If you’re a marketer and want to antagonize a salesperson, just tell them that Peter Drucker says: “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.” Why would you want to antagonize a sales person? Because you can, and they antagonize real good.
Properly understood, Drucker’s point is that marketing’s job is to make the salesperson more efficient, not redundant. The antagonism can contribute to healthy competition between sales and marketing: sales challenges marketing to develop great programs, and marketing challenges sales to close deals.
By defining the target audience, creating a clear value proposition unique to that audience and then communicating that value in advance of a sales call, marketing makes the salesperson’s job easier. But marketing doesn’t close the deal. A focused, knowledgeable, professional sales person does, especially when the product is software designed to increase the effectiveness of complex websites.
A colleague recently experienced what happens when a salesperson who lacks the qualities mentioned above fulfills a request created by effective marketing.
But before learning from his story, let’s get a refresher on how to create effective marketing programs. In a recent article in CMO called “Going Guerrilla”, Michael W. McLaughlin provides five guerrilla marketing rules that will assist marketers in professional services to boost sales.
1. Stress how your firm solves specific problems. That will get the attention of the right clients.
2. The best companies are able to create evangelists of their people. Use low-cost, high-return marketing tactics like nonsponsored speaking opportunities, e-newsletters, blogs, webinars and surveys to make your experts a part of your marketing and sales processes.
3. In professional services, clients are the richest source of new business and referrals. For that reason, focus roughly 60 percent of marketing resources on cultivating those relationships. Use 30 percent of your marketing efforts to reach prospects in your target market(s). Save the final 10 percent for building visibility in the business community.
4. The needs of professional-service clients vary too widely for generic marketing. So a critical guerrilla marketing principle applies: One size fits none. Tailor marketing to meet the precise needs of clients and your market.
5. Answer the tough questions. Before using resources for any marketing program, ask these questions: Why do we need this program? Is it aligned with client needs? What are the desired results? How will we measure effectiveness? How will the company be involved in rolling it out? Is there a better way to use these resources?
Great suggestions. Now let’s see what happens when the sales rep doesn’t follow the script.
My colleague was sourcing web software in a crowded space in which there were little opportunities for differentiation. The situation called for due diligence, so he prepared a detailed RFP and then contacted key vendors.
One company had managed to stand out by securing a high rating in a respected industry study, and my colleague was suitably impressed by the focused, marketing explanation featured on the vendor’s website regarding how the product would solve his specific problems. Textbook marketing up this point, with a rep receiving: a highly qualified lead complete with champion, timeframe and budget; decision-criteria set favoring the vendor’s solution; positive brand awareness.
Here’s what happened when my colleague contacted the salesperson:
· The salesperson refused to respond to the RFP: the product’s features would sell themselves in a demo and the product was priced to “own the market” (yes, he put that in an e-mail). In other words, even a minimum level of sales effort was superfluous.
· A refusal to allocate a development resource for the requested demo. Because the rep judged the sales value to be too low, he thought it best to utilize a service technician instead (yes again on the e-mail communiqué).
· Following an impressive demo, in which the technician suggested to my colleague that a brief conversation with a developer would be beneficial, the sales rep prevented that conversation from taking place because the sales value was too low (written in an e-mail? Oh yeah.)
· After this antagonism, my colleague still saw enough value in the software to schedule a conference call between the six-person purchasing team and the sales rep to finalize a price. The rep issued an electronic invitation for a time that suited him… and then missed the call.
Guess who didn’t get the sale.
Unfortunately, the experience has left my colleague wishing the sales role was superfluous. Or non-existent.
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