Page 48 - HBR's 10 Must Reads - On Sales

ENDING THE WAR BETWEEN SALES AND MARKETING
Do We Need to Be More Aligned?

THE NATURE OF RELATIONS BETWEEN Sales and Marketing in your organiza-
tion can run the gamut—from undefined (the groups act independent of one
another) to integrated (the groups share structures, systems, and rewards).
Not every company will want to—or should—move from being undefined to
being defined or from being defined to being aligned. The following exhibit
can help you decide under which circumstances your company should more
tightly integrate its sales and marketing functions.

Undefined Defined Aligned
Don’t make The company is The company’s prod- The company lacks
any changes small. ucts and services are a culture of shared
if. . . The company has fairly cut-and-dried. responsibility.
good informal Traditional marketing Sales and Marketing
relationships. and sales roles work report separately.
Marketing is still a in this market. The sales cycle is
sales support There’s no clear and fairly short.
function.
compelling reason to
change.

Tighten the Conflicts are evident Even with careful A common process or
relationship between the two definition of roles, business funnel can
between functions. there’s duplication be created for manag-
Sales and There’s duplication of effort between the ing and measuring
Marketing of effort between the functions; or tasks revenue-generating
if. . . are falling through the activities.
functions; or tasks
are falling through cracks.
the cracks.
The market is
The functions com- commoditized and
pete for resources or makes a traditional
funding. sales force costly.
Products are devel-
oped, prototyped, or
extensively cus-
tomized during the
sales process.
Product life cycles
are shortening, and
technology turnover
is accelerating.

Move to defined Move to aligned Move to integrated

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