As the country head, it’s not uncommon that I hear our sales and marketing teams are in conflict with each other. For us, the main reason is that Sales teams feel like the marketers don’t understand the customers. Sales teams are on the front lines, dealing with customers day in and day out. They see firsthand what the customer needs and wants. Marketers, on the other hand, are often removed from the customer. They rely on research and data to make decisions about marketing initiatives. This can lead to a disconnect between what the Sales team knows the customer needs and what the Marketing team is actually doing. Sales teams can end up feeling like their input is being ignored, while Marketing teams can feel like they are being second-guessed. I try to avoid this conflict by ensuring that there is communication and collaboration between Sales and Marketing. Both teams need to understand each other’s objectives and how they can best work together to achieve them.
Founder & CEO at GerdLi
Answered 3 years ago
The blame game. Because their roles are very similar and they rely on one another, if there's a lack of communication, sales and marketing teams can play the blame game when things don’t go well. For example, a sales team can blame the marketing team for not providing good marketing content, while the marketing team can blame the sales team for not executing properly and thus sabotaging their campaign. Because they are similar, sales and marketing teams need to be constantly communicating so they don’t fall prey to the blame game when things heat up.
Because they are on different parts of the sales funnel, when something goes awry it leads to conflict when one wants to blame the other due to a lack of management clearly defining roles. Having different departments brings along different expectations, and when one team mistakenly believes something is the responsibility of the other, it often leads to long term hard feelings when those expectations are not met. Not understanding the other’s role when it comes to first impressions, engagement, customer service, and conversions, can end in frustration and blaming when one, or both, drop the ball. Therefore, when business owners and management fail to clearly define each departments’ responsibilities, not only from an overall perspective but a project one as well, these misunderstandings are inevitable and so is conflict.
One thing that creates conflict between Sales and Marketing teams is that they have different goals. Sales teams are typically focused on generating revenue and meeting quotas, while marketing teams are focused on creating awareness and generating leads. This can lead to tension between the two groups because they are not working towards the same objectives. Ultimately the company has one major goal, which is to generate revenue. Marketing teams should be mindful of this and align their goals with the company's overall objectives. Sometimes marketing teams feel good about click rates and conversions, but if these metrics are not resulting in closed revenue, then they are not doing their job. This can be frustrating to a marketer, who may feel like the sales team is not doing what they need to in order to close the sale. Marketers can ask to see the sales calls so that they understand the effort that sales is putting in to make the sale.
The greatest obstacle that the marketing team and sales team face is the lack of communication between the two. In order to avoid conflict, you need to make sure that everyone is on the same page with regards to your marketing strategy. If you don’t keep the sales team in the loop, they will be confused when they get questions from customers about new features or products that they don’t know anything about. This can cause conflict between sales and marketing teams.
Marketing Departments and Sales teams work together to grow the company, but they each have their methods for doing so and, in that process, may not see eye-to-eye. Marketing departments focus on building an ever-growing pipeline of qualified leads. The sales professionals manage deals by meeting monthly quotas or quarterly goals, but each has different time frames that they need to work to. As a result, this can lead to the two becoming frustrated with the variance of the timeline things are completed. To resolve this, having a detailed structure that allows both teams to not only get what they need on the correct schedule but can also give each department the space to communicate any issues that may need ironing out openly can allow both teams to work effectively and quickly, improving the overall work environment.
Diverse types of people are often drawn to sales and marketing. Marketing professionals are frequently thorough, analytical, and goal-oriented. Contrarily, salespeople enjoy being at the forefront of client interaction and are frequently good connection builders. Sales teams may come across as being laid-back to the more methodical marketing people. Disparities in personality features and priorities can occasionally cause major misunderstandings in a competing and heated setting. Thus, the difference in work culture and outlook on responsibilities between the teams can be the cause of serious clashes and conflicts.
When sales and marketing teams can't agree on how to communicate to their target audience – this can create confusing brand messaging and loss in sales. For example, if your marketing team creates content with an empathic approach while your sales department uses more robotic language, this will create confusion around how clients internalize the brand. Ultimately, this disconnect in communication styles could cost your business a lot of sales in the long run. Brand messaging should be consistent no matter through a sales call, website copy, or social media post.
Sales and marketing have different time orientations which can create conflict during a company’s go-to-market process. Marketing teams analyze consumer trends and develop a strategy to best reach a market of target customers. Sales teams are the initial interface between customers and the product who often apply the strategies developed by marketing departments. Marketing teams tend to have a broader strategic scope and future facing orientation. Sales teams are more directly involved with the present and engagement of the customer. These two perspectives can lead to conflicting thought processes between sales and marketing teams.
The main reason for conflicts between sales and marketing teams is competition for funds. The sales team demands a budget for training and incentives to increase productivity whereas the marketing team requires good funding for high-quality social media campaigns and other materials. Since there is a limited budget the funds get split among the teams and there is competition among them for it. It raises a feeling of jealousy and results in clashes among them. There is a lack of communication due to this competition and no mutual understanding due to which there are often verbal conflicts among both teams.
You would think that two departments with mutual interests would get along well. That’s not the case when it comes to the sales and marketing departments. The conflict between these departments is universal. Their difference in opinion could be the reason behind this conflict. Seeing that sales and marketing are two different departments, their strategies can also differ. The marketing team might be more focused on generating leads. The sales team might focus on turning those leads into customers. Even though their purpose is the same; the conflict rises from the way of achieving that purpose. Disagreements between the departments can cause loss of opportunities or interruption in operations. You can minimize this conflict by comparing the different strategies and choosing the best one. You can also devise an integrated strategic plan that would pacify both departments.
Marketing professionals get the word out. Sales people close the deal. Who gets more of the credit for growing the brand and meeting revenue goals? One has a longer reach and deals with brand reputation. The other engages specifically with the customer, those whose money is the lifeblood of the business. It’s hard to have one without the other. Closing sales becomes easier with the help of marketing professionals. Marketing becomes easier when you have an established customer base, which you can’t have without an effective sales force. Company leaders need to have those on the marketing team and sales team agree that they’re equally valuable. At all costs, avoid pitting one team against the other.
The sales and marketing departments of a business share vital roles. If these two departments work well together, it could lead to exponential growth for the business. Conflict can cause productivity and profit margin discrepancies. Miscommunication is a common reason for departmental conflict. Coordination amongst departments is necessary for its smooth functioning. Timely and effective communication is vital to a company’s productivity. Lack of effective communication can turn small matters into huge disputes. It can further lead to trust issues and decrease productivity. Smooth communication between independent departments should be implemented and governed by managers. If emails are disrupting communication, then using services like Video calls and Messaging apps can be helpful. Inter-department communication can get tricky but is needed for the company’s success.
Hi there, My name is Rob Reeves, and I'm the CEO and President of Redfish Technology, a recruiting firm working in the tech sector. Our specialties include both sales and marketing positions, so I think I can help you out here. Sales and marketing teams are likely to butt heads when there's a good deal of overlap in the roles. Sometimes I'm looking at job applications in both departments, and it's clear the hiring manager just copy-and-pasted much of the skill set and expectations. This can lead to big problems down the road. Everyone ends up feeling like: a) someone is stepping on their toes; or b) someone is not carrying their fair load. Avoid resentment by clearly delineating these separate positions. Set boundaries and make the responsibilities of each team clear. People do best when they know what's expected of them. Name: Rob Reeves Title: CEO and President Company: Redfish Technology Website: https://www.redfishtech.com/
Sometimes the sales and marketing teams do not listen to one another. The sales teams may be more concerned with the quality of each lead, while the marketing team may be looking more at the bigger picture in terms of their marketing strategies. Both teams need to find a way to meet in the middle and see each other's point of view to work well together and ultimately increase company growth and productivity.
Sales and Marketing teams can go head-to-head when marketing strategies and efforts don't align with the current sales approach. This can cause confusion across the board, from account management to customer service. It's important to make sure that your departments are successfully communicating cross-functionally and thus ensuring consistency between how you're selling and how you're marketing.
The main conflict would take place at the time of determination of prices as there would be variations between these two sectors. If the marketing isn't good then the sales wouldn't take place. The efforts mostly lie on the marketing team to achieve the goals for the sales team. If the promotion isn't good then the marketing would take the blame and marketing would point out the products that are out for sale. These are the things that create conflicts.
The sales and marketing teams may perceive purely in terms of the competition at times. They encourage their own team members and are fighting for their fair part of the money. They may not see the value of cooperating. You may then inform both teams that coordination is critical for reducing conflict, wasted time, and wasted money. Furthermore, collaboration allows your company to create a better environment for both new and existing customers.
Conflicting strategies can sink the ship. Conflicting strategies on how to grow your company is one of the biggest conflicts that can happen between the sales and the marketing teams. For example, if your marketing team wants to focus on social media and leveraging influencers and your sales team wants to focus more on lead generation - there’s an issue there. This is huge because you cannot grow a successful company when a strategy cannot be agreed upon - that will only lead to bottlenecks, wasted time, and ineffective campaigns.
Role confusion is one the top reasons conflict occurs between a sales and marketing team. There is overlap between the roles which can cause confusion. Make sure you clearly define each department's role within your company, as well as each team's responsibilities. Sales may work hand-in-hand with account management, whereas marketing may work alongside advertising. Each department has different partnerships.