For many businesses, coordinating sales and marketing
messages is a daunting task. What senior management wants to communicate to
customers is often at odds with what is actually communicated by sales and
those close to customers.
We have found this to be a common problem among many
organizations. There is a simple test to determine whether marketing and sales
are aligned. It is to compare what is stated on a company’s website, Facebook
page and marketing brochures versus what is actually being said by salespeople.
Try this with your own organization.
For instance, here is an example of poorly coordinated
messages we recently found within medium size printing company.
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Company Web Site
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Sales Force
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Full range of marketing services
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We sell printing
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We are responsive 24/7
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Company hours are 9 to 5
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Complete range of printing products and services
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We sell short run cut sheet offset and digital printing
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Full range of vertical market print solutions
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We sell brochure, booklet, catalog and direct mail printing
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Data driven personalized print solutions
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We sell direct mail with names and addresses
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A key question is, “why this even matters?”
For growing companies, getting marketing and sales messages
aligned and integrated leverages the capabilities and marketing spend of the company. With everyone on the same page, customers have
a better chance of knowing what a company is selling and what makes it different
from everyone else. We seldom see growing and successful companies in this
economic environment who are not getting this right.
Getting this right is the responsibility of senior
management. John D Rockefeller said many years ago, “Don’t blame the marketing
department. The buck stops with the Chief Executive.”