“I need a salesperson!” – Or do you…

Every company needs sales – new start-ups need customers, growing businesses need to pay for growing investments in overhead, even an owner looking to sell the business needs sales to demonstrate that the company is viable. So, if every company needs sales, then every company must need a salesperson, right?

Not so fast. I may be biased here (OK, I’m totally biased) but I think that companies should not hire another salesperson until they have their marketing under control. A great marketing plan and execution team make sales easier and more efficient in every way. This is especially important to consider if you’re in one of the fly-over areas of the country where salespeople service territories from larger centres nearby.  Where I live, there’s a tremendous lack of experienced salespeople or young ‘go-getters’ fresh out of school who could become great salespeople. We don’t train them in our schools and we don’t have companies with large salesforces that can spin off trained, experienced salespeople to smaller organizations. Short supply means the best salespeople are fully employed elsewhere and they’re often too expensive for companies who want to bring on a commissioned salesperson so they can “pay for themselves.”

How can a marketing strategy lead to increased sales? Here are some things to consider before you post that sales position.

1. Marketers can generate leads more effectively and efficiently. With amazing tools like search engines, email, and social media, marketers can automate lead generation. Salespeople are better utilized closing the deal. In B2B deals, salespeople add value when they are in direct conversation with a potential buyer – they can ask questions, customize their pitch, and answer objections. When lead generation is undertaken by valuable salesperson, the cost of taking them away from closing is too high. Let marketing find ways to connect with potential customers and qualify them. Then hand the salespeople hot leads that just need the skills of a salesperson to get the prospect to ‘yes.’

2. Marketing support is integral to a salesperson’s effectiveness. Without a great website, promotional tools, and a solid brand, sales are difficult to close. You can hire a salesperson to put all of this together while they are trying to make sales but it takes time and focus away from the thing you hired a salesperson to do. Having marketing support and tools ready to go is very attractive to a more experienced salesperson so recruitment might be easier.

3. A strategic marketing plan ensures that demand creation tactics and brand development work contribute to the overall goals of the company. That plan is like a roadmap keeping a salesperson or team coordinated with the goals of the organization. In general, salespeople are naturally opportunity seekers but marketing can keep them focused on the low-hanging fruit in the markets with the biggest opportunity. Keeping a salesperson on a track to the opportunities with the greatest potential will increase the probability of sales and that momentum is a wonderful thing for everyone in the company.

In short, marketing creates momentum for salespeople to come in and do the work that they’re hired for. The easier sales are, the more success a salesperson will find, and the more momentum you’ll develop as a team. There’s nothing like increased sales to keep a salesperson around. If you know you need to improve sales, evaluate your marketing before you build up your sales team.