The Accidental Adversaries: When Sales and Marketing Wage an Unintentional War

In many companies, there is an inherent tension between sales and marketing. These two essential functions often become accidental adversaries, ultimately hurting the organization's overall goals.

The Seeds of Discord

This conflict isn't born of malice. Rather, it stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of each other's roles and priorities. Here's how this disconnect manifests:

• Misaligned Goals:?Sales teams are driven by immediate results—closing deals and hitting quotas. Conversely, marketing focuses on long-term strategies—brand building, lead generation, and nurturing prospects. This divergence in timelines creates friction.
• The Lead Blame Game:?"The leads you provide are garbage!" exclaims the frustrated salesperson. "You don't follow up effectively!" retorts the weary marketer. Finger-pointing and a lack of accountability have become commonplace regarding lead quality and conversion.
• Siloed Thinking:?Sales and marketing often retreat into their departmental bubbles, oblivious to the challenges and workflows of the other team. This breeds a lack of empathy and a failure to see the bigger picture.

The Casualties of War

The fallout from the sales vs. marketing conflict is significant and far-reaching:

• Missed Opportunities:?Without a unified approach, leads fall through the cracks, potential deals evaporate, and customer journeys become disjointed.
• Wasted Resources:?Both teams end up duplicating efforts, spending time and money on redundant or misaligned campaigns.
• Lower Morale:?The constant bickering and tension erode trust and create a toxic work environment, draining employee enthusiasm.
• Inconsistent Brand Messaging:?If sales and marketing aren't on the same page, the company's image and value proposition dilute and confuse customers.

The Path to Reconciliation

The good news is that this conflict doesn't have to be a permanent fixture of your organization. You can turn accidental adversaries into powerful allies with conscious effort and a few strategic shifts. Here's how to embark on this peacemaking mission:

1. Build Bridges with Communication

Open, honest, and regular communication is the bedrock of healing this rift. Implement the following:

• Joint Meetings:?Don't just relegate sales and marketing to separate status updates. Bring them together for collaborative brainstorming, pipeline reviews, and campaign planning.
• Cross-Functional Training:?Encourage team members to shadow each other – let marketers sit in on sales calls and invite sales reps to marketing strategy sessions. This fosters understanding and appreciation for each other's work.
• Feedback Loops:?Don't let feedback be a one-way street. Create mechanisms for sales to share insights on lead quality and for marketing to get input on which content resonates most with prospects.

2. Forge United Goals

Misaligned goals are a recipe for disaster. Shift the focus to a shared vision:

• Collective KPIs:?Instead of separate metrics, develop KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for which both sales and marketing contribute and are held accountable. This could center around overall revenue, customer acquisition cost, or win rate.
• Align Incentives:?Create a compensation structure that rewards collaboration by linking bonuses or commissions to achievements that depend on joint sales and marketing success.
• A Single View of the Customer:?Break down data silos and invest in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that provides both teams with a 360-degree view of the customer journey.

3. Process as Peacekeeper

Clearly defined processes and workflows prevent chaos and finger-pointing:

• Lead Definitions:?Mutually agree on what qualifies as a marketing-qualified lead (MQL) and a sales-qualified lead (SQL). This eliminates the dreaded blame game.
• Lead Nurturing Playbook:?Outline the steps and handoff points for nurturing leads—who does what, when. Automate as much as possible to streamline the process.
• Content Collaboration:?Establish a system for sales to request content and for marketing to get feedback on what's working in the field.

Accidental Archetype

Archetypes play a crucial role in guiding the development and sustainability of marketing strategies. These archetypes provide valuable frameworks for understanding and addressing systemic challenges that affect marketing outcomes. By recognizing and leveraging these archetypes, organizations can improve their marketing strategies and achieve long-term success in a dynamic marketplace.

One common archetype is the Accidental Adversaries archetype, which occurs when departments or teams unintentionally work against each other, resulting in decreased efficiency and limited collaboration. To address this, organizations can foster cross-functional communication and collaboration, encourage shared goals and objectives, and implement processes that promote collaboration and coordination. This archetype helps organizations identify and rectify internal conflicts, leading to more effective marketing strategies.

How Business901 Works:

If you want to align your company around Customer Value as a core strategy, you should implement a specific initiative to achieve this. Business901's Managing Customer Value program enables you to implement the program effectively with minimal disruption to your existing processes and resources. It also gives you the skills required to manage that program effectively and becomes a strategic asset from which your customers and company will benefit.?We can act as a teacher, consultant, strategist or implementer. The program is designed around specific milestones and time frames to meet your outcomes. A starting point:

1. Designing and Developing Your Program
2. Training and Educating Your Team
3. Manage the Program's Healthy Development
4. Establishing and integrating a Customer Value program.

Please get in touch with me on LinkedIn to arrange an introductory session about Customer Value.