| What Marketing and Sales Mistakes SMEs can Learn from Enterprise |
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Who is most important in their organization: a marketer, advertiser or salesperson? Interviews with industry thought leaders reiterate a commonly held belief that, “the boundaries of these three functions are breaking down.” To that I say, “Bunk!” If SMEs lull themselves into thinking that marketing, advertising and sales should be blurred into a singular group they are going to witness declining revenues. Let me explain my counter position to almost everyone in my industry(ies) and share first hand examples of how SMEs will reign supreme if they do not follow the lead of big business. Who’s Steering This Ship? While the strong egos of most sales directors will wax poetic on how important they are to the bottom line, they are not in charge (though in most big businesses they schmooze with the top brass and convince them otherwise.) Without an overall marketing strategy sales will not occur, except by accident. The overall goals of the organization must be taken into account. Salespeople chase numbers; commissions; incentives. Marketing translates the goals into targets and plans to reach them. Marketing steers the ship. Cohesive Separation – SMEs need to address how they will manage, assign or outsource the unique functions of marketing, advertising and sales. Who has vision and tenacity to manage the entire process? Who has the ability to create a unique attraction campaign for the target? Who can nurture the relationship until it can become closed business? These are all very unique skills. Tasking one or two people with these roles in your organization could stretch them beyond their comfort zone. Knowing that these functions fuel the other’s success, SMEs who tie compensation and accountability to each other have a highly effective strategy that only some of the most progressive Enterprise businesses will dare attempt. SMEs are much more nimble and can foster this type of high growth environment. Importance Is Ego and Pay Based – Enterprise organizations traditionally reward their direct sales force with the most lavish salaries, perks and overall compensation packages. This creates an unfortunate divide in the departments from the very start. The other problem is that marketers and advertisers are reluctant to measure performance because they could measure themselves out of a job. Management needs to embrace the synergistic nature of all three groups and measure them with much shorter intervals. SME’s Need Structure to be Flexible – Without an exact job description for each role, these three functions are lumped together creating difficulty in assigning tasks to the most qualified individual. SMEs are multi-taskers. Some people are natural salespeople; others are creative. Why assign them someplace they will not be effective? It will kill your business. If you don’t have the right people to support those roles, hire or outsource. But first, you need to look at the tasks you require completed in each role and then take serious stock of your current talent pool. While I agree that big business is breaking down the boundaries between marketing, advertising and sales, it’s standard in SMEs. My argument is more a plea to SMEs to not get caught up in the further dissolution of these departments. Most do not have clear roles for each and get caught in the bright-shiny-headlights following Enterprise strategy. Know your role and let each member of your team know theirs. Want to use this article on your website? That’s great, but please include the next section beneath it. Paula Pollock is Director of the Pollock Marketing Group, further assisting good companies in becoming great through outsourced marketing services with her team of professionals. PMG supports business marketing at all levels from DIY, short-term projects and campaign corrections. You can sign up to receive her Marketing Tips newsletter at www.paulapollock.com
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Who is most important in their organization: a marketer, advertiser or salesperson? Interviews with industry thought leaders reiterate a commonly held belief that, “the boundaries of these three functions are...Stay Connected!
