Marketing and sales executives often deserve kudos for their feats. They work hard, they're knowledgeable about their discipline, and they have passion for what they do. But many times they don't get the recognition—and achieve the success—they deserve. Why? Because all too frequently sales and marketing are working on the same problem—with entirely different approaches. In my experience, marketing is usually playing with one deck, while sales plays with another.

Gaining agreement from both sides on the Market, Media and Offer, or what we refer to as M₂O, is the first step toward success. Getting sales and marketing to agree on who the right target Market is, which Media is most effective in reaching that market, and what precisely we Offer to that market is the table stakes in this game of cards. Only when both organizations play from the same deck can they begin to leverage each other's disciplines to impact revenue results.

Market

Even within the same company you will get as many different answers as the number of people questioned if you ask for the definition of a lead. One company I know burned through $100 million simply because marketing was pitching point solutions to a broad market while the elephant hunters in sales were only interested in seven-figure, enterprise deals. Guess what? This company went out of business and did not sell even one enterprise deal in three years.

Media

We recently helped another organization understand why half of its trade shows; and virtually all of its internally touted "integrated marketing," produced no results: Most of the methods selected were ineffective in reaching the desired market. Probably everyone has heard the quote from William Lever (of Lever Brothers): "Half of the money you spend in marketing is wasted—trouble is you don't know which half." With today's pressures, you can't afford to waste a single dollar, much less half of your marketing budget—which is why choosing the right media mix for your market is so important.

Offer

The need for clear and concise messaging that speaks to buyers' pain points is critical to marketing and sales success. If one group has one understanding, and the other is communicating differently, efforts collide. Agree on your offer, including problems solved, features/benefits, and competitive differentiators. And don't forget to factor in conditions-of-need, a critical component.

There are three conditions-of-need:

1. Fear of loss in your current situation,
2. Perceived risk of a deteriorating situation,
3. The opportunity to improve your current situation.

Guess which one is easiest to sell into? If you guessed the first one, you would be right. The reason that this is the most fertile condition to sell into is because it is a situation that I call "the tree in the living room." Do you think the close rate on a tree service is higher if the tree has fallen into the house or if the buyer is anticipating that a tree might fall into the house? You get the idea.

If marketers and sellers in your company are blaming the other side of the hall for revenue deficiencies, make sure there is alignment between these two groups around M₂O—Market, Media and Offer. While not always easy to achieve, you'll find that this one "fix"—stopping the proverbial tug-of-war—will address much of what may be broken in your organization.

By Dan McDade