From his unique vantage point as Director and Head of Sales at Small Business Group – North America, Meta, Albert Chan is one of the world’s most knowledgeable experts on digital salesmanship. Having held leadership roles at companies such as P&G, Google, and now Meta, Albert has worked with over 100,000 clients such as Amazon, Walmart and eBay. As a Harvard Business School alumnus with over 20 years of sales and marketing experience, he has mastered the art of empowering diverse teams to set and achieve goals through a data-driven approach.
Albert will be sharing his expertise with aspiring sales and marketing managers in an exclusive webinar for Laba Business School this April.
In the following interview, Albert shares his thoughts on how marketing and sales can set common goals despite using different metrics, what the pandemic has taught us about communication, and how you can lead through change by empowering your team.
Tell us one thing that sales folks should know about marketing people.
Sales should recognise that the marketing people possess a deep understanding of the company's target audience. They invest their time in identifying the customer's needs and behaviours. So these people are crafting strategic messages that resonate with the market.
By leveraging this valuable information, sales teams can fine-tune their approach and tailor their communication to prospective clients. In essence, marketing provides a roadmap that guides sales to navigate the customer journey
And something marketing people should know about sales folks?
Marketers should recognise that the sales folks are the frontline people that interact with customers daily. They know customers the best. They possess a wealth of real-time market insights, customer objections and emerging trends. So marketing people can benefit from collaborating with the sales team to refine their strategies, campaigns and content.
Marketing should also recognise that sales is the revenue driver of the organisation. They have intense scrutiny and pressure to deliver revenue and achieve quotas. So marketers should be empathetic with that challenge.
They should know that both teams aim to achieve a common goal: continue to drive customer satisfaction and increase revenue.
Sales and marketing use different metrics. Is that a problem when trying to set common goals and how do you overcome it?
One way is to focus on the customer journey. Both sales and marketing play a vital role in this customer journey from awareness to conversion.
So it's important to identify the key touch points and metrics that reflect the performance of both teams, such as leads, conversion rates, customer lifetime value, customer satisfaction scores – these are some examples.
When it comes to KPIs like revenue growth, customer acquisition costs, customer conversion rates, there's a framework called “customer acquisition framework” that demonstrates where these marketing and sales metrics tie to where the customer is in that funnel.
Aligning on definitions is also key: ensuring that both teams can agree on shared definitions of key metrics, such as marketing qualified leads (MQL’s) and sales qualified leads (SQL’s). This alignment helps avoid confusion and ensures that both teams are working towards the same targets.
Finally, it’s also about recognising and celebrating the joint achievement of both teams. That is key to enforce the importance of this collaboration and the strengthening of commitment to shared objectives.
What do companies lose when they don’t get this crucial Sale-Marketing synergy right?
There are a few negative consequences. Number one is inefficient lead management. Without proper alignment, leads may not be nurtured effectively, causing potential customers and prospects to slip through the cracks.
The other one is wasted resources. When sales and marketing are not on the same page, you have misallocation, duplication and misdirection. This also increases costs and decreases in ROI on campaigns and initiatives.
Finally, there is inconsistent messaging. If both teams are not in sync, there's disjointed and confusing communication, both internally and externally. The consumers will receive confusing messaging which will ultimately erode trust and brand perception.
And what do they gain if they do get it right?
On the flipside, if they get it all right in terms of management, resourcing, messaging, all of these elements will be more streamlined, optimised and cohesive.
Bringing these teams together improves morale and teamwork. If they are aligned, they foster a better culture of cooperation, mutual support, productivity and creativity.
Finally, that brings accelerated growth and profitability. A harmonious relationship between these teams fuels the company's ability to have more synergies, attract new customers and retain existing ones, and drives revenue. This alignment sets the stage for long-term success and a competitive edge in the market.
A key element of this fragile sales-marketing relationship is communication, both formal and informal. What's best practice in this case?
There is a mixture of both formal and informal collaboration. One way to do this is by fostering that culture of collaboration. For example, inviting the team members to participate in cross functional projects.
When I was at Procter and Gamble, the marketing function would invite sales to our agency calls, global planning sessions, etc. So sales could understand what we did but also provide input and tell us what our customers say. Basically answer questions such as “if we were to launch this, how would the client and consumer react?”
And then vice versa. So where I'm at now {Meta}, we're working with our advertisers directly. We bring in our marketing folks so that they can provide a bit of perspective. For example, here’s a 360 launch plan and communication campaign that we want to go to the market with, but we have to ensure that all the points of contact are lined up and consistent.
Fostering that collaboration and inviting the other team to each individual's functional meetings, projects and brainstorming sessions is key.
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