Marketing creates the stories, getting the customersexcited. Sales closes the deals. And never the two shall meet. 

That was the old way of doing things, and that way isbroken. 

During our conversation, Justin McCarthy told me about thenew approach to selling. “It starts long before I get into the discovery stage with the clients,” he said. Customers, whether they are B2B or B2C, do their research on the internet weeks, months, years before they ever come into contact with a salesperson. 

“They’re way more informed than they’ve ever been.” 

This is not new information. This internet thing seems tohave caught on, and people have been using it to inform their purchase decisions for decades now. 

Marketers know this. Sales people know this. The problemlies between them, and understanding how the process needs to work. 

Sales-Marketing Communication 

In order to sell effectively, according to Justin, thereneeds to be a seamless connection between the stories marketing creates and the sales process. “Your brand and your story need to get out there in front of the (sales) messaging,” he said, “and then (sales needs) to be able quickly evaluate how much of that (the client) knows and find the parts that may or may not have resonated. 

“(Sales) needs to be the owner of the entire story so (they)can make those connections (with customers).” 

By having that kind of understanding of the brand story, andwhat the clients respond to, then salespeople can do a better job of selling based on what’s important to the client. Not just price. 

I would add there’s another component to this. Whilemarketing is busy sitting at their desks, cranking out stories and content and new strategies, the salespeople can tell from client feedback what’s actually working. 

So as they see what does and does not resonate with clients,they need to report this intel back to marketing so they can adjust accordingly. 

Enterprises Still Struggle 

For most people reading this, this may not be groundbreakinginformation. Still, many enterprises struggle with this approach, according to Justin. “The selling world has evolved,” he concluded.“A lot of bigger companies are still trying to catch up with where the marketplace is today and how it’s constantly changing.”