Alignment on the SNCF

I must have been a pretty horrible 16 year old.

Arrogant, spotty and sullen.

Correction….I was a pretty horrible 16 year old.

How did my parents decide to deal with this Rebel-without-a-Cause?

In the summer holidays they packed me off, on my own, to a family they knew in France. That was some selling job my father did.

So there I am with my Scout rucksack, sitting in a packed, 8 seat, old fashioned, compartment on the SNCF from Gare du Lyon to Dijon, surrounded by Gauloises smoking, Pernod drinking, L’Equipe reading locals. I was out of my comfort zone and to make matters worse I had an incorrect ticket and le chemin de fer inspecteur had just entered our compartment.

You know what was going through my mind?

‘These Frenchies are just pretending that they cannot speak English. In a minute they are all going to start helping me and speaking the Queen’s English.’

And guess what…they didn’t.

Quelle domage.

To the amusement of my fellow travellers, I had to muddle through with my dodgy O Level French. And I did, somehow. That inspecteur must have been a patient man.

Fast forward three weeks, and I am travelling back to Blighty on the ferry from Calais to Dover and I accidentally bump into a middle aged man. He apologised to me in English and I apologised to him in French. In French! I had even begun to think in French.

Had I achieved this by studying the systems, process and technology in France?

Non!

What I had begun to do was understand, appreciate and like the culture, language and people of France.

Culture, Language and People.

So, if you want your sales and marketing teams to start respecting, trusting and working together, rather than the current mistrust, then you need to get them understanding, apreciaiting and even liking their respective culture language and people.

The good news is that you don’t have to be stuck in a railway compartment to start your journey.

Allez!

A bientot!

Melting the Cold War between Sales and Marketing.

I’m a child of the Cold War. Remember all that stuff? Spying, B52 Bombers and David Hasselhoff singing on top of the Berlin Wall, (sorry about that last image!) The only good thing to come out of that conflict was “Dr. Strangelove”.

But is it really over? Over in your business?

Are sale and marketing good buddies inside your business. Or are they just comrades?

What was the real cost or the real Cold War? Lots of budget spent on expensive hardware and systems that were never used. Thank God. Sound familiar?

So what resolved the real Cold War?

Was it computers and technology? No

Was it systems and processes? Uh?

Was it from breakthroughs thanks to consultants and trainers? You cannot be serious! Are you?

It was good old fashion economics, the allocation of scarce resources that caused one side to change. Thankfully they did.

And it’s only going to be economic and market forces that will cause the Cold War in your organisation to melt. You aren’t going to fix this with a blow torch or an ice axe.

That drive for change has started in most businesses and markets. Just remember technology cannot help you much, talking and dialogue can go a lot further.

When did you last have a Sales and Marketing Alignment workshop in your company?

I better the answer is never.

OK. Don’t worry I just made that term up. But what is stopping you?

Yes, I know your CRM will not allow you to schedule it, and it might ensure that you don’t hit your KPIs or it might negatively impact your value proposition.

Or maybe, just maybe it’s just time to get started on the real work, real détente, real discussion.

Please don’t stick your head into the ice, it maybe a cool way to prospect, but don’t expect to succeed for long.

Get Aligned Comrade!

What is the real benefit of working on Sales and Marketing Alignment in your business?

Let’s be straight about this, Sales and Marketing Alignment isn’t easy.

If it was every business would have achieved it, wouldn’t they?

When you work on Sales and Marketing Alignment in your business you will
come across all types of responses from indifference to outright hostility.

So why bother?

Working on your Sales and Marketing Alignment is only worth the effort if you want to:

•Retain existing customers

•Acquire new customers

•Improve forecast accuracy

•Have more salespeople hitting quota

•Get more qualified opportunities/leads

If they are important to you, then get started, today..

You could do worse than pick up a copy of my latest book
“Alignment – The Secret to Getting your Sales and Marketing Teams Working Together!”

What ever you do…

Get Started …

…today!

All I am saying is give Sales and Marketing Alignment a chance

Everybody’s talking about Sales2.0, Web 2.0 and Social Media
All I am saying is give Sales and Marketing Alignment a chance

Everybody’s talking about B2B, B2C, NBC and BBC
All I am saying is give Sales and Marketing Alignment a chance

Everybody’s talking systems, processes and technology
All I am saying is give Sales and Marketing Alignment a chance

Everybody’s talking about world-class effective customer conversations, differentiated marketing messages and buying process-aligned tools.
All I am saying is give Sales and Marketing Alignment a chance

Repeat for as long as you want

Apologies to Dr Winston O Boogie

Sales and Marketing Alignment Myth #1...Solve it with Technology

Have you received the email?

You know, the one that tells you that you can solve all your sales and marketing alignment issues, develop more opportunities, make more revenue, date Beyonce if you just buy and install the new wiz bang software. It might be called CRM, ERP, Sales 2.0, Marketing 2.0, Buying 2.0 or by it's real name Bull 2.0

You have probably been invited to THE Conference or...

Sat through that all promising, lipsmacking, motavatin', acetalkin' webinar.

Buy the software, plug it in, buy some consulting too, and you're off to see the Wizard!

Well sorry , I have to disagree.

I'm no Luddite, yes technology is important but it's the icing on the cake, NOT the cake.

You have plenty of work ahead internally before you have to install some new software.

You need to focus on your Culture, your Language and your People.

Maybe, I should hire a programmer from Elance and write CLP 2.0

Why not sit down and watch my latest Sales and Marketing Alignment Webinar

Here's the access to the latest webinar I delivered for BrightTalk on

How to Align your Sales and Marketing for More Revenue

Just click on the above link.

Do you need to change the way you market and sell your services in 2010?

"Given the current economic climate do you think that companies need to review and change the way they market and sell their products and services?"

This was a question I was recently asked...

Yes, let’s face it prospects are now better informed than ever before, they can go and speak to your existing and past customers relatively easily. They have often formed an opinion about what you offer way before you enter into dialogue with them. What can you do?

Engage, engage, engage before you sell, sell, sell

We all need to market smarter, more often .

A good place to start is with your marketing plan, you do have a marketing plan don’t you?