Getting sales and marketing to talk to each other may feel like torture, but it has never been more critical – especially for the more than 5 million mid-market industrial and B2B companies in the U.S.

The digital age and a host of technology developments have exposed four major flaws in traditional B2B marketing practices:

• Lack of coordination between brand, sales/marketing and digital activities

• Dedication to sales at the expense of marketing

• The slowness of firms to focus their online voice

• Failure to recognize that the internet has changed the sales dynamic

B2B companies are struggling to leverage the internet to sell and grow. Unlike consumer product companies, they’ve been slow off the mark in the digital race due a traditional but flawed rationale that branding and digital communications can’t really help their ‘relationship’ style of selling.

What’s become glaringly obvious is that three core marketing functions – brand, sales/marketing and digital communications – don’t behave as if they have anything in common. Worse, they don’t work together to build equity, share of mind, customer loyalty, or sales for B2B enterprises.

The open secret always was that sales and marketing were never really very integrated. In some firms, they didn’t even like or talk to each other. Not to mention that in many B2B firms, ‘sales and marketing’ actually means ‘sales.’

But because the internet has made company ‘walls’ ever more transparent, there are few secrets. Employees complain, whistle blowers whistle, bloggers gossip, e-mails get forwarded, the news media investigates, and your customers actually know all about you – your product benefits and even your prices – before you ever hit their door. So what are you actually selling?

When a company’s brand, its sales force, and its digital activity aren’t in lockstep, customers notice. At best, customers scratch their heads at this lack of coordination; at worst and more commonly, firms are losing credibility, customer satisfaction and opportunity because they can’t get their act together.

In 2014, Forbes Insights published, Breaking Down Marketing Silos: The Key to Consistently Achieving Customer Satisfaction and Improving Your Bottom Line.

Forbes noted that the challenges with marketing silos mean:

1. Each silo may have its own brand vision, creating a disjointed experience and message for the customer.

2. Team incentives may motivate some team members to exploit and damage the brand in order to boost short-term sales.

3. Poorly integrated teams suffer from inadequate cooperation.

4. Silo interests stand in the way of programs that require scaling.

5. Key growth areas such as digital are not scaled because they are dispersed across silos.

6. Success in one silo is leveraged slowly into others, or not at all.

And not listed, but in the mix: Inconsistent customer experience across divisions and functions.

The good news is that with the right market data, the marketing function is uniquely positioned to lead the charge for integration in the name of better service to the customer. Forbes pointed out why marketing is primed for a leadership role in integration:

1. Marketing brings an outside point of view.

2. Marketing can articulate the unique truth of the company and what differentiates it within the marketplace.

3. Marketing can communicate the product and value-why products are relevant to customers in different ways, identifying segmentation in the market.

4. Marketing creates compelling stories for rallying employees and making an emotional connection with customers.

5. Marketing is a strategic seat at the table; there is no other department that can see such a company panorama and bring those perspectives together.

To overcome the silo issue, the report concludes by offering best practices for CMO’s:

1. Replace competition and isolation among silos with communication and cooperation.

2. Consolidate when necessary.

3. Act as a facilitator, establishing frameworks, encouraging collaboration through teams and knowledge hubs, and upgrading marketing talent.

4. Think like a consultant: create company-wide insights, train marketing talent and participate in strategy development.

5. Secure access to the C-suite. Teradata found that marketers with executive responsibilities are almost twice as likely as others to believe that there are no barriers to interdepartmental integration.

6. Force integration. In Teradata’s study, marketers say the best way for marketing to become more intertwined with other functions is to set up integrated processes.

For some firms, these are lofty marketing ideals. But there are practical steps smaller companies can take to force different thinking and action. But there are practical steps smaller companies can take to encourage different thinking and action. One is to use research and market data strategically – know the customer better than anyone else. A second step is to stop planning functionally and start planning via a ‘communications & experience canvass.’ What does the customer need to feel, see and hear? How do we ‘behave the brand?’ Who is responsible for delivering that? What are the methods for delivery?

In short, turn the silos sideways. With this framework, suddenly a lot more people see and serve their responsibility to serve the customer – including functions such as accounting, help desk, order fulfillment and e-commerce managers, and the c-suite.

Though Marketing and Sales must go hand-in-hand to achieve any positive growth, in reality it is mostly the reverse. While bad marketing for a good product can be as disastrous as taking a joy ride in a sabotaged aircraft, poor turn over need not necessarily be blamed on unrealistic marketing policy alone.

Before delving deeper into the subject it needs to be mentioned here that though there is a lot of relationship between the two, but it can be safely stated that ‘Marketing’ is a much wider term than ‘Sales’. Sales are basically a part of Marketing. In other words, a company has a marketing policy, and sales is one mean in which the company tries to meet its marketing plans.

But ironically there is often a conflict between these two departments. The Marketing people can feel the pulse of the industry and provide leads, but are often rebuffed by the Sales people who argue that their ‘feelers’ were off beam. Sales people often claim that the figures fell shorter than the projected volume because of this. Whatever be the cases, it is evident that each undervalues the other to such extent that their integration, a factor much is needed to keep the business going, ultimately becomes a myth.

To achieve synch among Marketing and Sales it may become necessary for the Marketing people to get involved in all levels of product development, taking along the Sales personnel with them so that they too can appreciate the leads to be ultimately supplied by the Marketers. In other words, starting at the ground root level and then progressively going up together, instead of taking up the marketing at any mid-stage alone might be fruitful. Also, Marketing’s increasing influence in each phase of an organization’s growth deeply affects its relationship with Sales.

But in spite of the tension between these two departments, both Marketing and Sales need to work together for the success of any business. Performance of other departments too vastly depends on this relationship. And that is why modern day management attempts to create a friendly atmosphere where marketing and sales works in synch.

Sales, Marketing and the Internet

When it comes to the online world, can marketing and sales be differentiated? Is the act of selling over the Internet through an online store an act of marketing? Or is it sales?

Well the fact is, selling a product or products or a service over the Internet is primarily sales. And the act of supporting this function is marketing.

Take for example the online major Amazon. When the company does promotional exercise through channels such as popular Television, radio, magazines and billboards, then all these activities can be termed as marketing efforts that are geared towards creating a brand consciousness and brining in web traffic to promote and support sales.

But in many smaller stores, marketing and sales often become one and the same as most of these businesses cannot often afford a bigger marketing exercise and limit themselves just to the exercise of sales.

Being new to sales marketing isn’t really a bad thing. Everybody starts new. All you need to know is where you are headed. And whether you are an entrepreneur or just someone wanting to try their hand at internet sales marketing, you need to know the basics.

Be sure to go on the right path!

When the internet is used to promote and directly increase sales, a la advertise and market using the tools of email, social networking or web sites on their own, it is referred to as the phenomena of internet sales marketing.

This type of marketing is an emerging technique, the effectiveness of which is bolstered when it is used along with traditional techniques and methods via which the marketing process is carried out.

Traditional procedures might refer to newspapers or even comparatively modern inventions such as the radio or the television. The effectiveness of this is useful, especially when it is used in conjunction with the above mentioned traditional tools, which, instead of hampering internet sales, give it a boost.

So, what can yo do?

Well, online sales marketing has also been a witness to the new trend of young scholars and entrepreneurs who have been wishing to receive good online training by the experts.

Internet sales marketing can be broadly classified into three major forms, all of which represent a connectivity and continuity.

1) Web Marketing

This is the broadest subset of internet sales marketing, encompassing the other categories it correlates to. Web marketing is the most visible of all other techniques of internet sales marketing when the user is not using social networks. These methods of e-commerce encompass promotion through affiliate websites and greater optimization of traditional search engines.

2) Email Marketing

This is often referred to as the most “repulsive” method of internet sales marketing, a technique which primarily consists of bombarding the user’s inbox with multiple emails advertising the motive of the particular form of internet sales marketing. In moderation, this method can be used to greater effect as it neutralizes the threat of the user feeling spammed, however.

3) Social Media Marketing

This is the most upcoming trend today, revolving around the usage of social media networks like Facebook, MySpace and the others to advertise and promote e-commerce. Another concept lying under social media marketing would be viral marketing, a method which relies on obsessive internet marketing to quickly achieve the desired results.

Great Internet Marketing Training

Having experienced the lateral benefits of internet sales marketing, it becomes impulsive to attain online marketing training through great internet marketing training. Contemporarily, a large number of institutes have sprung up which offer great training so that an individual can become a master, being a recipient of online marketing training.

Is it good for you?

Of course it is! It has been seen that a large number of institutes have been funded, or established by leaders in the field of internet sales marketing; leaders who want to impart their knowledge of online marketing training – leading to great marketing training being provided to people interested. It doesn’t matter if you are an entrepreneur or a student, there is a great program awaiting you always! All you need is to just go and look for it.

Getting sales and marketing to talk to each other may feel like torture, but it has never been more critical – especially for the more than 5 million mid-market industrial and B2B companies in the U.S.

The digital age and a host of technology developments have exposed four major flaws in traditional B2B marketing practices:

• Lack of coordination between brand, sales/marketing and digital activities

• Dedication to sales at the expense of marketing

• The slowness of firms to focus their online voice

• Failure to recognize that the internet has changed the sales dynamic

B2B companies are struggling to leverage the internet to sell and grow. Unlike consumer product companies, they’ve been slow off the mark in the digital race due a traditional but flawed rationale that branding and digital communications can’t really help their ‘relationship’ style of selling.

What’s become glaringly obvious is that three core marketing functions – brand, sales/marketing and digital communications – don’t behave as if they have anything in common. Worse, they don’t work together to build equity, share of mind, customer loyalty, or sales for B2B enterprises.

The open secret always was that sales and marketing were never really very integrated. In some firms, they didn’t even like or talk to each other. Not to mention that in many B2B firms, ‘sales and marketing’ actually means ‘sales.’

But because the internet has made company ‘walls’ ever more transparent, there are few secrets. Employees complain, whistle blowers whistle, bloggers gossip, e-mails get forwarded, the news media investigates, and your customers actually know all about you – your product benefits and even your prices – before you ever hit their door. So what are you actually selling?

When a company’s brand, its sales force, and its digital activity aren’t in lockstep, customers notice. At best, customers scratch their heads at this lack of coordination; at worst and more commonly, firms are losing credibility, customer satisfaction and opportunity because they can’t get their act together.

In 2014, Forbes Insights published, Breaking Down Marketing Silos: The Key to Consistently Achieving Customer Satisfaction and Improving Your Bottom Line.

Forbes noted that the challenges with marketing silos mean:

1. Each silo may have its own brand vision, creating a disjointed experience and message for the customer.

2. Team incentives may motivate some team members to exploit and damage the brand in order to boost short-term sales.

3. Poorly integrated teams suffer from inadequate cooperation.

4. Silo interests stand in the way of programs that require scaling.

5. Key growth areas such as digital are not scaled because they are dispersed across silos.

6. Success in one silo is leveraged slowly into others, or not at all.

And not listed, but in the mix: Inconsistent customer experience across divisions and functions.

The good news is that with the right market data, the marketing function is uniquely positioned to lead the charge for integration in the name of better service to the customer. Forbes pointed out why marketing is primed for a leadership role in integration:

1. Marketing brings an outside point of view.

2. Marketing can articulate the unique truth of the company and what differentiates it within the marketplace.

3. Marketing can communicate the product and value-why products are relevant to customers in different ways, identifying segmentation in the market.

4. Marketing creates compelling stories for rallying employees and making an emotional connection with customers.

5. Marketing is a strategic seat at the table; there is no other department that can see such a company panorama and bring those perspectives together.

To overcome the silo issue, the report concludes by offering best practices for CMO’s:

1. Replace competition and isolation among silos with communication and cooperation.

2. Consolidate when necessary.

3. Act as a facilitator, establishing frameworks, encouraging collaboration through teams and knowledge hubs, and upgrading marketing talent.

4. Think like a consultant: create company-wide insights, train marketing talent and participate in strategy development.

5. Secure access to the C-suite. Teradata found that marketers with executive responsibilities are almost twice as likely as others to believe that there are no barriers to interdepartmental integration.

6. Force integration. In Teradata’s study, marketers say the best way for marketing to become more intertwined with other functions is to set up integrated processes.

For some firms, these are lofty marketing ideals. But there are practical steps smaller companies can take to force different thinking and action. But there are practical steps smaller companies can take to encourage different thinking and action. One is to use research and market data strategically – know the customer better than anyone else. A second step is to stop planning functionally and start planning via a ‘communications & experience canvass.’ What does the customer need to feel, see and hear? How do we ‘behave the brand?’ Who is responsible for delivering that? What are the methods for delivery?

In short, turn the silos sideways. With this framework, suddenly a lot more people see and serve their responsibility to serve the customer – including functions such as accounting, help desk, order fulfillment and e-commerce managers, and the c-suite.

Like many people, you probably remember watching Richard
Pryor on television and in the movies. Pryor was
over-the-top, bold, and outrageous, and he had the cojones
to say whatever was on his mind. Often times, all he was
doing was simply entering the conversation his audience was
already having inside their own minds, saying out loud, the
thoughts they were already thinking about, but were afraid
to mention or discuss on their own.America’s top copywriter and direct-marketing
consultant Craig Garber (http://www.kingofcopy.com) says
“Most business owners could learn a lot about
selling from Richard Pryor. Whether you know it or not, he
was a pure genius when it came to marketing, and this is
why he was so successful.” Garber, who consistently
prods and encourages business-owners to use unconventional
“maverick marketing” methods, says here are just 5 of the
many things Pryor cleverly did, that you should be using as well:1. He was controversial. Most advertising is nothing
more than a “big business card,” and
let’s face it, do you really think telling your
prospects your name, phone number, and how long you’
ve been in business, sets you apart from your competition,
or gives them enough of a reason to lie awake in bed at
night, thinking you might be the solution to their problems?
You don’t need to look any further than the results
of your marketing, to get the answer to this one.
Don’t bet the farm on conventional wisdom — going
against the grain is your ticket to success in marketing,
and in life.2. Pryor consistently talked about personal events going
on in his life. And since by nature, people are curious
and voyeuristic — that’s why Reality TV is so
popular — your prospects would be thrilled to hear
what’s going on “behind the closed
doors” of your life, especially if you can make it
exciting and fun for them.3. Along these same lines, Pryor certainly wasn’t
afraid to expose and make fun of his own weaknesses. And
as a marketer, one of the smartest things you can do is
bring up any objections to, or weaknesses in your own
product or service ahead of time, and deal with these things
up-front. Think about it, if you’ve already handled
your prospect’s concerns, not only are you
eliminating critical selling obstacles, but you’re
also building trust by letting them know you’re only
human, just like they are.4. Pryor was funny and entertaining! Thoreau once said
“Most men lead lives of quiet
desperation,” and this applies to your prospects
as well. They’re overwhelmed with too many things to
do and not enough time to do them in, and if you can
regularly be the bright ray of sunshine in their lives,
they’ll LOVE hearing from you and they’ll show
you their appreciation by buying more, and by buying more
often.5. Most important of all, Pryor was REAL. And in
today’s day-and-age, when your prospects are getting
hit six-ways-till Sunday with all sorts of hype and
sensationalized B.S. — coming along with a dose of reality
and a no-nonsense style, makes YOU a refreshing slice of
life your clients will gobble up, again and again.Listen, insanity is doing the same thing over-and-over again
and expecting different results. And when it comes to
selling, truer words were never spoken. So if you want to
keep getting the same awful results from your marketing,
then keep doing the same things you’re doing. But if
you want to uncover how to simply explode your sales, in
addition to discovering much much more about how to use
compelling and eye-opening sales copy and marketing savvy to
consistently get your prospects to buy, then you want to
consider using the same methods Pryor used, to get the same
kind of outstanding results.

Remember when we last talked about sustainable marketing we looked at how PlanetArk and the Direct Marketing Association in the UK were publicising the message of sustainability. And we also noted the conflict of interest that arises with direct mail.Now I’d like to look at how stationery and how you use it affects the environment too.4 Ways Your Stationery Hits The EnvironmentMarketing and marketing-related activities consume a vast amount of ink and paper. There are at least 4 ways that this happens. These include business cards, letters, bills and brochures which all affect the environment:

Forests themselves

Printer Inks

Dampening solutions

Chlorine
The Forests ThemselvesPaper production has a major environmental impact on forests when paper fibre is produced from trees cut from virgin forest without replanting. The good news is that you can encourage sustainable paper use by choosing printers who only use paper from European forests where more trees are planted than felled.Printer InksThe most common inks are petroleum-based. Using these can creates large quantities of volatile organic compounds. (VOC).Vegetable dye inks are more sustainable. They’re cleaner and brighter and more rub resistant than petroleum-based inks. They produce much less of the volatile organic compounds. And they’re the same cost as petroleum based inks.Dampening SolutionsMany printers use a dampening solution with high levels of a solvent called isopropyl alcohol (IPA). IPA contributes to the Volatile Organic Compound emissions.Again there is an environmentally friendly alternative. The printer can use a waterless printing process. That means a dampening solution isn’t required and therefore no IPA is released.ChlorineChlorine is used to bleach paper to make it white. The side effect is that carcinogenic organic compounds are produced that are toxic to life.Of course there are plenty of chlorine-free papers that can be used instead.Why Doesn’t Everyone Use Sustainable Printing?The problem of course is that historically printing presses have been a major capital investment. That means the printer is not going to scrap or sell the press until they’ve had their money’s worth out of it. Any other way is commercial suicide. That means unless you search out environmentally friendly printers you’re constrained by the machinery and printing process of the printer you’ve chosenNext time I’ll look at exactly how you can improve your marketing sustainability with little or no effort and with a considerable cost saving! Until then.