Oct 06 2011
Make No Mistake, Selling Is THE Key Factor In The Total Marketing Process
Far too many companies have devalued selling for far too long and some business leaders have even convinced themselves that they would do better if they did not employ salespeople – after all good products sell themselves, don’t they?
As a consequence, until very recently, salespeople have done everything possible to avoid calling themselves “A Salesman or a Saleswoman” They have developed a series of euphemisms such as: “Sales Engineer” “Account Executive” “Technical Sales Consultant” “Business Development Associate” etc. But nowadays we accept that we all sell, everyday – doctors, lawyers, estate agents, architects and politicians.
The fact remains that anyone who is in business has to sell themselves and their products, and the so called “Captains of Industry” – Branson, Roddick, Marshall, Hanson, Gates, Dell and Co. are thought to be the best salespeople in the world.
It therefore follows that the quality and success of our salespeople will ultimately determine the success of our companies. Certainly the world has become more competitive and in order to survive and stay in business we need to continually expand and develop the skill sets of our sales team.
Sir John Harvey-Jones said in his book “All Together Now” “Most companies fail not in their attempts to be innovative or creative. In this country most of them fail because they undervalue the importance of professional selling”
During a recent interview, I was asked the question: “Will professional selling ever be the same again?“ I responded: “No, of course it won’t for all the reasons I have been highlighting for a number of years. It’s an old but accurate cliché – everything changes – nothing stays the same etc.
In my view, professional selling, and the key word there is professional, is about to take on a whole new image. All of the dead and inefficient wood is being removed, and what we are going to be left with, will look a whole lot better.
As customers become smarter, more discerning, more knowledgeable and more self-sufficient, we will see a new breed of salesperson develop.
The order takers and glib talkers will no longer have a place in our sales world and in their stead will come intelligent strategic orchestrators and business advisors, looking to develop long term allies. They will have the “knowledge” and they will use leading edge technology. They will succeed because they expect to. There is no turning back now.”
In Summary:
Our commercial functions, particularly the sales team, represent our forward line, (offence) and if they are not scoring regularly we cannot possibly achieve our overall commercial objectives – i.e. nothing happens until somebody sells something and all of that investment in costly accounting software, new office equipment, expensive IT systems, glossy magazines, high-tech offices etc. will count for nothing.
We can therefore say with complete confidence, that selling really is THE key factor in the total marketing process. A company that is selling well, is doing well!
News: Excellent sales tip from Mrs Konrath today, over at Top Sales World – “How to Write a Highly Effective Subject Line” – HERE
Jonathan, as a career sales professional, I initially cheered in reading your post. Then after the euphoria passed I reconsidered.
In some sense, I think this devolves into a “mine is bigger than yours” discussion. As much as I would like to say selling is the key factor in the total marketing process, in truth, it’s impossible to say what is more important. The best sales professionals without strong marketing will struggle and vice versa.
In reality, we need to be talking about integrated marketing and selling that mirrors the way our customers want to be engaged and buy. We need to have clearly defined roles and responsibilities, where marketing and sales work as teammates.
The old model was something like a tennis match–sales on one side, marketing on the other, each hitting the ball at the other. The new model needs to look much more like a bastketball team–each position well defined, strong plays/playbook, but nimble and adabtible–getting the ball to the person with the best shot.
David,
I was compelled to re-read my own writing twice, in order to ensure that your comment referred to this article, and I think you must be confusing this piece with my article in this month’s Top Sales World magazine – “Marketing is from Venus and Sales is from Mars”
Nowhere here do I allude to any issues between sales and marketing – in fact I do not even mention the word marketing.
I urge you to read my work more thoroughly before reaching innacurate conclusions.
The whole essence of my message is to assert that sales is indeed the engine room, and as you have used a sporting analogy, please allow me stay with that theme: Will a football team with an outstanding defense, but no offense ever win a game? The best they can hope for is a draw – a tie.
On the other hand, a brilliant offense will always keep the scoreboard ticking over – they may ship a few points, but inevitably they will win.
You’ve been around a long time, although your background suggests that you have consistently worked at the top end – you made the point tonight in your FOCUS Roundtable introduction, that you work with Fortune Top 1000 companies – and yet 99% of US companies have less than 100 employees, so probably outside your experience: In which case, you need to take my word for it, if most companies don’t sell, they don’t survive!
Conversely, we both know of so many companies that have succeeded despite poor leadership; lax financial control; inadequate technical support; ineffective marketing and lousy customer care policies – simply because their sales function was so strong.
And by the way, I don’t think “the old model was something like a tennis match–sales on one side, marketing on the other, each hitting the ball at the other.” I do think it was one group acting as the players and the other as ballboys/girls.
It would please me immensely if sales and marketing could legitimise their relationship, but it is not going to happen in the near future because … well just go and read my TSW magazine column?
I hope you manage to rediscover your euphoria – try reading my post again, this time more thoroughly!
Thank you for finding the time to comment, I know how time constrained you always tell me you are.
Jonathan