Marketing strategy, a driver of sales force success

While companies’ commercial performance depends more and more on the effectiveness of their sales and marketing strategies — and the two are closely linked — reconciling them is not always straightforward. New products? New strategies? A change of policy? All are reasons for marketing policy to keep evolving and adapting, with one challenge always in sight: winning over the sales force…

This is not always easy for sales teams to manage. Hitting targets… Salespeople are not only under pressure on this front, they also often depend on a fast-changing context. As strategies adapt to shifting markets, companies have no choice but to keep adjusting their marketing policy, or risk seeing their messages lose relevance and their sales fall. They therefore need to stimulate and motivate their sales forces by giving them strategic, tactical and relevant tools — a key factor in successful selling.

What is at stake for companies?

The marketing function aims to study and understand likely market trends and to influence consumer choices. Building on its findings, the sales strategy is then organised around these conclusions and sets clearly defined objectives. While, financially, marketing studies help select the products best suited to consumers’ tastes in their market segment, commercially their main purpose is to give salespeople the components of their strategy — that is, the most compelling sales arguments — while respecting the company’s profitability requirements…

Building bridges between marketing and sales strategies: the key to success

A company’s sales policy is about creating the most favourable working environment for the success of its sales force since, in the end, salespeople remain the real spearhead of its strategy. That is not always easy, although experience shows that only effective collaboration between all parties truly guarantees success… provided a few basic principles are respected.

First, good communication between the two departments: for a strategy to work, salespeople should be informed of the strategy devised by marketing and understand its objectives — otherwise they cannot apply it. Second, both departments must speak with one voice, so that the sales force argues its case correctly in negotiations and closes sales — which means involving them jointly in shaping the company’s overall strategy.

In an increasingly open and globalised competitive landscape, sales forces are gaining strategic importance and responsibility! Hence the need for close collaboration between all those involved, a sound knowledge of their markets’ strengths and weaknesses, and a genuine battle plan drawn up together — vital to the company’s growth and, ultimately, its survival…