For people in the communications industry it is appalling that there is a lack of real communication occurring between their marketing and sales departments.

All too often I see departments vying for budgets, leadership, ideas, etc. Some people believe marketing drives the engine and sales are irrelevant, or sales are king and what is marketing anyway?

It’s not just the sales people. Some organisations don’t even know the difference between marketing and sales or don’t see the connection between the two in the first place.

This causes all sorts of problems, the likes of which can include:

Marketing initiating a premature campaign and forgetting to tell the salesforce about it.

A new product is launched and sold aggressively by the salesforce, but faults surface with the product that can’t be fixed and it has to be recalled.

Everyone who sees, talks with or comes in contact with a prospect or customer should understand exactly the functions of the promise-expectation-experience chain. In his book The New Science of Selling and Persuasion: How Smart Companies and Great Salespeople Sell, William T. Brooks highlights these very issues.

Sales, marketing and service departments must never operate in isolation! However this happens too often! Make sure both sales and marketing people have key performance indicators that include measures on how well the marketing and sales plans complement each other and how well the two divisions work together as a team. KPIs should also include making sure that the information the two divisions give each other about customer feedback is useful and acted on.

If the divisions are engaging in a silent war or openly fighting with each other, then the parties must be made to understand they are not doing their jobs properly. In this sophisticated world of communications, companies must work on integrated campaigns and there is no room for egos.

An inconsistent poorly defined sales, marketing and service strategy for the entire organisation results in an organisation fraught with finger pointing, blame, denial, backbiting, slippery revenues and reduced cash flow. What can make a difference is communicating and reiterating the strategy and position to all the internal teams who interface with prospects and customers

Make sure that people with sales experience understand the skills needed in marketing and that the marketing staff understand how crucial sales people are and the skills involved in prospecting and managing clients.

The problem is too many people operate only in their own self interest. When that happens, the customer loses and in the long term so does the organisation.

Vital question: Is your organisation made up of competing cultures?

Would we expect Melbourne Victory or any other elite sporting team to enter a competition without a clear game plan, talent plan, fitness plan, business plan and action plan?

No, of course not. We expect them to be aware, organised, focused and determined to play their best and aim to win.

Well, more than 90% of sales people do not follow any logical process when selling. They are often left to their own devices and simply fly by the seat of their pants, relying on intuition and hoping for the best.

They often cannot articulate their value proposition or know how they compare to the competition. Nor are they clear about what activities they need to do on a daily basis to achieve sales success. Most make it up.

No wonder many don’t meet entrepreneurs’ expectations.

But sales people are not solely to blame. Too many businesses have not yet defined what they really want by way of talent when it comes to translating sales strategy into action.

Too many organisations have not done the work to build viable sales plans that allow sales people to apply tactical sales actions and achieve real results. And too many businesses do not give their sales people adequate training and in-field sales coaching support to enhance and improve performance.

Now you may be very tempted to move your low performing sales people on and find someone new. But often managers grossly underestimate what is involved in improving and/or changing a sales force. It can be faster to build efficiency, for example increase call rates or decrease expenses, than it is to consistently recruit, build and coach the levels of skills and effectiveness needed for selling today.

So how do you fix the sales force you have?

Start at the top. Start with management. Ask yourself:

• What skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours do my sales people need to demonstrate to be competitive and successful in our market place today?
• What activities do they need do, how often to they need to do them and how well do they need to do them to achieve sound sales results?
• How do we compare to our competition and can we clearly articulate our value and competitive edge (in language the customer understands)
• Is our formal training and infield sales coaching program set up to train and develop our sales people in the areas that can make us a success?
• Do we measure the inputs (quantity of activity and quality of activity; that is, behaviours) as well as the outputs (results) that make up sales success?
• Do we have an ongoing, in-field sales coaching program that helps sales people migrate to better levels of performance based on something they can see and measure?
• Is our management team supporting the right behaviours skills and values to have a highly effective sales team?

Remember most of your sales people have at least some sales potential (maybe more than you think) and often can perform much better if given the right framework, plan, support and management.

And here is what you should have:

• A clear up-to-date sales strategy (plan) that shows how to link real actions to real results (from the business, the team and the individual sales person).
• A clear map of the kind of sales competencies (skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours) your sales people and business need apply consistently to be competitive and successful in your market place.
• An actionable sales fitness plan that regularly trains your sales team in the skills and qualities needed to be fit and competitive today.
• A sales coaching plan that allows your sales people to give and get feedback and communicate with management on a regular basis their findings in the field.
• Clear, simple sales success performance indicators that allow individual sales people to measure, monitor and adjust their performance for success.
• A business that philosophically and practicallly supports a proactive professional sales culture.

And strong, clear and focused leadership.

But that’s another blog.

Yet another brochure has landed on my desk inviting me to learn the tricks on how to sell successfully. I wonder how many people will take the bait this time. The motivation circuit in fact is full of sales people who, for a hefty fee, will explain how they hit the big time and offer to share their tricks.

Well, here is some advice for free: this approach never works. Most people don’t want to be tricked and don’t want to trick others. What they do want is an honest and open relationship because good selling is based on delivering what you said you would.

As customers, we are crying out for sales people who are proactive, take the time to listen and understand us, match our needs effectively with our products and services and leave us feeling we have engaged in an honest and open relationship based on trust and respect. And if we get it, we are even prepared to pay a premium.

Sales have moved on from the approach of the 1990s, when product-focused sales teams had little interest in establishing authentic long-term business relationships with clients. Back then, most sales teams were either aggressive and adversarial (leaving clients feeling battered and worn) or soft and insipid, basing their relationship on mateship, special deals and long lunches.

Now the best sales people are more sophisticated. They call on the right level of buyer, interact more strategically with the client and offer beneficial solutions based on value.

And they understand that trust, not tricks, is the key to success.

A while back I read an article in the BRW called “ Missing In Action – where are all the female entrepreneurs?�? It was about the supposedly low number of female entrepreneurs in Australian business. Now to be considered a successful female entrepreneur, by this article’s standards, you needed to be running a big, competitive, fast growing company. It made me stop and think … How many men, let alone women, were running big, competitive, fast growing companies? Given that over 95% of all businesses in Australia are small to medium in size and many are run successfully by men and women alike, you could be fooled into believing that by the article’s standards there weren’t too many entrepreneurs in the Australian Business arena. Which as we know is not true.

In my opinion the article suffered from the ‘big is better’ syndrome and focused too narrowly on what constitutes business success as it did not give merit to other areas such as:

• Effective Strategy and Sustainability
• New ideas and innovations
• Values and culture
• Diversity and equal opportunity
• Team work
• Employee retention
• Work/ Life balance
• Community participation
• Profitability and quality just to name a few.

This list, I feel, provides for broader definitions of success which allows for the inclusion and recognition of those female entrepreneurs and business women who are defining success on their own terms.

Given that women are a vital part of our community on so many levels it got me thinking about the definition of success and how often we find ourselves bound by the very narrow paradigms of other’s definitions of success. I have met many women (including myself) who are or have been trying to live up to these narrow paradigms of success for years whilst juggling multiple roles everyday. What I have found is that we are often left feeling exhausted, unsure of ourselves and disconnected at best and even angry, anxious or depressed at worst.

Not a good situation to be in if you ask me. I believe we need to continue to voice our ideas and actively contribute to the debate on what constitutes success for each and every one of us, especially as women, whether it be in our professional or personal lives. There should be greater acceptance of the belief that persons pursuing multiple goals (usually women) have a lot to offer society when compared to single focused business people. So if nothing else let’s have a go at redefining business success for each and everyone of us here today if it helps us lead happier healthier and more enjoyable lives.

Watch this space for more on this topic. I am just getting started.