Alan Weiss, noted independent consultant, author and speaker, recently posted an entry about the divisiveness and battling across functions that is so commonplace inside organizations.  His posting, entitled: Corporate Tribalism, is worthy of review, printing and framing for its great advice. 

Reading this compelling entry prompted me to again take up one of my favorite topics: the ridiculous, never ending battle for corporate supremacy or at least for moral high-ground between Sales and Marketing.

With apologies for doing a poor imitation of Jerry Seinfeld, "What is it about Sales and Marketing professionals that they just can’t seem to get along?"  These two functions have battled for years and I fault the leaders of both functions as well as senior management for failing to create the conditions required for collaboration and success. 

The best businesses that I’ve worked or consulted for have leaders in sales and marketing that clearly understand where and when the two functions need to come together and where they need to focus on their own unique tasks.  And yes, there are areas where collaboration is critical and areas where the professionals in each function do not need to collaborate on a daily basis.  Organizations and leaders that get this, work hard to put in place the right shared measurements, KPIs and incentives.  Of course, they also take into account the separate and distinct tasks, KPIs and incentives required to optimize with the purely functional tasks as well.

It is wonderful to see the value that is created when sales and marketing are aligned around market strategy, lead generation, messaging, value proposition and the process for converting leads to customers and beyond.  Watching the two teams collaborate to drive business is like watching an orchestra perform your favorite symphony.

As great as it can be when sales and marketing are properly led, aligned and motivated, it is truly ugly when they are not.  In this all-too-common situation, infighting, silo politics and disjointed activities resulting in suboptimal results are the order of the day.  If this describes your environment, it is time to call a truce, sit down at the table with your counterparts and start the process of disarmament. 

  • If you are a senior leader or CEO of a team with a sales and marketing war raging, you can and should affect dramatic change in the activities and alignment of sales and marketing leadership, goals and incentives.  However, momentarily resist the urge to place one under the other (the knee jerk is usually to place marketing under sales).  If the two leaders have not been able to solve this on their own, you need to find out if both are truly at fault or if one effectively blocked efforts.  Learn about your leaders and make a deliberate decision on whether either individual is a strong enough business-person to lead an integrated function directly.  You may need a new leader.
  • Again, for the senior leader or CEO, remember that marketing has a tactical component and a strategic component.  In many poorly thought-out plans to solve a sales and marketing split, the focus is solely on lead generation and tools/content creation (all close to the sales heart), and market and product strategy issues are ignored.  Don’t ignore the need for part of marketing to think and act strategically–it is not just a sales support function. 
  • For the functional leaders, focus initially on coming together around the lead generation and promotion activities.  Create cross-functional initiatives to educate the respective teams on the sales process model and campaign development approach.  Work together on improving the lead qualification process and create an initiative to match up sales tools development with the sales process model.  Formalize the project/programs by creating shared goals, KPIs and back the programs with an appropriate compensation component. 
  • As collaboration around tactical programs takes hold, begin the work of aligning around market strategy, growth opportunities and new strategy initiatives.  Leverage the model for collaboration on promotional activities and apply it for strategic opportunity assessment and implementation.  If the strategy calls for going after a new market or opening a new geography, develop and work the program as a team…not as individual departments.
  • Work hard at strengthening the relationships between the teams.  Marketing associates need to spend time in the field at events or my favorite, spend a week making calls with a Rep.  Sales members should find opportunities to involve marketing counterparts through Win/Loss calls, regional meetings and helping pass along client references  and success stories. The opportunities to cooperate and collaborate for value-creation are plentiful. 

There is no place for "Corporate Tribalism" as Alan Weiss describes it, and sales and marketing are the areas where this phenomena often rears its ugly head.  Alan’s closing comments are apropos here:

"Tribalism is the worst kind of corporate divisiveness. Most clients
will readily agree to ending it, but they are unable to identify it. If
your client succumbs to it, you can’t blame colonialism, but you can
blame lousy leadership and shallow consulting."

Make 2008 the year that you focus on eliminating "Sales and Marketing Tribalism" from your workplace.