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What should sales' role be in an organization's decision to purchase marketing automation?
If marketing automation powers "revenue performance management", shouldn't sales have a large role in the marketing automation decision?
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3 Answers
I like Henry's perspective on this, but would like to take a different twist on this. Marketing should actively seek sales involvement/engagement in marketing automation tools--if only to increase sales participation in the utilization of the tools.
The marketing automation tools help sales in nurturing relationships with prospects and customers, helping to create sales qualified leads. If sales doesn't "own" the outputs of these tools, then the organization will not achieve the results it hopes to achieve in implementing them.
Hopefully, we've learned from the failures of CRM/SFA implementations--regardless how powerful management thought they were, if sales people weren't involved, the implementations ultimately fell short of expectations.
Logic would say they should Craig, but reality says they won't and they flat out don't. With the pervasiveness of Salesforce.com and its ever-expanding footprint of sales enablement capabilities, Sales usually only has one question: How will Marketing Automation enhance my prospecting, qualifying and overall account/prospect intelligence? No matter how much B2B marketers stress how much lead management practices drive more and better qualified opportunities into the sales pipeline, most sales teams are from Missouri and will believe it when they see it.
We need to remember that it took an awful long time for sales reps to see the value in Sales Force Automation, mostly from Salesforce.com. I'm afraid that it will be another few years before we see sales playing a bigger role in the MA decision process.
Coincidentally, I have been wondering why salespeople have not been invited into the entire MA process, from purchase through ongoing use. Organizational culture will dictate success, not the tool.
Henry, sales teams that are in Missouri with a "believe it when they see it" attitude were placed there by poor organizational culture.
Teaming up with sales in the purchase is more than political, it's the table where the perfect outcome is defined. Bringing in sales after the system is implemented is like roadways always under construction for widening and repairs because of poor planning.
My feeling is research and purchase process of MA can and should be used to align sales and marketing. Not inviting sales in as the major stakeholder they are, widens the gap between the two. Purchasing MA and ramming it down sales pipeline so to speak, is the method for fulfilling the prophesy of failure. Leadership should be selling a shared vision.
An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure.
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