on Sales website.

Photo by Images of Money

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