In
Part
1 of this article, we asked whether marketing and sales should be merged into
a single function in enterprise software organizations. While we heard some dissenting voices, by
and large the consensus was that marketing and sales should remain separate, as
they are in most enterprise software companies today.
So here
we are again, left with the age-old questions of how we keep the two functions
separate yet connected, and what specific roles should marketing and sales play
when it comes to lead generation, a point of frequent contention in almost
every company.
I spoke with Dave McNamara, a high-tech
veteran who has held senior marketing and sales positions with both large and
small companies, and is currently Director of Business Partner Sales at
Application Security, Inc.
“The rub between sales and marketing
always comes down to lead generation,” says Dave. “Let me give you some of the philosophy that our CEO uses at
Application Security, Inc., which is quite effective.”
The CEO’s message to sales is: ‘Never
tell me you are not hitting your numbers or your pipeline targets because
marketing doesn’t give you leads. It is just not an acceptable excuse. Get out
and sell, pick up the phone, generate your own leads, develop your own
territory, build and deliver your own direct marketing capabilities. You can expect some leads resulting from
marketing efforts, but you cannot rely on them.’
At the same time, the CEO leans heavily
on marketing to maximize the quality and quantity of leads within the confines
of their budget. So in essence, both
organizations are driven to produce leads, but no one can point to the other to
blame if they don’t hit their targets.
Dave points out that this approach works
well for Application Security because the market is relatively immature. “There is no saturation issue to deal with,
so the world is your oyster,” says Dave.
“It would be tougher to get salespeople to develop their own leads if
eight out of ten people they called on already had a comparable solution.” This is probably the situation for most
young enterprise software companies; if it’s not, you’re probably not in the
right market to begin with.
Amit
Bendov, Senior VP of Product Marketing at
ClickSoftware, has spent most of his
career in technical and marketing roles, but has always been intimately
involved in sales efforts. Amit has a knack
for really understanding customer pain points and clearly articulating a vision
for a solution, a quality that has been the tipping point in closing many deals. Most recently, Amit spent a short stint as
acting VP of Sales. You can see why his
perspective carries such a unique insight.
“Marketing
should be the driving force behind the company,” says Amit. “Marketing’s role is to define the company’s
target market, help grow the overall market, and position the company to be a
leader within this market. Sales is
essentially ‘marketing’s last mile’, to borrow a phrase from the utility
business, carrying the marketing direction into specific customer engagements.”
Keeping
this philosophy in mind can help define the roles of the two organizations when
it comes to lead generation. Says Amit:
“For an enterprise software company with a finite target market [which I
believe is always the case if the company is positioned correctly - Eran], the
most effective way to sell is by targeting specific accounts. Some salespeople have a tendency to go after
any lead. If both functions are doing
their jobs correctly, marketing can help sales by pointing them towards
accounts where they have a better likelihood of success.”
“It is sales’
job to create the dialogue,” he adds. “Marketing
can provide sales with tools and targeted messages to develop the dialogue and
overcome the inventible obstacles during the sales process.”
Bob
Lamkin of
TVM, a technology-focused venture
capital firm, further emphasizes the role of marketing in the sales process: “It is not uncommon to see young enterprise
software companies missing sales goals because some sales cycles have stalled
and are taking longer than planned. Crafting
targeted messages for specific sales situations is probably the most powerful way
for marketing to help move these sales cycles forward. You don’t want salespeople to reinvent the
wheel for every sale. When a prospect
raises an issue, it is a positive sign of interest. If it takes a salesperson too long to respond, or if the response
is not focused on the buyer’s issue, the momentum is lost. It is also a way for marketing to help the
company communicate a unified message, both inside the company and out to the
market.”
In
addition to sales messages and tools, both Amit and Bob see more ways in which marketing
can help sales. “Marketing can create
initial interest and awareness, so the sales person doesn’t have to start
completely uninitiated,” says Amit, “but it’s the salesperson’s job to start a
more focused dialogue to further qualify the fit of the account and create the
motivation for the buying decision. Since
the sales cycle in enterprise software is very long, marketing can assist with
ongoing touch points along the way.
Things such as customer success stories, webinars, and industry-focused
newsletters help strengthen the company’s image and reinforce the sales
message. Again, this only works if the
salespeople are going after accounts that fall within the company’s target
market as defined by marketing.
Otherwise, these marketing touches can confuse the prospect.”
Listening
to Amit, Bob, Dave, and others that spend their days in the
trenches of marketing and sales, I can see a pattern for collaboration that
seems to work. Not a perfect formula,
but a work in process. In my mind, this
conversation is far from being over, but as an interim summary, here are some
of the concepts that seem to work:
- Some overlap is good if nobody
expects the other to do the job.
The concept of both marketing and sales working to
generate leads seems to work, as long as they do not each expect the other to
do the job. While marketing should be
measured on generating target market touch points (see The
Marketing Dashboard article), sales should generate their own leads and
treat any marketing activity as complementary.
Having both marketing and sales go after similar targets
without annoying the customer requires some level of synchronization. In most cases, working off a joint database
(dare we say CRM?!) and a minimal dose of planning and consideration will do
the trick.
- Ongoing marketing touches can
support the sales process.
This only works if the salespeople are going after
accounts that fall within the company’s target market, as defined by
marketing. Otherwise, these marketing
touches can confuse the prospect.
- Marketing must help the company
transition from initial
the heroism to a repeatable process.
Every company that has seen any initial success has at
least one very good salesperson that found a way to convince some customers to
buy into the company’s solution. As the
company grows, marketing must capture this knowledge and turn it into successful
selling tactics and messages that can be used by the expanded sales force.
- It all boils down to people.
Good salespeople will find the right way to work with
marketing and leverage on it.
Conversely, good marketing people will find the way to both learn from
sales and help the sales process.
However, it is up to the company’s leadership to make
marketing and sales create synergy rather than internal squabble. A strong message from the CEO, such as in the
case of Application Security, can set the stage for collaboration. Otherwise, it is up to the sales and
marketing chiefs to agree on a framework for cooperation that works best for
the company.
More
ideas? Other things you have seen
working? Other things you would like to
find out about?
Let me
know!
