Sales And Marketing Are One

Sales and Marketing are one in your customers' eyes. They don’t see the silos of your business. They see a product, a service or a solution.

The challenge is sales and marketing are functionally very different roles. Marketing manages branding, communications, events, promotions and content. Sales manages client relationships, sales opportunities and securing revenue opportunities. The roles are separate, but they’re intrinsically dependent on each other. I wrote about this in my post, "Does Sales Need Marketing?"

But when you consider your clients, they don’t care. From their point of view, they aren’t concerned about how your sales and marketing departments are aligned. They care about how you serve them.

Whole Brand Relationships

How do you develop and manage consistent client relationships across all aspects of your business? Does each brand touch point build upon the next?

The client relationship is more complex than ever before. You are building client relationships through your people, primarily the sales and service teams. And you’re also forming relationships through your website, marketing collateral, content, social media activities, PR and every other place your prospects and clients engage your company.

Each touch point has to work together to create a consistent client experience. And they have to work together to demonstrate:

• What makes your firm unique.
• What you do, and when clients should engage you.
• What your firm’s values and point of view are.
• Why your company is interested in serving your market and your clients.

When each touch point is harmonized they create Whole Brand Relationships.

Consolidate Business Development

Managing Whole Brand Relationships across multiple departments is challenging. Silos slow down communication, and create walls. And if the organization isn’t functioning as one, it’s hard to deliver a consistent client experience.

To accelerate the process of developing consistent client experiences, focus your leadership on the topic. Get your entire leadership involved in business development, and have them purposefully connect their teams to the client engagement process. When everyone is focused on the clients’ brand experience, remarkable things happen.‍

What’s your take?