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TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse

GoD of Sales

Opinionated
Contributor
Fire Starter
+1

Fights with the marketing area

Normally I have fights with that department all the time, I would like to know if it is common or if it is my company in general, I would like to know stories of their fights if they have

Fights with the marketing area

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BourbonKing
Valued Contributor
6
VP of Sales
I'm fortunate to have an excellent Marketing partner who views her job to help us win. She defines her success vis-à-vis our success.

Where I've seen it not work is when Marketing has goals or metrics that don't align with Sales. This puts the two departments at odds with each other. Example:

Sales: this was a shitty year, we finished quota at 79%.
Marketing: this was a great year, we delivered 115% of our expected lead volume.

How can Marketing celebrate the year when Sales failed?
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
0
GoD of Sales
Here is written a business truth, Thumbs up
CuriousFox
WR Officer
3
🦊
Nuh. I just ignore them and do what I want.
jefe
Arsonist
0
🍁
This is the way.
Maximas
Tycoon
2
Senior Sales Executive
Nope, lucky you bro:)
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
2
GoD of Sales
Well,for me it is stressful
Maximas
Tycoon
1
Senior Sales Executive
Oops! didn't know, sorry:)
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
0
GoD of Sales
No problem dude
Diablo
Politicker
2
Sr. AE
We have a debate but everything has a conclusion. Wont call it a fight. What’s up with you ?
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
0
GoD of Sales
Na, This was more like a war, layoffs, unemployed employees, lawyers... nothing nice
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
2
Bravado's Resident Asshole
Marketing sucks.
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
0
GoD of Sales
I´m agree haha
sketchysales
Politicker
2
Sales Manager
Why do you fight with them? Like what's the point
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
0
GoD of Sales
Normally because when they do not reach their goal it is always the fault of the sales area
sketchysales
Politicker
1
Sales Manager
I get that i just do not see the sense in engaging in a fight. Bigger battles to win, like closing new business.
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
0
GoD of Sales
true
pirate
Big Shot
1
🦜☠️ Account Executive
I just think they have a tendency to focus on events that would be great even if they were organized by other departments... Instead of using creative powers to actually do campaigns that generated interest or supported territory growth or provided useful materials even
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
1
GoD of Sales
mmm interesting, apparently your marketing area is more like party planners
Mendizo
Opinionated
1
Sr. Director
Always hard to paint a whole function with a single brush, but unfortunately I've had more conflict with Marketing (as both Sales and Product) than not, at both medium and large companies.

My biggest issue is that Marketing and Sales always seem to be on very different targets or definitions of success. As BourbonKing mentioned, Sales might have a crap year while Marketing has a great year. At the end of the day, Sales usually is going for targets that are closer to what the C-suite cares about... revenue. So if company revenue didn't hit targets, why would Marketing be calling it a win?

Of course, it's always a balance. Sales wants Marketing to generate an plethora of qualified leads. Marketing might control messaging, but is still beholden to product truth/quality, and other inputs. There might be longstanding partnerships that even limit what Marketing can say or position. It quickly can devolve into a finger-pointing exercise.

The best thing I've found is to have Marketing and Sales leadership (usually rolling up to CMO and CRO/COO respectively) hammer out a set of common goals and metrics where they are measured and rewarded for achieving things that C-suite cares about. If it's revenue (and the usual argument is that Marketing is far away from revenue), the company needs to understand that you sometimes do have to plan longevity into the process. It's easy to use quantitative metrics that you can measure immediately, while qualitative metrics are farther down the road, but at the end of the day, the latter is what will help Marketing be more relevant. It again comes back to finding the common cause and knowing that both teams are in it together.
TheManWhoSoldTheUniverse
Opinionated
0
GoD of Sales
hey! amazing answer! I also believe that in the end it is determined whether the two areas work as a team or not
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
0
Account Executive
Sometimes

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