There have always been heated discussions about the sales and marketing functions. Where do they overlap? How are they different culturally? Should they collaborate more?

They’re all common talking points for people on both side of the fence. And by ‘fence’, I mean the other side of the same office. I don’t think anyone has ever looked at, say, the relationship between IT and operations departments to quite the same extent.

So can sales and marketing be fully integrated? Should we even try? In my view this is up to each business to decide. But even if they don’t integrate there’s plenty that they can do to collaborate more than they do today.

The debate is important. Sales and marketing are both crucial showcases to the outside world for a business. Both are custodians of customer relationships. But, they have very different perspectives. To date, sales has been all about shorter-term customer wins, while marketing looks over the horizon and seeks to shift an organisation or brand’s reputation over time. I’ve seen plenty of sales teams react blankly to lofty statements about brand advocates and ambassadors from the marketing team, and not a few marketers frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm for the bigger picture amongst their colleagues in sales.

As a result, people often think sales and marketing can’t be fully integrated. I’d never go as far as saying we have the magic recipe here at LinkedIn, but what we have tried to do is integrate the teams to the extent we are both judged on the same success measures. Marketing is responsible for generating a set number of sales leads, and we quantify the impact of marketing on sales figures.

Generalisations are always dangerous and every business must work out what will work best. But here are a few suggestions for ways that sales and marketing can work together more productively.

• Social platforms are vital to both.

Social media is often the shop window and front door of a business. For sales teams it offers a goldmine of feedback on products and services, and for marketing it’s a great place to engage people with useful content. Who owns and runs the social channels is a moot point. It should be a shared endeavour.

• Great content happens when the functions collaborate.

The marketing team is a natural generator of content, but the sales team will know better than anyone what’s going to work best for customers. Sales can also help ‘super target’ content by spotting the watering holes customers are gathering at, whether on or offline.

• Both functions can share the burden of lead generation.

My guess is that whether the functions work together or not, in the future the lines will blur around how they are both judged.

It’s no longer enough for marketing to say “here’s a lead, go for it” to the sales team. The relationships between customers and an organisation are complicated and multidimensional. It’s not a one-to-one relationship anymore, but many-to-many. Everyone has a role as a brand ambassador, regardless of where they sit or their job title. I’ve met plenty of salespeople who are reluctant to put a photo on their social profiles. It’s a missed opportunity to represent and personalise the brand.

Better understanding of each of the two functions is better for everyone, not least because it improves the performance of both.

Please do share any examples of where you’ve seen sales and marketing working together and if you’ve got any tips for others I’d love to hear them.

 

By Amy Stephens, Head of Marketing for LinkedIn Sales Solutions in Europe. 

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