Everyone knows about the battle between marketing and sales, but does anyone know why we are fighting?
Marketing professionals will tell you that the Marketing department is the driving force behind sales, while sales professionals will tell you that they don’t even need marketing at all. In reality however, both departments are equally significant and are in actual fact, interdependent.
So where does this fallacy come from? This misunderstanding comes from a lack of communication… and perhaps, a little bit of ego.
Because marketing and sales do not speak the same “language”, there is often miscommunication between the two. Marketing whispers poetry while Sales screams passion. In other words, because Sales is client-facing and hands-on, they see results immediately. Marketing, however, is more behind-the-scenes and persuades, which takes time to produce results.
So, how do we translate? To Marketers: Do what you do best and market yourself. Use a bit of internal marketing to get the word out on what you are working on.
Remember, Sales do not know about all the hard work you are doing for them, because you don’t flaunt it like they do. It’s great that you are courteous, but if you want to have recognition in the workplace, you are going to have to speak up!
To Sales: Collaborate with Marketing. Tell them what you want to achieve and who your target-market is. You can greatly benefit from each other if you work together. Remember, marketing is your ally, not your enemy. If you want to gain from their influence, you are going to have to lower your voice.
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