Video Transcription
Ryan Tansom: I gotta ask, what is your definition of sales versus marketing and how are they different and how do they actually work together?
Jennifer Zick: Yeah, well, in our B2C clients, they really don’t have sales teams. Right. They are all marketing driven. So we got to kind of set that over here. A lot of what we’re talking about here, the dynamics are B2B. Right. Or in a combined organization where they have both. So in B2B, first of all, I am, because I’ve been in sales and sales management and marketing and marketing management. I feel like I have authority to say this or I’ve earned the right to say, yeah, everybody deserves credit for every win.
The most toxic thing you can do in a B2B culture is try to separate out the credit for who got which deal. You know, does marketing get the credit for this sourced revenue and sales for this sourced revenue? That’s toxic and dysfunctional because there is no straight line to revenue in a B2B organization. Everything that you and I are doing right now to create content and value, to educate people is part of building trust and building awareness, which may lead somebody to somebody’s website to fill out a contact form that gets directed over to sales that, you know, like, it all works together. And the average B2B deal has five to seven stakeholders that all need to be brought through the journey. And the average deal cycle is anywhere from 6 to 24 months.
Marketing is playing a huge role in every brand, or should be. So all teams should get the credit. The whole ship rises.
Ryan Tansom: Yeah, totally, totally agree with you. You know, how, what do you do? Here’s how I’ve tried to describe it in the past: it’s like marketing. So sales is when there’s a human being that’s needed. And I don’t know if that’s just too simple. Like, okay, like all this brand awareness and there was a click and then there was this. And then all of a sudden we’re scheduling a call and then sales gets on the call and.
Which is super different because I grew up in a copy. I mean, it was for copier business. 400 phone calls, 15 appointments, seven net news, five closes. Yeah, I mean, like, it was. I mean, sales was always starting the relationship, which is not always the most effective way to do it. So I’m curious, like, when you have the comprehensive journey and marketing and sales are both playing a role, like, is my statement accurate or is it like, is there more of a gray area in between?
Jennifer Zick: Well, it depends. Are you and I here today speaking as sales leaders or marketers?
Ryan Tansom: It depends on what line item of the budget we’re talking about. Right?
Jennifer Zick: Right. Yeah. So in most B2B organizations, marketing is playing more of a behind the scenes role, less of direct on the call with the clients. But marketing often plays a very direct customer role when it comes to hosting high value, high touch events, creating webinar content that engages those audiences. Right. Marketing needs people too.
And I really preach for having your marketers aligned to engage directly with clients, to be the face that helps to capture the customer success story and relay it back to be the face that is engaged in community building. Not all marketers, you know, sales are a certain kind of Persona.
Salespeople are high on the woo, winning others over and being face people for the company. Some marketers are more behind the scenes personalities. But when you can bring marketers into customer conversation, they’re going to be better marketers because they’re not guessing at what customers really need. Right.
So even when I was no longer in sales and I was only in marketing, I was always actively engaged in client relationships and sharing resources and content with them and arm in arm with my sales comrades. Right. And designing events and experiences for customers, they trusted our brand and the marketing team and the sellers. So I don’t think it’s either or.
