HIRE ME TO SPEAK
HIRE ME TO SPEAK

Sales and Marketing Working Together

I write about strategies to turn fans into customers and customers into fans. I also share ways to use real-time strategies to spread ideas, influence minds, and build business.

Worst Practices  |  Sales Strategies  |  New Rules of Sales & Service  |  Marketing  |  Best Practices

Web content drives both sales and marketing success.

But it is essential that we take just a little time to look at how the two functions differ. By making certain we understand the difference, we can close the gap between marketing and sales and grow business faster.

Marketing generates attention of the many people who make up a buyer persona, whereas sales communicates with one potential customer at a time, putting the buying process into context.

Reaching many people

It is the job of marketers to understand buyer personas—essentially groups of buyers—and communicate to these groups in a one-to-many approach. Marketers are experts at communicating to many people, and typically the potential customers they reach are not yet ready to have a sales discussion.

The marketing team captures the attention of a group of buyers and drives those people into and through the sales process. The content generated by the marketers—blogs, YouTube videos, infographics, e-books, webinars, and the like—can influence large numbers of people. Done well, with a deep understanding of buyer personas based on research, this content generates sales leads and culminates in the buying process.

Influencing one person at a time

The role of salespeople is completely different because they influence one buyer at a time when the buyers are much closer to making the buying decision. While marketers need to be experts in persuading an audience of many, salespeople excel in persuading the individual buyers. They add context to the company’s expertise, products, and services. Through them, the marketers’ content fulfills its potential at the precise moment the buyer needs it.

When the two functions work together, business grows!