Comments on: Leads as Canaries in a Coal Mine

By: Mac McIntosh

Mac McIntosh — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:23:44 +0000

Robert, for a different take on the subject of sales and marketing integration, check out my Sales and Marketing Wish list at
http://www.sales-lead-experts.com/tips/articles/wish-lists.cfm
Regards,
Mac
mcintosh@sales-lead-experts.com

By: Robert Lesser

Robert Lesser — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:07:51 +0000

Thanks all for the comments. The tally has reached 15 signs with a number of great comments on addressing the underlying issues.
As Adam Needles says, let’s keep the dialog going.

By: Kunal Kripalani

Kunal Kripalani — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:40:39 +0000

Robert, you’ve clearly highlighted the need to distinguish people in different stages of the buying cycle and meet their specific needs.
Also, this post highlights the importance of not being delusional. Sometimes its easier to focus on meaningless metrics because that’s all that is the extent of the accomplishment. Ego, and a desire to save one’s neck comes into play.

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:06:13 +0000

Hey Robert, this is an excellent top ten list. I used to work in Inside Sales and was always frustrated with our marketing department, it never seemed like their objectives were in line with ours. Maybe a solution would have been a commission system for the marketing department as well. There should have been better communication by both departments to be fair. I thought your #1 point was hilarious, thankfully I've never seen it get to that point. I found you through Twitter and am now following you, we are @toptentopten. You can cross-post this to our site http://www.toptentopten.com/ and link back to your site. We are trying to create a directory for top ten lists where people can find your site. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.

By: Seamus Walsh

Seamus Walsh — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:11:46 +0000

Even here the finger pointing continues. It’s no wonder in bad times marketing is the first cut, followed by a culling of the sales ranks.
Adam, to your point we ALL should of been talking about this way before the economy hit the skids. Perhaps this “kick in the pants” will give us the wake up call, “everybody sells.”

By: Adam Needles

Adam Needles — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:31:48 +0000

Here’s another one: No one bothers to do any math on the ROI that various lead sourcing/nurturing combinations yield. So there is no real, objective way to say whether marketing adds more or less value in the demand generation process than other channels sales might tap.
This one came out of some feedback several senior sales people gave me for a related blog post I did this past Thursday. Did an interesting 2×2 chart to assess the various scenarios of how sales views marketing.
FYI – if you’re interested in this chart/piece: http://www.silverpop.com/blogs/demand-generation/viewing-salesmarketing-misalig.html
Thanks for driving this dialogue, Robert. It’s important to be talking about this as marketers right now. The sales and marketing roles are so quickly changing, and that creates an opportunity to re-define the relationship.

By: Miles Austin

Miles Austin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:12:27 +0000

Robert, You must have been looking over my shoulder all these years. You have compiled a great list that I found myself smiling or reacting to after each item with a “that’s true” comment.
Another one that I would add to the list is: Sales and Marketing Leadership compete against each other to claim credit when things are going well, and blame the other when expectations are not met. There seems to be a “one must win and one must lose” mentality between the two and with executive leadership. I recommend that both roles should be connected at the hip and what happens to one happens to the other. Most would acknowledge that when sales are rolling along ahead of plan that BOTH sales & marketing are in sync.

By: Gary Katz

Gary Katz — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:35:09 +0000

Great post. Here’s another one. A marketing lead disqualified by sales ends up purchasing from the competition within 24 months.
Now we have the unlucky 13.

By: Robert Lesser

Robert Lesser — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:39:08 +0000

Thanks for the input Jonathan – that gives us a dozen!

By: Jonathan Kranz

Jonathan Kranz — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:35:01 +0000

Good stuff. Two more: 1) Sales fails to acknowledge results that evolved out of marketing efforts (similar to your number 9). 2) Marketing fails to distinguish lukewarm responses from genuinely qualified leads (similar to your number 3).