Should Sales be Doing Your Marketing?

To most, asking if sales should do marketing is like asking, should accounting do tech support?  It would seem a fast and furious “no” would be the correct answer.  But after some careful consideration it becomes clear that sales and marketing do have something in common, the buyer.  Marketing studies the buyer.  Sales communicates with the buyer.  The buyer creates revenue, and increased revenue is the goal.  Sales and marketing are like chocolate and peanut butter.   Huh?

Remember the Reeses Peanut Butter commercials from the ‘80’s? Two strangers are walking, one eating a chocolate bar, the other spooning out peanut butter.   Engrossed in their snacks they collide.  One person exclaims, “You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!” and the other exclaims, “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” They sample the mixture and we hear the slogan “Two great tastes that taste great together.”   Sales and marketing are “two great departments that should work together”.

Marketing defines the sales prospect and those sales prospects eventually turn into customers.  Sales professionals understand customers.  It’s ridiculous not to have a dialogue between these two departments. The sales department can use data from marketing to determine how customers want to buy.  Marketing can use feedback from sales to identify new target markets.  This symbiotic relationship will help define market segmentation, product requirements, and revenue opportunities. It will also lead to happier patrons.  And even though a partnership is desirable, burdening sales with marketing responsibilities is a mistake.

In many companies, particularly small ones, sales is asked to prospect, conduct business development, and do marketing.  For a short time that may work for a fast-growing start-up, but maintaining that structure for the long haul will ultimately stifle sales growth.  Sales needs to share information with marketing, not do the marketing.  If sales people develop the positioning, create sales tools, and track down qualified leads, how will they find time to work directly with prospects and customers?  So while working together is ideal, it is better for marketing tasks to remain with marketing, so that sales people can focus on closing.

The bottom line?  We are all salespeople.  We are all marketers.  And chocolate combined with peanut butter can make millions!

PS- Love the old commercial?  Click the photo above to see it again!