getting sales to love marketing programs

CommunicationPROCESS

MarketingtoSales Developed By: Andre Armstrong

Getting Sales to

Love Marketing

What is it

A list of steps that the marketing organisation can follow to build a more

personalized relationship with sales for a marketing program. It results

in sales willingly having a more active involvement in the program,

leading to a more positive outcome for that program.

MtoS © 2009

Actions at each stage of a program

MtoS © 2009

Actions before the

program is launched

Stage 1

Actions while the

program is running

Stage 2

Actions after the

program has finished

Stage 3

The process

MtoS © 2009

• Document the initial plan

• Obtain leadership support

• Check the proposition

internally and externally

• Share the program idea

with sales

• Build the marketing

program plan

• Share the marketing

program plan with sales

• Keep sales up to date on

program deliverables

Actions before the program is launched

Stage 1

• Advise sales of the

program launch

• Remind sales of their

actions

• Continue to remind sales of

the program

Actions while the program is running

Stage 2

• Advise sales that the

program has ended

• Gather and finalize sales

and marketing feedback

• Communicate results to the

sales team

• Communicate results to the

leaders

Actions after the program has finished

Stage 3

Stage 1

Actions before the program is

launched

MtoS © 2009

Document the initial plan

Action: Create a single page document of the initial plan.

Who are the targets (industry sector, contact types and levels).

What is their need.

Why do they need this.

What product/solutions or services can you offer.

What are the marketing elements of the program (email, DM, telemarketing).

Why: Provides initial guidance and can support further stages of the process.

MtoS © 2009

Obtain leadership support

Action: Obtain buy in support from key stakeholder leaders to the high level

plan.

Obtain both marketing and sales leadership support.

If briefing verbally, follow up with an email to confirm the high level points.

Single page document of the plan can be provided if required.

Why: To ensure access to budget funding and resources as the plan

develops.

MtoS © 2009

Check the proposition internally

Action: Identify a number of sales reps and sales engineers to check the

program and proposition.

Look to check with multiple people in each sales team.

Firstly check with the sales directors to see whether any of their teams

have wins/opportunities already and if so check with those sales reps and

their sales engineers.

If more bodies are needed focus on sales reps and engineers who

already have accounts in that sector.

Why: They can provide a level of validity and additional information for the

program and in doing this will feel more strongly aligned to the program.

MtoS © 2009

Check the proposition externally

Action: Check with an analyst.

Depending on the level of service you have with an analyst firm you

could check the proposition by setting up a call and asking them questions.

Even if the program is only part successful, let them know it was a

success and thank them for their help.

Why: Provides a third party view of your program from a industry expert.

Partly briefs the analyst and the follow up reminds them of your

companies capabilities and strokes their ego.

Action: Check with a partner.

If there is a partner that specialises in this area you could check the

proposition with them.

Why: Provides a third party view of your program from an expert.

MtoS © 2009

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Share the program idea

Action: Share the program idea with the sales reps.

Share with the sales reps on a call in a group environment, ensure that

you have at least a sales director on the call. Before the call, run through

with the director the structure and how you might need their support.

Call out sales reps, sales engineers, analysts and partners who have

already commented on the proposition (explain why you went to them first).

Look to get the sales reps to agree that the program is a good idea, to

allow you to progress with the building of the plan.

Overcome objections using sales reps or engineers you have checked

the proposition with, plus the sales directors.

Advise you will share the marketing plan with them.

Why: Shows that sales are being consulted throughout and implies to reps

that there is already support from their peers. Will result in some

additional reps supporting the program, with the rest remaining passive

but open minded.

MtoS © 2009

Build the marketing plan

Action: Build and document the marketing plan.

Keep the document short and easy to understand.

You don’t need to consult outside of marketing unless you need to use

other teams in the plan (sales reps, telemarketers etc).

Once the plan is built consider areas where sales might see problems

and formulate a response.

Why: Provides guidance to marketing and others what the marketing plan

is, its deliverables and milestones.

MtoS © 2009

Share the marketing plan

Action: Share the marketing plan with sales leaders and sales reps.

Share with the sales leaders first to get there buy-in, make amends as

required.

Share with the reps on a call in a group environment, ensure that you

have at least a sales director on the call. Before the call, run through with

the sales director the structure and how you might need their support.

In preparation for the call send a brief email to the reps with an overview

of the marketing plan that you intend to go over.

Overcome petty objections using the sales directors, with anything

significant agree to amend the plan.

Get the sales director to wrap up by stating the plan looks good, get

them to ask the reps if there are any objections to moving forward and

implementing the plan.

Why: It advises the sales team what the plan of action is and gives a

controlled forum to provide feedback with an agreement to progress.

MtoS © 2009

Update on program deliverables

Action: Update the sales reps on how you are progressing with the

program deliverable.

Provide a short and simple document to the sales team on the key

milestones to the launch of the program.

Provide a quick update every couple of weeks on how the program is

progressing against the milestones. Ideally this should be done on an

existing sales directors call, but could be in an email. If it is via email

ensure that each sales rep gets their own email.

Why: It ensures the program remains in the minds of the reps, provides

them how it is progressing, allowing them to calculate when it will start

providing results.

MtoS © 2009

Marketing support costs

Action: Document the initial plan.

Document: 30 minutes content development.

Action: Obtain leadership support.

Phone: 10 minutes preparation and 15 minutes phone call leader.

Email: 20 minutes email content development.

Action: Check the proposition internally.

Phone: 10 minutes preparation and 20 minutes phone call per person.

Action: Check the proposition externally.

Phone: 10 minutes preparation and up to 30 minutes phone call per person.

Action: Share the program idea.

Phone: 10 minutes preparation and 15 minutes phone call per sales team.

MtoS © 2009


Action: Build the marketing plan.

Document: 3-4 hours content development and approval.

Action: Share the marketing plan.

Phone: 10 minutes preparation and 15-20 minutes phone call per sales team.

Action: Update on the program deliverables.

Document: 1-2 hours content development and approval.

Phone: 10 minutes preparation and 10 minutes phone call per sales team.

Email: 20 minutes email content development.

MtoS © 2009

Marketing support tools

Resource allocation matrix document.

Action: Document the initial plan.

Sample document of an initial plan.

Action: Share the marketing plan with sales leaders and sales reps.

Sample email content to share the marketing plan with the sales reps before the

call that goes through the marketing plan.

Action: Update the sales reps on how you are progressing with the program

deliverable.

Sample document for that sales team that shows the key marketing milestones

Sample email content on how the program is progressing

MtoS © 2009

Stage 2

Actions while the program is

running

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Advise of the program launch

Action: Communicate to the sales team that the program has started and what

the next steps are.

Communicate via a personalized email or on a sales call.

Provide them with a short FAQ document that highlights the issues and the

solutions.

Why: Alerts the sales person that the program has started and reminds them

of their actions.

MtoS © 2009

Remind sales of their actions

Action: Remind the sales team if you know when then have an action.

If you know an action and rough date a salesperson has to perform an action

remind them the day before ideally by leaving them a voice message.

- be quick and to the point by writing down what you will say.

Why: Pushes the action item higher up a sales persons ‘to do’ list and ensures

that they know what to do and when to do it.

MtoS © 2009

Ongoing program reminders

Action: Remind the sales team about the program.

If the program runs over a number of weeks remind the sales team every 3

weeks about the program. Communicate either by speaking to them or via

personalized email.

- advise / discuss any results in their areas.

- remind them of their actions, gain their commitment to that again.

- solicit their feedback, take actions if required.

Why: Ensures the sales person knows that the program is still running and the

actions expected of them while allowing marketing to gain feedback to

determine if the program needs to be amended.

MtoS © 2009



the next steps are.

Phone: 10 minutes preparation and 5 minute phone call per sales team.

Email: 30 minutes email content development and time to send per rep.


Phone: 10 minutes preparation and 1-5 minute phone call per rep.



Phone: 20 minutes preparation and 10 minute phone call per rep.

Email: 1 hour email content development and time to send per rep.

MtoS © 2009




the next steps are.

Sample email content.


Sample email content based on the sales team doing a follow up call.



MtoS © 2009

Advise that the program has ended

Action: Communicate to the sales team that the program has ended and what

the next steps are.

Communicate via personalised email.

Thank them for their help and advise that:

you will shortly gather feedback from them individually and provide a

response to their feedback.

having taken into account the feedback you’ll share initial results with

them.

that the results will then be shared with the management.

Why: So that the sales person knows the program is finished and that their

feedback is appreciated and acted upon.

MtoS © 2009

Gather feedback

Action: Obtain feedback from sales individuals.

Schedule a 10 minutes call with the sales person to provide feedback.

cross check marketing’s view of results with their view.

capture both the positive and negative.

determine if there are any differences or concerns, capture these.

Gather all the differences and concerns. Identify key and common concerns

then formulate responses.

Schedule individual follow up calls to communicate the responses.

for anything minor acknowledge that you looked at them and they will be

taken into account in future programs.

Why: Shows their feedback is valued and acted upon, which makes them more

supportive as they believe it will produce more results for them.

Ensures that marketing can overcome any differences around results before

they are communicated to leadership.

MtoS © 2009

Action: Communicate the initial results of the program to the sales team.

10 minute briefing within 4 weeks of the program ending.

Provide a quick overview of the program.

Thank them for responding when you reached out to them for feedback. Give

an overview of that feedback, callout the some of the sales peoples feedback.

Give an overview of the results to date – call out one or two of the sales team

to give an update on their particular successes.

Welcome them to contact you directly if they have any further questions.

Why: Sales want to compare how they did to others, to see if the could get

better results, to judge if it was beneficial to them and to determine the level of

support to give to future programs.

MtoS © 2009

Communicate results to sales

Communicate results to leaders

Action: Communicate the results of the program to sales and BU leadership

teams.

Communicate in a very short email that appears personalized to them.

Thank sales leaders for their teams help, advise of the positive contribution

the team made in developing the program and providing feedback.

Provide brief statistics and comments on results.

Why: Allows the leadership to form a judgemental opinion on how well

marketing is doing in its lead generation and its relationship with sales and

their needs.

MtoS © 2009


Action: Communicate to the sales team that the program has ended and what the

next steps are.


Action: Obtain feedback from sales individuals.

Phone: 15 minutes preparation per rep and 10 minutes call per rep.

+ follow up.

Action: Communicate the initial results of the program to the sales team.

Phone: 20 minutes preparation and 10 minute phone call per sales team.


teams.

Email: 1 hour email content development and time to send per person.

MtoS © 2009

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