You often hear people say things like…
“Marketing generates awareness for your product or service, while sales focuses on getting people to buy it.”
“Marketing should be used to educate potential customers about your product or service, while sales should be used to convince them to buy it.”
“Marketing is about generating leads, while sales is about converting those leads into customers.”
The problem with this type of generic statements is it really doesn’t do enough to clearly define the scope of your marketing campaigns and sales tactics. It also defines the scope with certain tactics, which are used by both marketing and sales teams. They also kind of wall off each other, which is the exact opposite of what you want to do as a team leader.
What is marketing?
Simply said, marketing is any commercial activity that generates interest or gathers information about a prospect or target consumer for a specific service or product.
In a more traditional model from prior eras, a firm’s marketing plan involved developing advertisements and purchasing media space in order to have those ads seen by customers.
In the world of digital marketing, This means producing content that informs website users about how your business’s goods or services can assist with their problems. Customers who are searching for your content and visit your site to read it are known as inbound consumers. As a result, inbound marketing is the phrase that refers the tactics used to draw customers through your digital channels.
Digital marketing can still focus on brand identity and product launches, but educational content is best for building trust with your target audience.
They Ask, You Respond
The marketing function is taking responsibility for an ever-growing portion of the sales process. MIn order to make the buying process more efficient, B2B marketing teams are informing prospects about products and services so that they may move through the purchase process independently.
At Adept Creative, we advise our clients to focus all their marketing efforts on answering customer inquiries. We’ve discovered that using this method of marketing creates trust and draws in new consumers. When consumers realize that you have nothing to hide, they are less defensive and begin to establish a connection with your business. Then, when they’re ready to move ahead, they can move through the sales process swiftly since their concerns have been addressed.
I am confident that this practice will become more popular in the future. After all, individuals are now purchasing almost everything from their phone or computer. In fact, there are some statistics indicating that buyers do not want to interact with sales reps at all.
So, where does that leave your sales team?
What is sales?
Traditionally, once a firm discovered a prospect, sales took over. If an ad lured someone into a store, a salesperson followed up.
Salespeople at inbound and content marketing businesses still function in the same way, although a lot of the hard work is now done by content on the companies website. By the time a prospect is ready to talk to sales, they’ve have researched many of their concerns. They’ve also started to trust the firm if the content is effective.
Sales relies on trust
I think that trust is the currency of all business. It’s critical to have trust, yet it’s fragile, and takes time to grow. Businesses can increase trust by using their websites to build it. As a consequence, the sales process might be shortened as a result of this development.
A single negative experience might quickly undo all of the effort put in up to that point.
It is also important to have excellent salespeople operating in this system. The sales department is there at the most crucial moment for prospects as they approach a purchase.
Salespeople who are successful are capable of effectively assisting prospects in becoming clients. It’s critical that sales people be human and purposeful while customers hand over their cash.
So where does marketing end and sales begins?
We at Adept Creative generally define the marketing and sales scope as…
Marketing ends when you have created enough interest in your product or service to get the customer to agree to buy. Sales is all about closing the deal and getting the customer to buy your product or service.
Marketing is all about creating a relationship with the customer and building trust. It’s about developing a strategy that will attract customers and keep them coming back. Marketing is the process of creating awareness and generating interest in a product or service.
Sales, on the other hand, is all about closing the deal. It’s about convincing the customer to buy what you’re selling. Sales is the process of finalizing a sale and getting the customer to commit to purchasing your product or service.
Of course, there is a lot of overlap between marketing and sales. The two disciplines work hand in hand to achieve the common goal of driving revenue. But it’s important to understand the distinction between Marketing and Sales so that you can correctly allocate your resources and focus your efforts on the activities that will have the greatest impact on your business.
Looking through the boundary of where marketing and sales meets
It is important to set scope parameters between your marketing and sales teams. It is equally as important to look for insights at the boundary of where marketing and sales meet.
When you set the boundary between marketing and sales, it becomes easier to understand how each team works. It also allows you to locate the areas where they intersect, which is where you can find insights.
Insights are often found at the boundary between marketing and sales because this is where the two teams are working together to achieve a common goal. When they are working together effectively, they can learn from each other and make the entire process more efficient.
So how do you create a smooth transition between marketing and sales?
There are a few things you can do to create a smooth transition between marketing and sales:
- Establish clear goals and objectives for each team.
- Define the roles and responsibilities of each team.
- Set up systems and processes that allow marketing and sales to work together effectively.
- Train your marketing and sales teams on how to use these systems and processes.
- Monitor the performance of your marketing and sales teams so that you can identify areas for improvement.
Know that customers may have already decided to purchase before they actually do.
When you’re looking at a customer’s journey, it’s important to understand that they may have already decided to purchase your product or service before they even become self-aware of it. In other words, their decision has been subconsciously made before they even reach out to your sales
They may have seen an ad, been referred by a friend, or read some positive reviews about your product or service.
Once they reach out to your sales team, it’s the sales reps’ job to seal the deal and get them to buy.
This is where a lot of the overlap between marketing and sales comes in. The marketing team is responsible for creating those initial touch points that get the customer interested in your product or service. Sometimes that is all that is needed to commit a customer to purchase. All sales have to do is give the customer a nurturing brand experience through purchase and beyond.
Wrap around Marketing
After a customer makes a sale, it is important for the sales and marketing teams to meet once more. That is to say, the customer’s journey doesn’t end when they become a customer– it’s just the beginning.
Now that the customer is on your team, it’s up to marketing to keep them interested and engaged, while sales focuses on keeping them happy and retaining their business. This is where the concept of wrap around marketing comes in.
Wrap around marketing is the practice of continuing to market to customers after they have purchased your product or service. It’s all about creating a long-term relationship with the customer and keeping them engaged with your brand.
There are a few different ways to do this:
- Send them regular emails with updates, new products, or special offers.
- Create a customer loyalty program that rewards them for continued business.
- Offer customer support after the sale to make sure they’re happy with their purchase.
- Keep track of their buying habits and send them targeted ads based on what they’ve bought in the past.
- Make sure your website and social media accounts are up-to-date and relevant.
The key is to keep the customer engaged and interested in what you have to offer. If you can do that, they’ll be more likely to stick around for the long haul.
It’s important to define the marketing and sales scopes for your business, but it’s also important to be agile with your approach. By understanding where the two teams meet, you can develop a strategy that is more effective and efficient. Collaboration between sales and marketing teams is essential for success; let us help you create a plan that will enable both teams to work together seamlessly and achieve great results.
