The Sales and Marketing disconnect is discussed ad nauseam. It is a fact that just seems to be accepted. Marketers are a certain way, and salespeople are a different way. Such is life.

I think that is a bit fatalistic.

The very scenario depicted in this cartoon actually happened to me before. A marketer reprimanded me when they found out that I had accidentally used an outdated presentation template. That was what they focused on. They were not concerned with how the presentation went. How we did compared to the competition. They didn’t care if we won the sale. All they cared about was the fact that the PowerPoint template was a little old.

As a salesperson, you are grinding and trying your hardest to close deals. It’s hard. Really challenging. Many prospects don’t want to speak to you. The competition is fierce. Then there are the internal obstacles that you have to deal with on a regular basis. Then there is Marketing activities that do nothing to increase sales… A “brand refresh” is another great example of this.

Sometimes there are fundamental issues that cause the Sales and Marketing disconnect. Such as when they operate at cross purposes or they plan without coordinating with each other.

This is of course bad and should be remedied by more coordinated planning. But fundamentally, most of the misalignment comes down to a lack of empathy.

Marketing people should shadow salespeople for extended periods of time on a regular basis. This would give them an appreciation for what salespeople have to deal with. The inverse if true as well of course. Salespeople should shadow Marketers. But for our purposes here, I am more focused on Marketing’s lack of empathy for salespeople.

Sales and Marketing misalignment solution

If they do this it is really unlikely that a Marketing person would ever give a salesperson grief about using the wrong presentation template ever again. Sales and Marketing disconnect solved.