Here’s a message for Sales and Marketing:

“Hey guys, we’re all on the same side.”

Why this sibling rivalry between sales and marketing? We’re all part of the same family. When we do well our parents prosper and so do we. We’re all in the business of selling products, ideas and services. Whether it’s belly-to-belly, or through media and collateral, we’re all trying to persuade by providing information needed for buying decisions.

So let’s try to make our parents happy.

A 2004 study by the Chief Marketing Officer’s Council found that up to 40% of typical sales rep’s time was spent customizing materials for his or her job. That should never be. A rep’s valuable time should be devoted to selling. If a company invests $75,000 a year in salary and fringes for him to go sell stuff, he should not be allowed to use up $30,000 worth of selling time just getting ready to make the pitch. (That’s a hell of a wind up.)

Those of us who have run up and down the road for a few decades know how important the right support materials and prep time are to a rep. But we also know it’s far more effective to leverage marcom materials produced by the marketing department than to do it on our own.

The sales staff will argue that the materials aren’t right for them. That’s family discord that should not be allowed. Unless sales and marketing communicate and cooperate in the development of unified messages there will always be costly losses in efficiency, opportunity and productivity.

With today’s technologies, tweaking and customizing sales materials and presentations is best handled by marcom with input from sales.

Business is not an agrarian society. Let’s tear down the silos and cast out any smug occupants who think they have all the answers. It’s time to listen to one another with open minds. Then we’ll be better equipped to influence those who just might want to accept our offers.

Suggestion: Go to http://www.cmocouncil.org/ and read the 2004 special report: “Making Marketing Messaging Meaningful.” Though the study was based on interviews with CMO’s of technology companies, its findings apply to us all.