Marketers and salespeople: like cats and dogs?

• Author: Hubbard, Jack

MARKET PENETRATION. WALLET SHARE EXPANSION. COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATION. Are these core objectives for marketing or for sales? The answer is "yes" for both.

Marketing and sales share goals. Too often, however, they don't share focus. In banking today, marketing is often defined by the means, rather than the end. Bank marketers too often concentrate on messaging and promotions, rather than the real objective: Give sales the targeting, the tools, the techniques and the training to become more effective with respect to their client, centers of influence and prospect conversations.

Organizationally disconnected from sales, marketing can easily become a silo, concentrating on advertising, collateral, signage, branding and even social media. Indeed, in too many banks, chief marketing officers have a long way to go to become invaluable partners in moving the business banking sales process forward.

Yet, in today's increasingly competitive and commoditized marketplace, interconnecting marketing and sales strategies to quickly and opportunistically achieve sales goals is vital. More than ever, the synergy of marketing and sales--throughout the entire buying and sales process--is critical, as banks select the right targets, marshal limited resources against the most promising prospects and, ultimately, measure successful ROI.

Now is the time, during our steady, if slow, economic recovery of the small-and middle-market business segments, for banks to ensure that marketing and sales together total more than the sum of their parts in building lasting, profitable customer relationships.

Optimism grows, but ...

Monthly National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) surveys closely track small-business optimism, and except for one month with a very small decline, they report "a steady, albeit slow, trend of improvement for the small-business sector of the economy." While the so-called jobless recovery still worries middle-market chief financial officers and financial decision-makers, these and many other recent studies confirm that optimism is on the upswing, and business decision-makers are increasingly ready, willing and able to act.

According to a December 2011 TD Bank survey, chief financial officers and financial decision-makers at mid-sized companies plan to increase capital expenditure and selectively deploy stockpiled cash this year. Respondents cited improved sales and expectations for increased sales in 2012 for their willingness to dip into cash reserves, despite lingering economic headwinds.

This renewed optimism is also leading banks to re-evaluate lending policies, as they compete to grow assets. According to the Federal Reserve Board's January 2012 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, "Domestic banks reported, on balance, little change in standards on commercial and industrial loans but a continued easing of pricing terms on such loans during the fourth quarter. Domestic banks...