I remember when I was an engineer and my manager told me, with a sneer in her voice, that Field Marketing needed someone to help with a demo. Apparently, Marketing was supposed to be able to use a product that was intended to be used by IT folks. And we engineers were supposed to look upon them with disdain when they couldn’t. It didn’t make sense to me.
Later, when I was a new Product Manager, an executive in Sales told us that they knew the customers and why they buy and that we did not. Okay, I thought. You spend every day meeting with customers and prospects, I agree with that. After the meeting, I went up to this person and asked how we could best transfer some of that knowledge and get some face-to-face time with the customers. He told me that they couldn’t bother customers by bringing in folks that want to be there just to hear what they have to say. And that no one from Sales could really be spared to spend much time us.
Later, when I was in Sales, I invited engineering and product management on sales calls. However I got frustrated when our product didn’t have a feature a prospect wanted. It took me a while to figure out that they were not the best target customer.
The issue of misalignment has been recognized and described and considered common. Yet, it is what can keep good products, and companies, from becoming great. When executives measure Sales on revenue and measure Marketing on how much marketshare a certain product line has achieved, there is a mismatch. The underlying cause is poor leadership.
When asked to determine demand for a product globally, I developed an estimate in concert with many of the executives. Product Marketing never got much access to customers during the definition process. Even with a well planned pre-launch and launch that included sales webinars, sales tools, brochures and web content, for a product with strong competitive advantages, we didn’t hit our numbers. Not even close. Sales was being measured on revenue and margin and had an easier time selling an older product that they knew well. Who could blame them? Why spend the time educating prospects on a new product when it impacts your own income?
Great leaders realize the shorter term motivations of Sales and the longer term ones of Marketing. They work hard on aligning strategic direction and demanding communication, understanding and agreement. Leadership is not for wimps. And those who manage through a series of short term initiatives and short term fixes that look good to Wall Street sacrifice the opportunity to build great companies.
