Why Salesmen Think Marketing Is For Posers
And What to Do About It!
Why do most salespeople think very little of advertising and marketing professionals?
Easy. Sales people talk in terms of hard, real-world stuff: making the sale, getting and keeping a profitable customer. If they don’t deliver those new customers and sales, they don’t get paid and, if they fail often enough, get fired.
While too many Marketing people talk in terms of frou-frou stuff: “brand image”, “engaging the customer”, “joining the conversation” and company “voice”. So what happens when they fail to deliver -- assuming anyone can even tell if they've delivered or not?
Usually nothing.
It doesn't end there. Business Owners don’t usually care much for marketers, as well.
I've never met a business owner that wanted to advertise -- only business owners that wanted more profitable customers and were willing to put up with the expense of advertising in the hopes that one would lead to the other.
The Solution: Hire Marketers Who See Themselves As Sales People
Claude Hopkins, the “Aristotle of Advertising,” defined advertising as nothing more than “Salesmanship in print.”
Great marketers don’t talk about “conversations,” they talk about market share and how to grab more — usually by taking it from the competition. That’s a marketing message sales professionals can get behind.
In fact, that’s exactly how marketing professionals ought to be talking. They ought to be talking about grabbing market share by:
- Attracting more profitable customers
- Making it easier for the salesperson to sell those prospects when they come in.
Now what salesperson wouldn't appreciate that kind of marketing?
Exactly.
So if you, as the business owner, or your sales pros, as performance-bound employees, don’t appreciate your marketing people, the answer is probably that your marketing people aren't properly doing their jobs.
The answer? Get a new marketing person.
One that’ll talk to your salespeople and cater to their needs. One that’ll focus on the very real job of bringing in new, profitable customers and stealing market share. One that knows that advertising is nothing more than salesmanship in print.
And may I humbly recommend Mad Strategies for that role?
Morty Silber, CEO
Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner