Sales people have been known to say in every industry… “we need more calls, make the phones ring and I’ll close the deal” or “we need more foot traffic, get the customer in the door and they won’t walk out without buying something.” Marketing departments are conversely known to say, “we are driving in foot traffic, why can’t you close those deals?” or “the phone has been ringing off the hook, why are sales not higher.” These comments indicate at least from both the sales and marketing perspectives a silo frame of mind or thinking.
Companies of every size struggle with breaking down silos and they can vary in impact from hurt feelings to multi-billion dollar hits to the bottom line or even cause permanent human harm or death. General Motors, one of the largest companies on the planet, has struggled with silos so no company or organization is immune. Silos are not new and can occur between sales and marketing, or any two departments, functions or groups. Forbes magazine noted that (Forbes “Breaking Down Silos” 5/03/2011):
“Silos can occur in global corporations or start-up ventures with 15 employees. And no matter the size, they are detrimental to an organization’s ability to succeed in a rapidly changing world. It’s also important to note that silos can be vertical or horizontal. Individual units can have high barriers between them or senior leadership can be completely isolated from lower management levels. A siloed organization cannot act quickly on opportunities that arise in a fast-paced business landscape, nor is it able to make productive decisions about how to change in order to seize these opportunities.”
Tradition or “we have always done it this way” plays a major role in the formation and perpetuation of silos. Many companies have a “marketing calendar” that contains tactics and strategies that ignore changes in the marketplace and the new realities of the internet. For example, many companies continue to use direct mail and network television spots on a traditional calendar time table that doesn’t take into consideration how people may be now buying or getting information. They may not even be talking with their customers or sales departments to learn about what is driving the sales they are getting. Even if an organization is more advanced in their tactics and buying real time internet leads, they may be working with a company that is using outdated internet strategies. It is essential to create a system or process where there is a perpetual feedback loop where no one is tied to any one tactic or strategy.
The second major contributor to silos is time. Every organization has a limited number of people and work hours in a day. Each of these hours are costly and require constant prioritization to make sure that its used in the best way possible to achieve the highest ROI. When change is presented or a department suggests something new, it is often met with resistance because of the unknown. Sales is often hesitant to try a new lead vendor out of fear that it will have a lower contact rate or that it will require additional resources to achieve the same or better results. Conversely, marketing may not want to discontinue the “traditional” ‘back to school’ sale due to the hours required to come up with a new marketing calendar and promotional plan.
The third major factor in the formation of silos is trust. It is hard for anyone or any organization to give up control over a task that they were used to being responsible for. There is a fear that it will be done with potentially worse results or that it won’t be done at all. If marketing suggests that a sales function be outsourced, there would be extreme concern that it will have a dramatic negative impact on sales, whereas if sales suggest that a message be used to drive new clients, marketing may not trust sales that it would work and fear reprisal if sales diminish.
How does an organization best challenge tradition, time and trust? How does an organization develop a new processes or systems to minimize silos and create a thriving organization? Short of firing everyone and starting from scratch, the best way is through innovative companies like Contactability.
Contactability has a solution that breaks down silos between sales and marketing and addresses the challenges of balancing tradition, time and trust. Contactability is a hybrid Marketing-Sales company that uses a web based platform and telephony automation to create a unified marketing and sales organization that can be deployed in organizations ranging in size from one to one million.
Contactability is the pre-eminent marketing-sales hybrid which has used it years of experience to create a suite of product offerings designed to break down silos and free organizations from traditional work practices, give back time and has a long history of helping companies prosper. Comtactability’s system identify and reaches out to customers and combine these efforts with database management tools interfaced with state of the art email and web presence Marketing to integrate the marketing and sales processes into one.
Contactability has a combined suite of integrated products to drive both marketing and sales:
Marketing:
· Direct live operator contact and qualification introducing a sales person and business name to consumer: no longer will sales need to waste their time tracking down leads without knowing if they are truly interested, marketing will be able to control messaging measure results
· Initial Contact follow-up email campaigns; sales will no longer need to balance their time between nurturing leads and closing deals, marketing will be able to control messaging and better measure results
· Internal List Email Campaigns; the Insurance CRM contains a lead/contact manager and email module. Sales and marketing can work together to create messages and content that will enable sales to close deals and write more business.
· Summary Web presence; understanding the visibility of a business in search engine results is critical. Through the Contactability SearchPro product, a business can see and improve their results over time. Higher visibility means more calls and more traffic into sales.
· Integrated with the top lead generation companies; many sales professionals develop a “favorite” lead company. The Contactability system is fully integrated with all the top names in the industry.
Sales:
· Professionally Staffed and managed Phone Center; we start the sales process by qualifying the lead and saving the valuable sales professional time
· State of the Art Telephone system; we employ advanced logic and a predictive system to optimize speed to contact and connection rate. Maximize ROI with leading edge technology to keep sales and marketing in synch.
· Key Performance Indicator Reporting for Managers; everything is tracked from contact rate to talk time and close ratios and email open rate. One system to track both marketing and sales performance.
· Customer database manager; keep track of everything you do in one consolidated system, from lead capture to closed sales. Nurture leads, track dispositions and notes. A single platform used seamlessly without data warehouse or database manager.
· Work Flow Management; track leads, send out proposals, follow-up and nurture leads from one easy to use system. System tracks sales process and moves each lead along. Schedule appointments, callbacks and more to leverage system and move leads from interest to sale.
To learn more about how we can help you break you own Silos and move your business forward, please contact Mark Overstreet at 877-323-7750 ext. 706 or via email at moverstreet@contactability.com. He is excellent at helping business to address the Silos that are holding back their growth.
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