Sales vs Marketing – who wins?

It’s the great debate – who does more for their company? Sales or Marketing? Do sales get bragging rights for actually converting the leads or do marketing take it for attracting the leads in the first place? We examine who wins and who losses when it comes to the world of business.

Sales

The sales environment is a difficult one. Outbound cold-calling can be draining, particularly on the days where you get an angry prospect on the other end of the line. Luckily, with lead generation technology showing sales which leads are actually interested in their business, the life of a salesperson is getting easier. Marginally.

However, converting those leads is still a challenge. Those looming end of month or quarter targets are daunting and an ever-lengthening sales cycle world. But at the end of the day, these are the people that are converting potential opportunities into real money for your business.

Marketing

Most marketing departments have a limited budget and work wonders with it. Not only do they drive traffic to your website, but they also keep an eye on your businesses brand and awareness. A successful marketing team can take your business from a “nobody” to a “somebody”.

Of course, they have the double-edged sword of not only creating lots of leads for your business but quality leads too. This can be difficult and often a sore point between sales and marketing when they don’t agree on what qualifies a lead. Luckily, with lead scoring software and analytics, marketing can now focus on where qualified leads are coming from, reducing their spend and still meeting your expectations.

So, who wins?

The answer is, neither and both. One team does not work without the other. It is imperative in business that both teams know this. Sales slagging off marketing for just making results look pretty or marketing complaining that sales don’t do enough won’t help anyone. You need a system in place where both teams can see exactly what each other are producing to harmonise your businesses results.

That’s why lead generation software and lead management within your CRM is becoming so popular. By being able to track your leads from every marketing campaign and their progress throughout the life of the sales cycle, both teams can appreciate each others efforts. Combine this with constant communication and you have two winning teams that contribute to a successful business.