Are your sales and marketing relationships on a path toward power or toxicity?
Historically, the inability to track marketing efforts and correlated results has been a major factor in misaligned sales and marketing departments. Before the internet age, marketing to customers was like setting up a blind date for your cousin because your parents had that expectation. Back then, as little as 10 years ago, marketing arranged the blind dates for sales, the cousin.
The lucky girl that went on one unsuccessful date with your cousin was just a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend. And you weren’t close with your cousin–so everything turned out alright for you, and your cousin continued on his path of frustration.
But things have changed. We are deep into the “internet age” and blind dating has turned into informed dating (it includes cyber-stalking and seemingly open, one-sided communication about interests and demographic data). In the “beyond age,” marketing is accountable for revenue and sales has greater expectations regarding marketing qualified leads. Basically, when you arrange a blind date for your cousin, he’s going to cross-reference the details you provided with OKCupid, Facebook, and the vast sea of information contained in his favorite search engine. No more getting off scot-free.
With a new outlook on dating (and on buyer behavior), it’s more important than ever to play it smart. Stop frustrating your cousin. And to play Devil’s Advocate, sales needs to be clear about his preferences in a mate.
With a new sales-marketing alignment comes a responsibility to aim higher and to create a Power Couple relationship, as the Toxic Couple is doomed for failure.
Source: InsideView Infographic
