I am throwing down a gauntlet and asking you dear readers to take it up. Every day I have conversations with vendors, consultants, analysts and clients about Sales & Marketing alignment.
You can’t swing a cat without finding some blog or another talking about the very same thing. But, when does the rubber meets the road?
Yes, we can get all cerebral and plan, strategize, define and measure but if you really want your Sales & Marketing organizations to understand each other’s challenges – they need to walk a mile in each other’s shoes.
So, here is my “put your money where your mouth is” challenge:
If you are a Marketing Executive, are you willing to take 100 random leads that you generated and jump on the phone to qualify them? Track the process you used, the time it took and the results you derived and then report back to Sales. All the meetings and brainstorming sessions in the world will not give you the same level of visibility into the quality of your leads that this exercise will. Oh, and if you are fortunate enough to have a staff, they have to grab 100 as well.
If you are a Sales Executive, you have to design a marketing campaign and execute it. You have to target the audience, write the message/offer and pick the medium for communication. You also have to track the process you used, the time it took and the results you derived and then report back to Marketing. Oh, and everyone who ever used the words “I need more leads or these leads stink”, they have to design campaigns as well.
So, who will volunteer for this? If you volunteer it would be our pleasure to post the results and what you learned about each other through the process. C’mon, a mile isn't so far is it?
(Image credit: Watt_Dabney)