August 12th, 2007
MarCom Strategist Podcast: Marketing's Relationship to Sales
MarCom Strategist Podcast #3 | download
[audio:http://www.dhcommunications.com/wp-content/podcasts/MarCom Strategist_McIntosh.mp3]
In this third episode of the MarCom Strategist podcast, I interview Mac McIntosh, the Business-to-Business Sales Lead Expert.
When I started my marcom career about 15 years ago, I really had no clue about sales and how my work fit into the sales process. In fact, it wasn't until I met Mac about seven years ago that I really began to understand how marketing and sales work together.
In this very engaging interview, Mac and I talk about the difference between inquiries and sales leads and why marketing needs to understand the sales process and work to ensure we're getting real results.
Other questions Mac and I cover include:
How marketing can help sales generate leads. Determining which marketing tactic to use. Why marketing should be involved in the sales lead process. Why marketing needs to toot its horn.Length is approximately 21 minutes. Links mentioned in the episode: I would also like to take this time to publicly thank Mac. He's been a great mentor and friend: over the years he's helped me over the humps in growing my business, introduced me to people whenever we've attended the same networking functions, and asked tough questions that got me to think about where I'm going and what I'm doing. Mac, thanks for everything. You're the best! (As a side note, I'm still learning about the technical side of podcasting. One thing to note: when using a bridge line to record the call, the volume of the voices is different -- i.e. my voice is louder than the person with whom I'm speaking. I finally hired a sound engineer to fix this problem. He also added music and removed extraneous noise. So this podcast sounds great! I'm very pleased that I learned how all this stuff works, but from now on, I'm having an expert take care of the technical backend for me. I'll just come up with interview topics. :-) Thanks for listening!)
September 7th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Hi Dianna, I hadn’t checked this out when you first posted it so thank you for mentioning it in the newsletter!
Of the takeaways from the podcast, the most useful to me was the exact words Mac said his client Wendy used to get the marketing budget she wanted…
“Okay, if you’re going to cut my budget, then *which sales don’t you want*?”
Yes, she was able to say that because she had the numbers to back her up, as Mac described more specifically. But talk about a perfect way to communicate, yes, marketing is NOT an expense! To communicate that cutting resources to marketing is the *same* as cutting resources to sales.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:19 am
I’ve just downloaded your three podcasts after reading your newsletter, and discovered that they’re suffering from *Podcastus Incognitus.* Please fill in your ID3 tags so the files don’t show up as “Unknown” on my portable media player.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Mike, Yes, Mac’s advice is right on. I had to write a case study of sorts for another client whose client had this same problem — management was going to cut her budget to the bone. She said the exact same words — “If you want to meet your stated revenue goal of $XX, then tell me which sales you don’t want me to make.” Her budget remained intact.
Sallie, I’ll take care of the ID3 tags. Thanks for point this out. I’m still new at podcasting. :-p
October 4th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
[...] Dianna Huff, a fellow B2B marketing professional and friend who describes her services as “B-to-B Marketing Communications Consulting and SEO Copywriting Services†invited me to be a guest on her MarCom Strategist Podcast. [...]
October 6th, 2007 at 1:32 am
[...] If any of this sounds like it would benefit your organization, please listen in our twenty minute conversation. The podcast at available at http://marcom-writer-blog.com/?p=158. Bookmark or share this article… [...]