The Marketing Misconceptions series will focus on topics that are common perceptions of marketing and then clarifying them. Some are light hearted ones that make most Marketers roll their eyes. Others are actually pretty important and could be hurting your business.
This marketing misconception is an age old tug-of-war that happens in B2B organizations - this old school perception that because it's business to business, Sales must lead the strategy and therefore the organization as a whole. And as a result Marketing's only customer is the Sales team. In recent years that has started to shift in some organizations to believe that an organization should be Marketing-led instead. Obviously as a Marketer, I am a bit biased, but even taking my Marketing cap off, and utilizing my business strategy brain, I disagree pretty fervently with the Sales-led philosophy for a multitude of reasons. And I'm honestly not 100% convinced an organization should be entirely Marketing-led either. Let's dig in a bit more as to why.
To Debunk this Marketing Misconception, Start with What's in a Sales-Led Approach?
At the highest level, the primary focus for Sales is to close deals and driving revenue through direct interactions with customers. Sales teams are responsible for converting leads into customers, often relying on high-touch, relationship-building strategies. I'm not saying there isn't a huge amount of value in that. A customer's experience is beyond vital in a B2B deal so ensuring they feel supported and guided by their account rep is very necessary.
However, there are a multitude of issues that arise when Sales is the main - or sometimes sole - driver of decision making and strategies for an org:
Short-Term Focus: Sales-led organizations by the nature of their role often prioritize short-term revenue goals over long-term brand building, business building and customer relationship management. As a result, the organization's focus or goals are rarely more than a quarter in advance. While this can drive immediate results, it often sacrifices long-term strategy and direction.
Examples of how this can look? A rep gives white glove treatment and relationship builds until the sale is achieved. But once the order is placed, that customer does not have much interaction with the rep, nobody else in the organization actually trains the customer on the new product if it's a complex product and when issues arise, the customer feels alone on their journey. When the focus is on the sale, the customer experience after the sale isn't thought through and Marketing doesn't have the time to think through how to extend that experience in a meaningful way. The long-term implications can mean when that customer goes to replace that product, the lack of white glove experience post-sale could sway them to look elsewhere.
Limited Scalability: Sales-led companies tend to rely heavily on individual sales reps’ ability to close deals. This creates challenges in scaling the business because it ties growth to the additional headcount required for sales reps to increase revenue. When the only answer or option is to add more feet on the street, there does come a point in time where you just can't grow enough - especially when the organization is competing with others who are not Sales-led.
And how can this manifest and affect the organization over time? Headcount = cost to the organization. And like many other departments, when organizations decide to start cutting costs, sales headcount can sometimes get axed with a philosophy that the reps will just have to cover more territories. Eventually, a sales reps' territory gets so large (with the portfolio they are required to cover getting bigger at the same time) that they simply cannot get to every potential customer to try to drive business and they cannot give all the products in their bag equal weight and attention. And they certainly can't provide that level of high-touch service they want to. This sets them up for failure.
I've seen this get so severe that the reps start expecting the Marketing team to participate in or lead sales pitches as a bandaid to address the issue. And guess who doesn't have time to do this? Marketing. And guess who isn't impressed by this structure? The customer.
Siloed Departments: When Sales leads the organization, there can be a disconnect between what Marketing is producing and what Sales needs. Marketing becomes reactive, focusing on serving the needs of Sales in the near-term without contributing to larger strategic initiatives like market positioning or brand development. As an organization grows and the number of products offered grows, this becomes extremely challenging because the focus becomes on individual products being sold one at a time, not based on holistic offerings that can benefit a customer and drive additional revenue
What does this one look like? It looks like Sales reps each having their own customized sell sheet. This may seem harmless because it's focusing on being high touch for that individual customer. But when you have 500-1000 sales reps? That's a hot mess for Marketing to support. And from a brand and business perspective, it can create mass confusion for customers and can, in some cases, become so customized and specific that the rep is promising products or product adjustments to a customer that don't exist or the organization doesn't have R&D funding to support developing.
Worst case scenario, you get so far in the hole that the organization has multiple years worth of technical debt or customized solutions to create for customers, leaving R&D with no time or funding to innovate for longer-term success.
Now let's look at the Power of a Marketing-Led Approach
On the flip side, a marketing-led organization operates differently. If it's Marketing-led, Marketing builds a strategic direction based on understanding the market, developing brand positioning, generating demand, and nurturing prospects throughout the buyer’s journey. Utilizing data and understanding the B2B buyer's journey - which is anything but linear - allows Marketing to focus on attracting the right prospects, building awareness, and ensuring that Sales has a qualified pipeline to work from.
In other words, when an organization is Marketing-led, driving revenue in a scalable way can lead to real growth:
Strategic Vision: Marketing-led organizations prioritize brand equity, market positioning, and long-term customer relationships. As I always say, business strategy should connect to brand strategy and brand strategy should connect to the marketing strategy. When these elements are not connected, organizations waste money and time. Sure some leaders don't believe brand and marketing strategy matter, but they are beyond vital - especially in times like these where budgets are precarious and recessions are present (see this post for more color there).
When these are aligned and are focused on the next 5 years vs the next 5 weeks, budgets are spent more efficiently and long-term business goals and sustainable growth are achievable. It can also take some of the strain off the sales team because revenue growth is not solely hanging over sales' heads to make it happen.
Data-Driven Decision Making: Marketing teams, especially in B2B environments, have access to detailed analytics about customer behavior, content engagement, and lead nurturing. This allows them to refine strategies and create demand, ensuring that Sales teams are working with highly qualified leads, which increases close rates. In other words, work smarter, not harder.
In B2B, most customers today do 70% of their research online before ever talking to a sales rep. If Marketing can influence or inform that research and warm up leads before that customer reaches out to the Sales rep, guess who can spend less time educating customers up front? Sales.
And if Marketing can warm up those leads and then hand them over to Sales, guess who can be more intentional and focused on when and where to meet with potential customers who are actually interested? This allows the sales reps to focus on that relationship with the customer who is truly interested and answering their questions, not running around inefficiently cold calling on people who don't have budget or have never heard of the company or product.
Alignment with the Customer Journey: Because Marketing isn't out chasing deals one by one, marketing are uniquely positioned to take a holistic view of the customer journey, from awareness to advocacy. And as a result, when customers change course or new trends pop up - which they often do - marketing can see it happening in real time and pivot quickly to accommodate. This often supports Sales more efficiently.
The Best Model: Smartketing - err, Partnership
The reality is that neither department should be leading the other one. Placing one in the driver's seat over the other creates a variety of issues like misaligned priorities, infighting and finger pointing with nobody actually taking accountability.
Instead of treating Sales as Marketing’s client, or expecting Sales to kowtow to Marketing, the best way forward is actually a partnership. The two departments are equally as vital to the success of the organization - Marketing focused on that 60,000 foot view and long-term strategy with Sales focused on high touch, quality customer experience and short-term revenue success. So why not act as equal partners? This breaks down the silos, creates positive collaboration and allows everyone to work toward shared goals.
This concept is sometimes called "Smarketing" – and heres the value it can bring:
Shared KPIs: Both Sales and Marketing should be held accountable for metrics like lead quality, conversion rates, customer acquisition cost (CAC), and customer lifetime value (CLV). This ensures both teams are aligned on who and what to focus on together. Imagine what that customer experience would feel like if the customer gets a seamless experience from awareness through acquisition to retention? It might even foster opportunities for additional revenue based on such a quality and seamless experience!
Constant Communication: Sales and Marketing need to be in regular communication, sharing insights, and collaborating on strategies. Marketing can use feedback from Sales to adjust targeting and messaging, while Sales can not only leverage content and strategies developed by Marketing, they can also lean on Marketing to do some of the heavy lifting to create an aware and engaged potential customer.
Joint Planning: Sales and Marketing should be involved in planning and strategy sessions together, ensuring that both teams’ efforts are aligned with the company’s overall business goals. There's nothing worse than when two teams who are both trying to do the right thing for the organization, are doing it in totally different directions. When Sales and Marketing work together, they end up finding efficiency and creativity in that collaboration. Again, work smarter, not harder.
Conclusion
Sales and Marketing should not exist in a client-service relationship in B2B organizations. Instead, both departments should work as equals, with shared goals and accountability. A shared approach allows for strategic growth, better customer insights, and improved alignment across the organization, while empowering Sales to focus on closing deals with highly qualified leads. Easier said than done, obviously. But organizations who foster this collaboration are often the ones winning.
Need help guiding your Sales and Marketing teams to a partnership? Reach out here and we can build a transformation plan together.
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