So, on the one hand, we urge anyone and everyone to close the bridge between marketing and sales. On the other hand, we are telling you that it's all about focusing on sales? Well, yes and no. Let's get this paradox sorted out.
Winning sales is definitely about focusing on sales, but this is not meant to downplay the role of marketers. It is about defining what this focus on sales means for every department in the organisation. And if this focus on sales is right, it might even close the gap between marketing and sales.
But first things first, let's dive into the matter.
What's the game we're playing here?
It is not that companies forget about sales, but rather that they don't know how to play the sales game.
Sales is like playing tennis. Nobody cares about how many balls you hit, or services you make, how hard you hit the ball or how many miles you ran on the court. At Wimbledon, it is all about the performance: winning the game. And that's the same with winning sales.
Sales is a performance game and not an activity game. It doesn't matter how many calls you make or how many CRM entries and proposals you wrote…
Sales is about closing deals and ultimately about performance: the revenue. It is competitive, and yes, it is a zero-sum game. You either win or lose a deal. And if you can't stand the heat, don't get into the game.
Watch for the pitfalls
To perform at your top, you have to beware of the pitfalls. We encounter a few of those while working with our clients in the sales game.
Pitfall 1: managers
The biggest issue we encounter is 'managers'. Or rather the managers who think that sales is an activity game. They measure and manage their sales on silly activities and metrics. Sure, the number of calls, leads, and meetings could be indicators for management purposes, but the only relevant metric (to bother sales with) is revenue —nothing more, nothing less.
But if you insist on focusing on activities, there are two critical activities for sales: thinking and listening. So think about whom to work with, how to work it and how to win it. And never forget that listening is a massive part of winning sales.
Pitfall 2: lack of attention
The second pitfall we see is that some organisations seem to forget that every person in the company should contribute and align their activities and contribute to winning deals. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone from product development to delivery and marketing to senior management. Because no revenue means there is no money for admin, marketing, HR, etc.
Winning deals is the bloodline of your company, and everybody should ask themselves: do I contribute to winning deals, or am I blocking winning deals?
Pitfall 3: too much talking
The third big pitfall is that sales talk too much. Stop talking and start asking questions and listening. The favourite topic of your potential clients is themselves. Connect with your clients, start asking questions, and understand how you can help them.
Keep in mind: in the awareness phase (remember: 95% is not in the market if you reach out to them), nobody is interested in you, your company or your products. They are only interested in their own challenges, problems and, at a later stage, in how you can help them to solve their problems.
Easy improvement
So now we know that sales is a performance game; you can easily improve your sales game by focussing on the three main sales layers:
- Knowledge: about your market, your clients, the problems you solve, the competition etc
- Skills: sales-related skills: how do I build a pipeline, make compelling proposals, manage DMU's and navigate the deal through the clients' organisation.
- Interpersonal skills: how do I connect to a person, how do I ask the right questions properly and show genuine interest? How do I get somebody enthusiastic, and how do I create an urgency to act.
So what now?
My advice: train yourself, improve yourself, be curious about how you can improve, experiment, act, talk to peers or get a good coach or reach out to a mentor. Your companies and your commission depend on it. And it feels good to win.
But winning sales can only be done when the gap between marketing and sales is bridged. Yes, you’ve heard this many times before, but the big question still remains: HOW do you do that?
Well, that is what I’ve tried to tell you in this series of articles with the smashing title ‘Mind the Gap’. In twelve easy steps, any organisation can close the gap between marketing and sales….
In the first article, we took you from lead to deal and told you about facilitating the buyers’ journey. Then we helped you out with some good old marketing and sales alignment, followed by how to get your branding in place.
That didn’t sound too difficult now? So we took a deep dive into some more challenging topics like positioning and differentiation, the value proposition, target markets and the strict judges of the sales and marketing world: the buying committee.
By the time you got the hang of these subjects, it was time to dot the I’s and finally bridge the gap between marketing and sales by making a proper competition analysis and (almost there now) looking at your sales and engagement approach. Then we topped all this knowledge off with some nice pipeline optimization and sales enablement.
And that, dear readers, is what brought us here:
‘Winning Sales by bridging the gap between marketing and sales’.
Hope you’ve had as much fun reading this as we had writing it. Please feel free to contact me brian@redsnap.nl with any more questions.
