It ain’t semantics, it’s results.

Why is the marketing budget the first thing management cuts when sales soften or the economy heads south?

They could sell the conference room furniture. They could even fire some of the dead-heads in the (whatever) department. But NO!!!

The problem is RESULTS.

That 27-acre conference table impresses the hell out of customers, vendors and visiting market analysts. Results.

Salespeople sell things. Some more than others, but selling things puts money in the bank. Salespeople produce results.

“Time out,” you say. “Marketing gets results. We collected more business cards at our last trade show than ever before. Our new ads have generated more inquiries that we can handle. Lotsa people visit our website! We give the sales department tons of leads.”

Question: Where are the results?

Salespeople don’t have a lot of time to call on unqualified leads. And let’s face it, a lot of the people who respond to ads are just shopping. Most of the people who go to trade shows aren’t decision makers.

So, how do we get results? We qualify the leads. We find out which ones have the money, the need, the motivation and the authority to make or champion a buying decision.

We get answers to the questions the salesfolk would ask if they were talking to the customer face-to-face. We give the sales department Class A prospects, not cold leads.

When marketing departments generate results like these, they get funded, supported, and respected.