First off, I am not a professional blogger, I am a sales guy, which means I have no real discernible skill. However, for the good of sales and marketing alignment everywhere, I feel compelled to let marketers behind the velvet sales rope to be briefed on one of the closest held secrets of the sales fraternity. I will probably need to go into the witness protection program after this post, because there will be salespeople around every corner that will want my head shot on more than a PowerPoint presentation.

Ok, here goes, deep breath, salespeople are double-talkers, even within your own company. From the day salespeople enter the sacred sales fraternity, they are taught the ancient double-talk martial art of C.Y.A. For many years, marketers had little to no defense for this martial art and thus canyons were created between sales and marketing departments.

At the core of this double-talk martial art is the offensive move known as accusation. Salespeople have adeptly used this skill for years to undermine the efforts of marketing departments. When leads were plentiful, salespeople would accuse marketing of providing less than optimal leads. When leads were few and far between, sales predictably accused marketing of not providing enough leads to allow for growth in revenue. I have used this skill myself, so I know of what I speak.

Both of these tactics are meant to lower management expectations and take the focus off poor or satisfactory performance from the salespeople and put the spotlight squarely on marketing. If by chance a salesperson did exceed management’s expectation then that salesperson was honored as a hero because they overcame the handicaps provided to them by marketing.

Marketers rejoice though, there are strategies to rebuke the double-talkers. However, to completely repel the double-talkers, management will require proof, numbers, analytics, and the Holy Grail called ROI.

Ok, so you caught me, the above portion of this blog is slightly tongue-in-cheek, however I think the message is still valid. In order to validate the success of marketing programs it is utterly mandatory to determine ROI from the programs. This has proven to be more easily said than done since once the leads hit the sales team, and due to the chasm found between sales and marketing in many companies, the likelihood of rolling sales back to individual programs has been few and far between. There is a way though.

First, you must begin by adding automation to your sales & marketing processes so that both sides of the enemy line have access to the same data repository.

Second, you must begin scoring the leads driven by your marketing programs. Paint a picture of your perfect customer and then create a formula based on those customers’ attributes. Then for your next program, score the incoming leads against that formula to find the best leads from the program. Send only those leads to your top salespeople and then track them through your automation.

Third, for those leads that are not the best, categorize them as best as possible and set up a lead nurturing program that sends communications and messaging that best fits the leads’ attributes. Over time, the leads’ engagements in these communications will move them up the scoring ladder or out of your database.

Fourth, rinse and repeat.

In no time at all you will have the proof, analysis, numbers, and ROI that management is craving and a lead management program that delivers the best buying candidates to sales. And if you worried abut sales reaction to all this “micro-management”, don’t be. Sales will be too busy selling and cashing checks (ahhh, the glory of sales) to complain, and surprisingly you might be their new best friend.

P.S. Due to previous scheduling, I paraphrased and simplified the steps to lead scoring, lead nurturing, lead lifecycle management, and lead automation. If you have more questions or would like to go into more depth, please just reach out to me at ebrunker@bulldogsolutions.com (hey, I’m a a sales guy, remember!).

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