You possibly know this situation all too intimately. You have a wonderful website complete with a great video or two. Your brand is well defined, your non digital presence and marketing are excellent and you are well positioned in the marketplace.

All these components are solidly in place YET you have not recognized a substantive increase in business (sales revenue)…and yes, you’ve “allowed” enough time to elapse so that the increase can be measured.

Sound familiar? If not, then that’s great but for many reading this post the sad truth is that they have received little, if any, ROI from their marketing endeavors.

Well, as a sales trainer that doesn’t really surprise me because, you see, marketing isn’t sales! Oh to be sure, (great) marketing is certainly required but it simply isn’t sales. Nope, you really MUST spend as much time thinking about the sales elements as the marketing unless you have the sort of business in which there is no human interaction, in which a sales process is not needed and sales strategy can be an afterthought…and who does!

In the most simplistic sense marketing lays the groundwork and foundation for selling to take place and softens the market so that the sales are easier to obtain. But at the end of the day your sales strategy is what truly enables your customers to buy.So, if you own a company or have any sort of revenue producing role in the organization:

• Make sure that there is a sales strategy that aligns with the marketing that is in place. Sales and marketing should not exist in two separate silos; they need to walk hand-in-hand.
• Determine your lead generation and sales processes. What happens when a lead comes in? How do you handle touch point management (i.e. nurturing the lead)? What happens when a sale isn’t made?  (And much much more!)
• In today’s “click to purchase” world, human sales interaction is minimal BUT if you happen to run or work in a company in which humans actually execute the selling then you must make certain that everyone that touches prospects and customers are endowed with solid sales and customer service competencies.  How well trained is your staff? How well trained are you?

It isn’t difficult to get marketing and sales to work together. It simply takes recognition that your business will do better if these two aspects of business building are in sync and sales isn’t an afterthought once all of the budget is expended on that snappy new website.

Always happy to discuss YOUR unique situation and offer suggestions.