I spent over 15 years as Sales and Marketing Director for a major furniture and workplace services company. During my time, I often felt divided between the two disciplines but always concluded that it was vital that each ‘department’ had a cohesive strategy and integrated approach.
I built my career within marketing communications but soon realised that I had a natural ‘flair’ for sales – nurtured by training and continuing professional development. It is unfortunate that, all too often, marketing and sales operate in separate silos. It is proven, however, that collaboration is essential to achieve maximum results.
An integrated communications strategy is a vital component of the overall sales drive. The sales team is a great seedbed for creative communications. They are ‘at the coal face’ – this knowledge, experience and expertise should be harnessed and applied to inspire a focused and targeted approach.
Case studies and customer endorsements are great PR stories and, once again, the sales team can facilitate opportunities. Market knowledge and feedback also provides a wealth of potential news stories – delivered through the multi-varied communications channels.
The sales team needs to be kept informed about positive press coverage and highly responsive campaigns. This can provide a great ‘angle’ and discussion point for customers – “have you seen this latest feature about our company?”.
Creative content should be utilised across a wide range of media. News stories, case studies and authoritative comment can be sent directly to customers, distributed via social media and used as source material for the web site too. Many people forget that web sites need regular updating to achieve higher ranking in the search engines – an excellent tool for lead generation.
Sales and marketing are separate but very closely related disciplines. Whilst marketing is my primary area of expertise, I find it extremely useful that I have spent time in a sales role and believe this experience has provided me with a better understanding of the importance of coordination, collaboration and understanding between the two teams.
Joanna Knight is managing partner at Suffolk-based marketing consultancy, The Knight Partnership.
