Marketing-in-person
TWO WHEELS. ONE BIKE.
Did you know that bicycles are rear-wheel-drive?
I hadn’t really ever considered it before. After all there are two wheels.
I had absent-mindedly and subconsciously assumed (just because I hadn’t thought much about it…) that they were both propelling the bike forward.
As I learned…
Front wheels play important roles in cycling. Along with the rear wheel, they balance the cyclist weight. They also are “shock absorbers” encountering bumps ahead of the rest of the bike. And they are a critical component to enabling the cyclist to steer. But when it comes to the cycle drivetrain, it is only “along for the ride.”
source: physicalcycling.com
When I read this and really considered it (read the bold text one more time.), I couldn’t help but be reminded of this classic McGraw Hill ad.
Marketing gets sales letters opened. Marketing gets sales meetings considered.
Sales continues a conversation often started by marketing and closes deals.
How good that conversation is is up to business leaders. How consistent that conversation is is up to business leaders.
This shared conversation has to be considered, architected, and executed by everyone in the business.
This is true because good marketing and good sales are actually the same thing. They only differ in proximity.
Marketing is selling-long-distance.
Selling is marketing-in-person.
An effective sales effort should be able to carry forward and echo the messages of the marketing, and provide feedback of its lessons learned along the way to inform future directions.
Is your sales effort set up to do this?
I recently saw an example shared by a friend of a sales effort that is.
When you scroll to check out this screenshot, you should know a few things. The sales team (and in this case, the CEO) each have their own “showcase” page on the company website.
On this page you will find not only information on the employee, but sales sheets and downloads specifically branded and labeled with the employee’s name on them. Go ahead, take a look, and I will meet you down below.
When I love about this example, is that it is a tangible situation where a sales rep can lead and open the conversation before marketing gets there. The difference here, is that sales brings marketing along for the ride.
There is not going to be a disparity in messaging.
There is not going to be a worry of attribution to the sales rep. This is an important point, because marketing automation and lead routing systems have led sales folks to distrust corporate websites and actively fight against using them in their outreach.
You read that right, marketing automation doesn’t always lead to the right incentives and rarely looks like this 👇
How can we help sales become more like a marketer-in-person?
Help them with customized assets, and help them understand how valuable a page like the above example actually can be in aiding their own sales process.
You have to market your marketing. And that’s not always easy.
– Chris
P.S. There’s plenty more to come on this subject. For premium subscribers, I’ll be back on Tuesday for Part 2 of our “One-to-many Canvas” walkthrough, and taking this Thanksgiving Day off. I've updated the publishing schedule to reflect that.
🎶 Musical Note: This one builds to a surprising crescendo that deserves headphone listening.
If you found value in this weeks issue, please let me know! Just reply to this email or leave a comment.