The Key to Success – From Marketing to Sales and Back Again™

By: Dawn Fiala
8-20-2015

keynowordsMarketing and sales go hand in hand. One cannot exist without the other and by the same token, when one is set in motion it builds momentum for the other. Marketing lays the foundation for sales to begin and when done well, sales keeps the door open for marketing to continue as client’s needs and wants change.

Marketing and sales are in this circular dance and in the middle is your customer. So how do you keep them dancing? You find out what is most important to to them and sell it to them. Sounds simple on the surface, but there is more to it than that.

The marketing piece of this dance is a survey. A ranking survey in which your customers rank in importance the features about your product or service. The results of this survey will tell you what matters most to a majority of your customers. Many business owners I’ve worked with are very surprised when they see the results of their ranking survey. What they thought mattered most is usually a very low priority to their customers. They are discouraged to find out they’ve been doing it all wrong. I quickly point out that they now know what to do and will get the results they are looking for. The ranking survey takes the guess work out of the equation. The results of the survey are the cold hard facts and should be implemented into the marketing plan.

Once the marketing piece of the dance is completed, it is time to work on the sales piece. Sales is built on relationships and trust. Once the relationship is built, the doors open and the selling process can begin. With the survey results in hand, the sales team knows exactly what to say and how to sell.

As you can see constant communication between marketing and sales is crucial to the success of any business. It takes two to dance.