Product marketers, and I mean by that product managers or product marketing managers, will tell you that most of the collateral they produce to support the sales force is underused or simply ignored. Product marketers looking at their marketing portal metrics know that most of their documents, brochures, data sheets or presentations are seldom downloaded.

On the other hand, the sales force argues that they can hardly use the material provided because the value proposition is too vague to truly apply to the unique needs of each customer, or that the presentations are long on gobbeldy-gook and short on details. Some formats such as data sheets or white papers may be more popular than presentations, flash demos or ROI analysis, but overall, account managers are usually dissatisfied with the material provided.

I say that product marketers have the duty to fully satisfy the sales force because, at the end of the day, it is the account manager who has the biggest opportunity to properly position the product with the customer. And these product marketers must do so by continuously optimizing their product launch around the company sales cycle process.

Surprisingly, the misalignment between product marketers and sales is widely accepted as a necessary evil and can remain unsolved for years, causing lost or delayed sales and frustration for all parties involved.

Why is that?  First sales and product management are separate organizations. As we all know, account managers are focused on closing deals this quarter, while product management works for the mid- to long-term. The second reason in my eyes is more insidious: when marketers plan for their launch, they fail to push for feedback from the sales force who is unable to communicate their needs anyway because account managers do not understand yet the special requirements of the new product. Therefore a launch plan is executed and never revisited.

It does not help that, sometimes, by the time the enterprise has understood the new sales process, the sales organization has adopted a new one.

Fortunately, some prospects can get their hands on your product material via your corporate website, but you should not assume prospects will actively dig to find your content. A direct sales force remains the best conduit to bring your material to the prospect. Also collaborative techniques that allow the sales force to comment on the usefulness of specific material will, if accepted, guide marketers toward greater success.

So what do account managers need?  In my opinion, they need to have any possible excuse for not pushing your product taken away from them.

Specifically they request collateral that directly supports their sales cycle process by reducing its duration and its risk. As we all know, the shorter the sales cycle, the fewer the chances of something bad happening before closing.

Marketers can truly become heroes by understanding and serving the sales cycle process. This idea is not new and deserves to be better explored by product marketers.

A highly developed sales cycle process is a proven method to codify and monitor the sales process, and has long been a way to ensure consistency during the sales experience for all prospects. It allows less-experienced account managers to apply the same successful techniques as their top-performing counterparts. For management, it is a well-accepted sales process refined over the years that increases the confidence level of the forecast.

In short it is a core company-wide process that must be supported by all sides of the organization, and it is troublesome that so few marketing managers do not view this process as a terrific opportunity to increase the impact of their collateral.

A focused organization demands that product marketing launch plans be designed to best serve its sales cycle process.

In a future post we will suggest some specific examples of how marketing managers can better support the sales cycle process.

How is your product launch supporting your sales force?