Marketing and Sales Explained with Soccer - Part I
Ximena Hernández Buffa
Sales business management and marketing playing on the court
A few days ago, I had a meeting with a customer who showed me the projection of marketing outcomes that he would present to general management. His outcomes were based on the number of contacts, followers, possible meetings and activities that supported this generation.
On the other hand, in other meetings, the sales manager told me that he had to bill a certain million amount, defined by the Board of Directors, but did not make a realistic funnel projection, with leads, meetings and companies to contact; on the contrary, he simply pressured sellers to knock doors randomly with a presentation of services.
The first one is the strategy of the midfielder who shows his results by the balls that he leads to the midfield. The second one is the strategy of the forward player without strategy, who runs the entire court.
Both are ineffective and their outcome is usually very uncertain: It depends on whether the year is good, or on the seller’s creativity, or whether our customer is growing and buying new services from us, thus saving the year. And if elections or an economic recession take place, the year might turn out to be negative and we might fail to reach the outcomes. Someone external is to blame. Does it seem familiar to you?
This working method reminds me of the way we play soccer in Latin America. We trust that wonders will happen thanks to Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Neymar, Suarez —or thanks to my prayer to any god, who knows—, but how many stars like them do exist?
On the other hand, how many stars do we know from Spain or Germany? But instead, we say that their teams are good, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the teams that have won the most cups. Strategy, planning, results-driven orientation, team play and a planned investment.
Technically, we understand that it is the right way to achieve results in a sustainable fashion, right?
As corporate companies we should function as a soccer team
A goal is scored by the forward player, but there are midfielders who did a good job to take the ball. That is, marketing is responsible for lead generation and the sales area appears after lead generation and closes the sale.
If the opposing team entrenched themselves in the defense, the forward player returns the ball to the midfield to return with another move to score the goal. That is, sales work with marketing to accelerate leads.
And the forward player sometimes has to play in the rear when the team is being attacked, that is, sales has to generate its own leads.
If we add defense and midfield, there is a greater number of players than forward players, that is, there must be more lead generation activities than sellers closing sales. These activities have to be digital (LinkedIn, webinars, videos, announcements) and face-to-face (events, one-to-one strategies, commercial exhibitions), but they are all part of the midfield.
The champion reaches the finals with goals, but goals are scored because midfielders brought a lot of balls, and investment matters, but what really matters is strategy and perseverance. In a company, sales outcomes must be planned, as well as how many leads are going to be generated to reach those sales. To achieve outcomes, management must focus on defining a strategy with habits and invest in upgrading technologies as outcomes are seen.
In addition to adopting a form of teamwork with everyone kicking towards the same arc, we must implement digital transformation in sales since a company that is not transformed and adapted to the present is in trouble.
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