Sales Process Improvement
There's no doubt that marketing plays an integral role in the sales process. Moreover, we encourage businesses to align their sales and marketing processes for optimal results. What we don't condone, however, is when businesses rely on one department for both marketing and sales.
Marketing isn't selling, no matter how promotional your tone is. There's always going to be a difference between marketing your product and converting leads with your sales team.
A recent Chicago Tribune article talks about the division between marketing and sales. According to the article, marketers often try to get involved in the sales process, and businesses should prevent that from happening:
"Unfortunately, somewhere along the small- to medium-size business path, salespeople and executive leadership have been led to believe marketing is selling. Maybe this fallacy is the result of marketing firms who attempt to justify their high prices or possibly a lack of understanding the regarding the sales process along with the word sales."
Neither your sales nor your marketing process will be efficient if the two departments overlap. If marketers try to take on the role of sales representatives, then they won't be paying enough attention to the marketing campaign.
Rather than blending the two departments together, your goal should be to keep them separate and aligned. Your marketing and sales teams should work together to provide an optimal customer experience.
Implementing sales software is one way to keep your marketing and sales teams aligned. By collecting customer data, your marketing team can create an effective campaign for your target audience and your sales representatives will understand the customer experience you're offering.
The first thing we suggest to small business owners is to keep their sales and marketing teams separate. To talk more about implementing sales process improvements in your business, or anything else, contact us today.
