Sometimes marketing resources are so disrespectful to their sales counterparts. Let me give you an example. I was in a meeting last month with a very smart marketing company asking my usual questions, one of them being,
"If you capture all of these metrics at your event would you like to pass this data to your sales team?"
The answer was; "No. They'll be at the event with their customers anyway so no need to provide this data. They will know." Here is another example. I know a company that produces a world class event while capturing metrics and data that is unbelievable specific to measuring impact against a defined set of goals. One of these metrics is the answer to this question: "Would you like someone to contact you after the event regarding our new product announcement?" Every event they get a positive response from a percentage of session attendees to this question. Guess where they send this data; to Product Marketing! As a former individual sales contributer and sales leader, I found these examples offensive and love the fact that today many companies are starting to measure their marketing resources on Revenue Impact. Let me explain why I found these examples frustrating. My company use to produce an annual users conference every year and marketing would spend all year preparing for this event. New products were rolled out, keynote speakers were prepped and training was provided. My sales team would work very hard getting their prospects and customers to attend with the hopes that this event might move them along the sales process faster. I had 25 sale people reporting to me and each rep had at least 6 to 12 prospects and customers walking the show floor. This can be nerve wracking for a sales person as they cannot be all places at once. I can confidently say each and everyone of them would love to know where there prospect went, what they thought, what they said and if they are interested. In the examples above, both companies didn't even think to share with Sales what data might be available post event. This my plea to marketing. Please consider collaborating with your sales team when preparing your event? If you are you on the sales or marketing side of your business, how do you work together for your events?
