2 Groups, 1 Goal, & 9 (plus 2) Tips

As a mar­ket­ing geek com­ing out of two weeks of sales train­ing, this post from Seth Godin’s blog rings very true in my world. The inte­gra­tion of sales and mar­ket­ing is so impor­tant — and sadly so rare. It seems that though these two groups share the goal of gen­er­at­ing rev­enue, some­thing always man­ages to get lost in trans­la­tion. Sales sees mar­ket­ing as ivory tower, know it all types, and mar­ket­ing sees sales as pushy, lazy, and overly cod­dled. Nei­ther view is accu­rate. Sales is tough. It is full of pres­sure. It is also a lot of fun. There is a real rush that comes from hear­ing the word “Yes,” and know­ing you have solved someone’s prob­lem. (and earned a com­mis­sion) Mar­ket­ing requires immense cre­ative energy, strate­gic plan­ning, and can be very rewarding…or very frus­trat­ing. Nei­ther is an exact sci­ence, and both work bet­ter with the help of the other. Get these groups work­ing together instead of in com­pe­ti­tion with one another, and you will set your orga­ni­za­tion on a track toward suc­cess. If you could only get sales and mar­ket­ing to coop­er­ate — but how? Check out Seth’s post for 9 (plus 2) tips.

Seth’s Blog: Nine things mar­keters ought to know about sales­peo­ple (and two bonuses)