Rodney Dangerfield wins my nomination as the patron saint of marketers. He built an entire career out of self-deprecating humor on why he could never get any respect. And anyone who has ever spent any amount of time in marketing will usually discover the same sentiment.
If the revenue targets are met it is usually because sales rocked it while the revenue misses are usually blamed on the lack of quantity and quality leads. If products win awards and are delivered on schedule it is because of an exceptional development team, while missed schedules and poor product reviews are blamed on Product Marketing’s poor marketing requirements documents (MRDs). If a glowing 1,000 word feature article shows up in a tier one publication it is because the CEO gave a brilliant interview and not because marketing actually courted the editor for months with a series of suggestions, observations and proof points. Yep, marketing gets no respect in companies where it isn’t valued.
For those of you not old enough to remember comedian Rodney Dangerfield building an entire career on a soliloquy on why he “can’t get no respect” you should spend some time on YouTube and prepare to be reminded of the myriad of items that will be blamed on marketing. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are a number of proactive things you can do to prevent tis attitude.
Last week I highlighted a blog by Mary Sullivan titled “Together – Sales and Marketing” in discussing sales and marketing linkage. This week I think her commentary on how to get sales and marketing working closer is very appropriate. The best way to get respect is to earn it. Making the most of sales and marketing as a unified team starts with marketing taking ownership for key initiatives. Sullivan offers these for consideration:
- Craft winning messages
- Prepare for the competition
- Synchronize sales and marketing plans
- Launch products effectively
- Develop qualified leads
- Use centralized customer information
- Establish field readiness
I concur whole-heartedly. Respect is earned by planning your work, working your plan, relentlessly communicating with all constituents and delivering on the details. And don’t ever forget that vision without execution is hallucination.
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