A few days ago I read Christine Crandell’s post on Forbes about integrating sales and marketing. Although the post was nothing that hasn’t been said before, I did appreciate this sentiment:
“The cultural shift [of sales and marketing integration] begins with the development of a common language…”
But do we find a way to make that cultural shift? How do you create a common lingo, demonstrate the value of each department, and develop strategic goals across departments?
A road trip.
A really long road trip to visit a prospect or client.
Recently I’ve taken several long road trips to visit clients with a senior account executive. We’ve kept the radio off and used the time to talk business. Here are the most important things I learned:
- Salespeople are real people, too. It’s easy to get mad at some sales guy who’s complaining about our latest marketing campaign. It’s harder to get mad at the devoted husband, father, and Yankees fan who I know has a serious stake in what my office sends out. Sharing our personal stories helped us to realize that although things may get frustrating at work, we’re connected by our greater humanity, and a deeper commitment to making our company succeed.
- Participating in the sales cycle showed me what it’s like “on the ground.” It turns out that our primary marketing message (“higher return on investment”) is less important for sales-ready leads than our secondary message (“save time”). As an added bonus, being on the ground showed our sales team that marketing is invested in making their jobs easier—which in turn makes coming up with collaborative goals easier.
- We brainstormed (and agreed upon) three solid business development strategies. We found a way to align our goals and come up with creative solutions about how we were structuring our offers, our contracts, and our overall communication plan.
Sure a road trip isn’t a silver bullet to your sales and marketing woes, but it’s an improvement over another mind-numbing meeting with another mind-numbing PowerPoint.
To get the most out of your sales/marketing road trip, I’d recommend setting out these goals before going:
- When the trip’s over, be able to report 3 personal things about the other person you didn’t know before.
- Identify the primary message of your past 3 marketing campaigns, and compare them to the primary reasons a client purchased.
- Brainstorm at least three solid business development strategies you both agree on.
Happy road trippin’!
