“We need better marketing otherwise no one will care about our business!”
“We don’t need any marketing, we just need more outbound sales calls and a good sales team!”
Have you heard either of these phrases in business? Most business leaders have a pretty strong preference one way or another. If a CEO has a sales background, they may tend to make their sales teams the focus since that’s what they know. If a CEO has a background in marketing, technology, or CRMs, they may put a lot of their company’s money and time towards having better marketing than their competitors. But the best companies find a way to balance sales and marketing so that they benefit from each other and help grow the business long term.
So how do the best companies find a way to balance the two? And what does a healthy balance between marketing and sales look like? Let’s dive in and explore…
The Sales-First Approach
Companies in finance, door to door sales, home services, and other industries tend to have a sales-heavy approach to how they do business. By nature these companies are dependent on having a lot of one-on-one interactions with potential customers that increase their bottom line. In certain industries, winning or losing can simply come down to it being a numbers game. The more “at bats” you have the more opportunities there are to close business.
With the right sales team in place, this can be a very effective model. If you have a good CRM, data, and follow-up processes, the sales-first approach can do a lot on its own.
On the other hand, if you focus solely on sales you may miss out on a couple big opportunities and potential advantages over other businesses in your industry. While you might have a number of follow-up processes built into your sales approach, you might be missing out on marketing opportunities to show ads to people that are visiting your website, are part of your database, or are in potential audiences on Google or Meta that you could easily target if you were running marketing campaigns. You might also be missing out on opportunities to create trust using explainer videos or a thoughtful walkthrough of how you help your clients on your website. When it comes time for a potential customer to make a decision between you and a competitor, having the better website, ads, or videos can be the difference maker.
The Marketing-First Approach
Companies in technology and software can tend to have a very marketing-heavy approach to the way that they do business. You tend to see companies like Meta, Apple, and Salesforce put a lot of their budget and company emphasis on advertising, sponsorships, commercials, and state-of-the-art websites to highlight their products in a way that stands out from the competition. Sure, they have sales teams in their stores, but a good chunk of the time people walk in already know what they want to buy.
One of the big upsides to having this “marketing first” mindset is you can create a lot of demand for your company’s products when you do it the right way. Now let’s get into some of the potential drawbacks.
If you have a lot of demand for your product but you don’t have the right sales team to fulfill inbound orders or close customers on product demos, all of the work you put into creating more demand can be for nothing. If your sales team doesn’t have the right mindset, scripts, coaching, or resources, you might see both your marketing dollars and your sales team salaries be a net negative impact on your company. And if your company makes marketing the main push instead of building longer term relationships through a sales team, you could see potential partnerships or long-term referral relationships slip through the cracks.
Finding the Right Balance
There is no “one size fits all approach” when it comes to finding the right balance between sales and marketing for your company. Part of the reason a lot of skilled technicians choose not to go into business on their own is because they realize how difficult it can be to find this balance or even be good at either of these skills to begin with!
So how do you begin to tackle finding the balance between these two incredibly important divisions inside your business?
Start with identifying the main strong points your company has. How has your company marketed most effectively in the past? What are the greatest areas of success your sales team has had? Rather than trying to solve all of your problems at once, start by identifying these strong points and going all in on them.
Once you’ve identified a couple of these strong points for your business, branch off of them to see where you can go next. If your company has had a lot of success selling at trade shows, what other large in-person gatherings could you get your company to (webinar collaborations, conferences, etc.)? If your company has had success marketing via email, explore some of the other ways you could get in front of these same people (retargeting, display ads, texting, etc.)
Now that you’ve understood some of your areas for potential expansion, make a plan with your business teams to tackle these expansion opportunities.
And for the areas that you have no idea what to do with in your business…research them! Or if you really need help in technical or skills-based areas, bring in consultants that can either help you or execute on these tasks.
Conclusion
Balancing sales and marketing within your business is an ongoing battle, but with the right mindset you can find balance between the two. Rather than trying to pull a rabbit out a hat, start with the areas that you’re already good at in both of these areas, look for areas that you could reasonably branch out from them, and then bring in consultants to train or execute on the areas where you need extra help. Once you start finding the right balance between the two, you’ll realize that marketing done effectively will make it easier for your sales teams to close deals. And sales done effectively will make your marketing efforts more trackable and impactful for your business!
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