The ‘Marketing – Sales’ connection

Do Marketing people and Sales people within your organisation really understand and support each other? Or is it a case of:

Sales to Marketing: “Any leads from Marketing are a waste of time!”

Marketing to Sales: “How would you know – you never contact them!”

Typically WT aim to discover:

Is the target market “sweet spot” well defined, articulated, understood and agreed across Marketing and Sales?
Does Marketing position and brand the company and products/services appropriately to support and speed up the sales process?
Do Marketing’s campaigns deliver well qualified leads to Sales?
Do Sales follow up leads in an appropriate and timely manner?
Do Sales provide feedback to Marketing regarding the results from each lead to “close the loop”?

70 to 80% of leads generated by marketing are never followed up
From Improving Sales Effectiveness in a Down Economy, Sheryl Kingstone, Yankee Group

Salespeople spend typically 30 to 50 hours per month searching for information and re-creating customer-facing content
From Bridging the Great Divide: Process, Technology, and the Marketing/Sales Interface by Aberdeen Group

80 to 90% of marketing collateral is considered useless by sales
From Customer Message Management Forums, American Marketing Association and Ventaso

80 to 90% of customer-facing content created by salespeople is inaccurate and dilutes the brand
From Customer Message Management Forums, American Marketing Association and Ventaso