Your Marketing Team is Not an Island: Evening Brew Panel Re-Cap
June 10, 2017
Last week, BMA Colorado held an Evening Brew panel discussion, Your Marketing Team is Not an Island. Hosted by BMA Colorado member, Agency Off Record, attendees learned that even in this digital age of enhanced communication, it is still easy to fall into silos in the workplace.
Panelists Mike Hanbery of Webolutions, Danel Kuhlmann of McGhee Productivity Solutions, and Sarah Maskivish of Signal spent the evening sharing their tips for how marketing departments can build bridges to sales and customer service departments, and how this leads to overall success.
How can a marketing department work with other departments successfully?
Sarah Maskivish said that to successfully complete projects, it is imperative to “selfishly want the same goals and then to meet religiously to achieve the goals.” She noted that meeting can sometimes be very difficult, but that for Signal, it was definitely worth the effort.
Mike Hanbery agreed, adding that alignment of goals and efforts, as well as communication, is critical to the success of these departments.
How do you attract and retain new customers?
Danel Kuhlmann told stories of McGhee, where building credibility, trust and value is extremely important for the company and has often led to reevaluating and offering greater value and new programs for its current clients. Danel explained that often, lead evaluation can differ, sometimes drastically, between departments. A lead she considers qualified might not be a qualified lead in the sales department, which makes agreement on the definition of a qualified lead very important.
When alignment pays off
Mike Hanbery used an interesting analogy to illustrate the great customer service that is possible when all departments align, speaking specifically of his local barber shop, which also served beer to its customers. The shop deployed all the typical alerts and email reminders to encourage him to come in. When he arrived he would be greeted by name, and he knew that their systems had information on what he liked and didn't like as far as cuts & beer choices. Still, he was often offered selections that did not match his preferences. One day, he went in and was addressed by name, but this time was offered a new beer in the style that he preferred and which he subsequently bought.
His takeaway was that the service that he got that day meant that everything in the system was working properly and the woman, at least, was aligned with the overall marketing, customer service, and sales efforts.
Join BMA Colorado's July Evening Brew, "It's Not Me, It's You: Breaking Up with Your Email Subscriber List," on July 27, 2017, at 5:30 pm. Register here.
