Cooperation between marketing and sales – comparison with a football team

Are marketing and sales two parts of ONE team? – ‘You must be 11 friends’

Why is collaboration between marketing and sales such a big challenge in almost all companies? Don’t they actually have the same goal, which they (should) pursue or support with different means?

Just take a look at the respective definitions:

Sales:

‘Sales refers to the entire sales process of an offer (product or service).’

For me, the entire process means that the sales perspective should not just start at the ‘garden gate’ of the lead enquiry (website contact form, email, call). Together with marketing and sales, we need to look at the entire buying journey of potential customers and initiate the appropriate measures to pick up leads as early as possible. When we talk about existing customer management, it is important to implement a ‘demand detector’ together with marketing and sales, which is triggered as soon as a pain point or target condition arises in the customer company. This is where the Wasserloch-Strategy® comes into play again.

Marketing:

‘The alignment of the company with the needs of the market.’

Doesn’t that sound pretty similar and close to each other? In practice, however, you then hear from sales about marketing:

‘Marketing – those colourful picture painters – have no idea about our customers. They can do events, but that’s where it ends.’

From marketing to sales:

‘Our sales department, those marauding coffee drinkers, just drive around and ignore the leads we’ve worked so hard to generate.’

This state of affairs is no longer in keeping with the times and prevents companies from making the most of the potential of digitalisation in marketing and sales for the success of the company. They need to tear down the walls between departments, because digital transformation can only work together.

A change of perspective: Do FC Bayer, Schalke 04 or BVB Dortmund have two different teams – one for defence and one for sales? No, of course not. It’s one team that wins and becomes champion. So let’s transfer the team concept to business. As the sports reporter Sammy Drechsel called it in his book for young people published in 1955: ‘You have to be 11 friends’

What would the ‘team line-up’ be?

Our team: 1st MVC Turnover 08

• 1. Goalkeeper / data protection officer
• 2. Defender / iPaaS (Integration Platform a a Service) / AI
• 3. Defender / CRM system
• 4. Midfield / IT department
• 5. Midfield / Marketing Automation
• 6. Midfield / Marketing
• 7. Front midfield / Marketing
• 8. Front midfield / Marketing
• 9. Outside forward/outer midfielder (wing) / Sales
• 10. Outside forward/outside midfielder (wing) / Sales
• 11. Central striker / Centre forward / Distribution

On the bench: C-Level / Consultant / Coach

Our opponent: Lossia Does not go 00

• 1. Departmental boundaries
• 2. Anxiety
• 3. Loss of control
• 4. Has always been like this
• 5. Competition
• 6. Ignorance
• 7. Inconsistent data
• 8. Different goals
• 9. Different perspectives
• 10. Big ego
• 11. Different motivation

On the bench: The grandpas and the eternally yesterday’s from the reserves

As with the 11 friends of the football team, marketing and sales should also have common goals and each do their best to achieve these goals.