Sales vs Marketing: Collaboration or Failure?

Sales vs Marketing: Collaboration or Failure?

The alignment of sales and marketing is crucial for the success of any business. This point has been reiterated time and time, but some still need to grasp its significance. It is estimated that 90% of startups fail, and one of the main reasons is the need for more collaboration between sales and marketing teams.

I have seen numerous posts about the perceived differences between sales and marketing, with salespeople feeling under more pressure than their marketing counterparts. This "us vs them" mentality creates a toxic environment that is harmful to both professionals and the business as a whole. The truth is that both functions are critical, and they need to work together to achieve success.

Marketing must provide the sales team with high-quality, actionable MQLs, enabling them to hit their numbers. This requires a deep understanding of each other's roles and how they can work symbiotically. When sales and marketing teams work in alignment, the pressure is lifted, and both functions can achieve their goals.

My experience has shown that an aligned sales and marketing approach leads to success. To ensure this alignment, startups and businesses that want to scale should have sales and marketing functions reporting to one person. This person needs to have equal experience in sales and marketing and also product management. By having a single person responsible for the sales and marketing strategy, any deviation from the strategy can be swiftly addressed.

In conclusion, it is time for businesses to understand the importance of aligning sales and marketing teams. They must work together to create a cohesive force for success.

I encourage those who are struggling with this alignment to take action.

I offer a free 60-minute 1:1 session to help businesses understand how to align their sales and marketing teams for success. https://lnkd.in/emMjKSt5

Remember, the key to success is working together.

Author

Andy Hamer

Fractional Chief Commercial Officer

BA (Hons) Marketing Engineering FCIM

Building a business based on disruptive technologies can be a challenging task; I'm passionate about helping customers find solutions to improve their businesses and increase profitability while minimizing risk.

With a proven track record of delivering disruptive technologies to market in the UK and globally, my diverse portfolio of experience in commercial, sales, marketing, and operations allows me to offer consultancy services that align businesses for success.

Think of me as your personal “Google Maps” for business, processing and making sense of the overwhelming amount of information and variables in the business world to help you navigate your journey. I've worked with various medium-sized businesses and start-ups, including CodeBook, Xinaps, Invicara, XYZ Reality, and Archdesk, helping them to grow and scale.

I've also worked with major technology companies such as IBM, DEC, Apple, Toshiba, Panasonic, and global services businesses like ATT, BT, CSC, NTT, KDD, and Deutsche Telecom to understand the opportunities for new product and services based on new technologies.

My consultancy services are founded on commercially aligning businesses for success, and I offer them in-person, remotely, and in a hybrid format to clients in the UK and internationally.

Your business is my business, and I'm committed to working with you to help your business scale and grow by developing an aligned commercial-operational strategy.

Don't just take my word for it - let my clients speak to my expertise and approach:

"We discussed our business opportunities with him. He is among the few knowledgeable people about the AEC industry and its needs and is a great guy for marketing questions and processes."

"Andy brought great insight to my business with ideas on improving processes and using technology. We've also had several strategy sessions to examine how we can approach the market more dynamically by offering better