Don’t Confuse Marketing with Selling
This month’s Fortune magazine has an article about how to manage your business in a recession. Like many other
articles, the writer mentions the importance of investing in marketing. “Kohl’s, the big retailer, actually spent more on marketing this past holiday season than it did last year,” writes Geoff Colvin. We’ve received several inquiries from CEOs of small and midsized companies that want to talk about implementing a marketing program to increase revenues. My first question back to them is usually a surprise. I want to know about their sales team.
- Do you have a strong sales leader?
- Do you have an established sales process?
- Do you track your pipeline?
- How many people sell in your company?
- Do you have a mix of hunters and farmers?
It’s not that we’re trying to be difficult. We just don’t want to waste your money and our time. If you don’t have a good sales team, a clear sales process, and a system to process leads through your pipeline, then spending money on marketing is going to be a waste. No deal was ever lost because a sales person didn’t have the right brochure. And (to my knowledge), no deal was ever won because the buyer saw a data sheet and yelled, “Holy smokes, lets go buy this product based on how great this data sheet looks!” (Although this would be really cool if it did happen.)
Sales Comp - a Moving Target
Elements of BD
I often get asked if I know of any best practices on how to compensate sales and business development professionals. This topic has been a moving target since the first sale of anything ever happened! How do companies balance their need for more sales against the motivations and drivers of their sales and business development people in order to get what everyone wants?
You won’t get the silver bullet in this post, however, we’ve made observations worth sharing. Part of the problem is that the One-Size-Fits-All-Sales-People Compensation Program that companies adopt creates that moving target that makes you crazy. If the “one size fits all” doesn’t work, then a more flexible structure could be explored. Read more
Zephyr Strategy offers strategic planning and practical, sales-driven marketing services to technology, telecommunications and professional services firms in the U.S. and abroad. We help companies capture new customers, keep existing clients, and grow revenues profitably.
From our strategic planning comes the need for tactics and execution. To support these tactics Zephyr offers a VMO Program (Virtual Marketing Organization) as well as project-based support.
