Marketing & Sales – Together, At Last!

At the start of 2020, I wrote a blog post entitled Trend for 2020: Sales & Marketing Working Together. The article outlines that when I spoke with CEOs and business leaders throughout 2019, they told me they were turning more and more to marketing to build more robust sales pipelines because a company can not feast on cold calls alone. Cut to: May 2020. The business climate looks a lot different than it did in January. Cold-calling a prospect can appear tone-deaf when a salesperson doesn’t really know what’s happening behind closed doors for companies. Trade shows have been canceled for the foreseeable future. And worst of all, some of our tried and true sales tactics could cause real damage to your brand.

What is sales supposed to do? Maybe you’re hearing from people in the organization who you’ve never spoken with before. “HELLO!! WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING. Sales is responsible for revenue. How can we make our numbers this year? We can’t do what we’ve always done…… HELP!!!!!!!”

Many marketing leaders’ phones are ringing off the hook these days. Suddenly, salespeople are anxious to talk and swap ideas about ways to engage prospects.

“I have an idea for an untapped audience that I’d like to try.”

“Maybe we could try this?”

“How about this as our next topic for our newsletter?”

Did it take a pandemic for sales and marketing to come together? Whatever the reason… salespeople are enlisting marketing’s help to create new pathways to customers. The reality is that face-to-face meetings may not happen again in 2020. And it’s clear that now is the time to create new avenues to customers. We can’t do what we used to do. New ideas are what will get us through this. Enter: Marketing! Put on your capes!

Marketing teams need to solve big problems and find customers in a sea of noise. Smart messaging and creative that hits the right notes has never been more important. Surgical-like precision to target audiences so your message reaches the right people has always been important, but even more now when every dollar must be defended. Sales and Marketing must work together to tailor messaging and sales targets to show results and the best possible return on investment to leadership.

So… am I a prophet? Maybe. I’m in Sales, so like salespeople everywhere, I’m also relying on SRH’s marketing efforts more than ever. Marketing has always been important to us, and with the current business climate, Marketing has a bigger role to play.