A question that I’m often asked is: Is it fair to link marketing to sales?

My answer is always, “Yes!”

Why?  Because otherwise what is the purpose of marketing?  Marketing’s primary role is to generate sales. However, in most cases it is not direct. The traditional role of marketing is said to be like leading a horse to water and then sales is there to make the horse drink. But, in my opinion, it’s totally valid to hold marketing accountable to the success of sales. I’ll give you an example:

Let’s say that you want to sell your product to females between the ages of 18-25, that’s your target market.  After launching your marketing program, you’re happy to see that you’ve generated a lot of leads, but unfortunately most of the leads are males in the 35-55 – that can be a problem.

You could focus on the positive and say, “Hey…the marketing is generating lots of leads!” but if you’re not making sales, or the right kind of sales, your marketing is obviously not very effective.

There could be one of two problems:

1. Either sales is not making the right sale;
2. or marketing is not targeting the right audience.

For scenario #2, if your marketing is not bringing the right customers to the watering hole, it is much harder for your salesperson to close the sale.

However, in scenario #1, if marketing is doing a good job in attracting the right audience, but sales still can’t convert the leads, then something is wrong with the sales process – or perhaps with the product itself.