KISS for Sales

KISS for Sales:
Andy Gray is a senior marketing professional with proven expertise in directing, centralizing, and strengthening how customers are acquired and retained as well as how companies are positioned through marketing strategies, demand generation, sales support and enablement programs, market research and product development. You can connect with Andy on LinkedIn or via email.

I keep hearing, we all keep hearing,
     “Marketing doesn’t give us enough good leads.”
     “Sales doesn’t follow up enough on the leads we give them.”
We all dissect and come up with 100 excuses as to why this occurs and we each complain to one another and to our bosses.
So what’s to be done?

My K.I.S.S. method:
Talk.
Talk with the sales folks. Both the reps and the leadership folk. Often. Casually and formally. With and without stats. With and without scripts. In their offices, not yours and when on the phone, not on speaker phones. At lunch. Not after work if hanging out socially. That’s time to get to know them as people.
Ask for input and put the caveat out there to not say “I need better leads.” Instead, focus input on specifics. Review lead scripts, web content in development, webinars in development, videos in development, best practice documents in development, talk about marketing automation in their terms not marketing terms, make them part of your team, your process.
Discuss follow up, discuss customer pain points and opportunities. Review changes based on their input. Let them see, even bless what you’re doing.
Review stats, theirs and yours. Also, industry stats. Let them know that this marketing thing we do works and that it takes two to make it work.
When there’s a trade show or national sales meeting, it’s another opportunity for face time. Another time to get input from the folks who are out in the field.
It’s all about talking. Not texting or typing, whining or complaining, just talking.
Are you talking with, at or to your sales folks? It should be with. Let me know if you are.