Thursday, October 11, 2007
Are You Selling Aspirin or Vitamins?
byPaula Stout recently offered an interesting analogy in a Business Week article that illustrates the divide that often exists between sales and marketing at many companies. She said sales often uses the aspirin approach: sell to the pain points a customer might have. On the other hand, marketing often uses the vitamin approach: they assume clients want to grow so they offer longer-term solutions that will fortify future performance. It’s an illustrative comparison. The problem, of course, is that unless sales and marketing are on the same page, there is a good chance that your customers or prospective customers will be confused about your brand.
Customers need to see a consistent view of a company whether they are talking to sales, marketing, or for that matter, anyone else in the company. That type of consistency is what drives brand growth.
Advertising can exacerbate the problem if the message that is communicated is out of step with the actual customer experience at any point in the value chain. The same dichotomy that exists between sales and marketing is often reflected in communication channels as the struggle between promotion vs. advertising at many firms. Some companies overly rely on promotion tactics to address immediate wants and needs of customers and thereby have an immediate effect on the company’s sales revenues. Other businesses focus more on brand advertising that sells the company as a long term solution or resource. Usually a mix of both promotion and advertising are needed at most companies, but it is critical that the message from each of these channels doesn’t send a confusing brand message. They often do.
Ultimately, it is not whether sales or marketing is correct in their assumptions and approach. That encourages a dangerous inside-out approach to your business. What is important is 1) what does the customer think; 2) how does the customer buy; 3) when and why does the customer buy; and 4) what insights can you distill from your sales, marketing, or CRM process that will allow you to craft a compelling and consistent outside-in view of your brand to drive both immediate and long-term results.
