How to Mess Up a Company’ s Sales
Thousands of salespeople work in conditions that are stacked against their success. Even though it’ s 2019, the belief persists that“ nothing happens until someone sells something.” Repeated so often, no one challenges them.
Yet, those six words help explain why salespeople are given“ special treatment” by management and barely“ tolerated” by others. Salespeople are frequently viewed both as separate and more than equal. When coworkers complain about the sales department, someone
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says,“ Hey, they bring us the business, so suck it up and smile.” This dismal view has long passed its expiration date. Even so, it’ s disturbing since so much depends on the successful performance of the salesforce.
Closely related is another problem, and that’ s marketing. Unfortunately, it’ s still viewed as the handmaiden of sales in many companies, even though it long ago ran out of gas. In this view, marketing does what it’ s told to do. When this happens, marketing is rudderless, all tactics and no strategy. Marketing departments become a“ do this” dumping ground, throwing one thing after another against the wall hoping something sticks.
Unfortunately, marketing’ s unique mission is often misunderstood or disregarded. Its critical task of creating customers, those who want to do business with a brand, gets ignored. Or, as Seth Godin, the author of This is Marketing, says,“ Marketers don’ t use consumers to solve their company’ s problems; they use marketing to solve other people’ s problems.” Unfortunately, marketers don’ t have a chance to do it.