Dear Business Owner, some problems in sales get blamed on marketing—and some problems in marketing get blamed on sales. Few internal battles drain more energy, money, and morale as much as the sales and marketing conflict. Here are 3 common examples—and what you can do about them. (And, by the way, for the uninitiated, marketing is not sales, and sales is not marketing.)
1. The surprise promotion disaster
“It’s Marketing’s fault the customers are complaining! They didn’t tell us they were running a promotion. In fact, some of us just happened to see it the night before on TV together with customers. So, not only couldn’t we explain why there was no washing basin to give away with the washing detergent, there was a severe shortage of the detergent because even the factory did not know about it! Marketing should stop acting like they are special. They should involve us first before running any campaign!”
You will be amazed how common such frustrations are within the FMCG industry. And unfortunately, it is the business that suffers from both reputational damage and financial (sales) loss. It is a blurred line where Marketing’s role ends and Sales’ begins. Sharing campaign plans early helps offer clarity, synergy efforts and boost sales. (And, by the way, for the uninitiated, marketing is not sales and sales is not marketing.)
Read: 4 practical ways to resolve Sales vs Operations fights
2. Sales and Marketing conflict-the battle of the “Qualified Lead”
“The disappointingly low conversion rate is not our fault. It’s Sales’. We generate 1,000 leads every month from our online marketing efforts. In fact, Sales are really discouraging us with their 3% conversion ratio. Many leads complain that they were never reached. These salespeople are just looking for someone to blame for their laziness.”
Sales responds: “These Marketing people’ just forward us anything that comes knocking on their door. Many leads we call are surprised we have; some are even irritated that we did wondering where we got their contact from. It wastes our time and effort reaching leads which aren’t really leads; they aren’t prospects, just suspects.”
This is a textbook sales and marketing conflict. What marketing calls a qualified lead can be wildly different to what Sales does. To resolve this challenge, make conversion a joint, not individual (departmental) effort. This starts with harmonizing what qualifies as a Marketing Lead ripe enough to be handed over to Sales, complete with handover notes. It doesn’t end there. Hold regular marketing–sales synchronization meetings to keep a pulse on conversion. Agreeing on what a ‘qualified lead’ means, keeps both teams accountable.
Point to ponder: There’s a client that told us they get a mouth-watering 50,000 visitors to their site every month but convert less than 50. If you are in Marketing, righteous indignation will see you state “Aha! You see. This is what we’ve been saying. Sales isn’t doing their job” Well, if you qualified the 50,000 you’ll find, as they did, that much less than a thousand would be called prospects. The rest? Job seekers and casual browsers. Crowds are not votes.
3. The discounting dilemma
Marketing fires: “Sales is always discounting! We work hard to position the brand as premium, invest in strong advertising, and build customer desire. Then Sales comes in and slashes prices just to hit monthly targets. They’re undermining the brand and undoing all our hard work.”
Sales fires back: “Easy for Marketing to say. They live in a bubble. They don’t sit in front of customers facing competitors who are undercutting us by 20%. Customers don’t buy ‘brand equity,’ they buy what fits their wallets. Half the time we wonder who Marketing targets with their adverts. If we didn’t discount, we wouldn’t close sales and Marketing would be the first to shout about missed sales targets.”
This tug-of-war between price integrity and sales pressure is another form of sales and marketing conflict. Without a shared pricing and value approach, Marketing cries foul about brand dilution, while Sales insists survival depends on flexibility.
Sales and Marketing conflict. A united front or open warfare?
At its core, the sales and marketing conflict is not about laziness or ego—it’s about misalignment. Sales and Marketing are not enemies; they are two sides of the same coin. As business owner, the sooner you recognize that misalignment between them is a business problem—not a departmental one—the sooner you stop haemorrhaging opportunity, reputation, and revenue. After all, the customer doesn’t care whose job it was; they only care about their experience.
If you would like to have your sales team sell more, we can help. In order for us to do so we propose a free consultation meeting or a call. If in agreement please complete the form below and we will get in touch after receiving your details, none of which will be public. Thank you.
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