Sales vs marketing? 🤔
Frank Sondors
53 replies
In B2B companies that I've worked in over the years was mainly driven based on SLG (Sales Led Growth) rather than PLG (Product Led Growth). In PLG companies you mainly have Product & Marketing driving the growth whereas in SLG-based companies it's heavy on sales.
In SLG companies, marketing would own mainly KPIs on inbound up to the point of a meeting being booked and then rarely spending resources beyond that point.
Whereas sales have always owned mid to bottom funnel and the outbound motion (cold emailing, cold calling etc.) in full unless marketing decides to sponsor an event. That's where our product Salesforge comes into play on outbound.
What's your personal experience? Do you have currently in a startup a person dedicated to marketing and then separately a person dedicated for sales? Or does one person do the whole go-to-market motion being a small team?
Also, my observation when it comes to the community is that we have here in Product Hunt a lot more marketing people than sales.
Most salespeople spend time either on LinkedIn, Reddit or Slack communities I find. What's your take?
Final thought
Is Product Hunt mainly for marketing folks or?
Launching next week: https://www.producthunt.com/prod...
Replies
Steve Lou@steve_lourdessamy
I've worked as a marketer in several B2B industries where the sales lifecycles are really long (think of 12-18 months to close deals). In this SLG context, sales and marketing have to work hand in hand from outbound campaigns to the closing (with events driving most of the marketing efforts).
In B2C, it's a bit different as most MQLs are driven by consistent inbound efforts (content, community building, etc.). The sales team here works only on the bottom of the funnel. It's probably because the conversion window is shorter.
To answer your final question, I feel like that most people in PH have a marketing background.
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@steve_lourdessamy yeah, I'm just surprised to rarely ever meet a sales person on here.
Both. In B2B sales-led companies, the marketing team should help their sales team with product marketing, demand generation, personal branding, good case studies, LinkedIn, their website, and so on :)
@olenabomko should! :) Based on my experience, the struggle is real. Usually requires a well-funded company to have this in place. When you're lean and mean, it's hard to pull this off.
@olenabomko they were lucky to have you. Product Marketing is a tough role. Not many folks are good at it.
In the modern landscape, the lines between sales and marketing are blurring more than ever. With personalized marketing campaigns and account-based selling, collaboration between the two functions is essential for success.
@stephen_wilkes I actually don't find it's blurring. 2 teams with their own remit of responsibility where both teams are aiming to achieve the same goal.
Launching soon!
@stephen_wilkes couldn't agree more that collaboration is more important than ever. Do you see AI making any difference in personalized marketing efficiencies?
I am doing Marketing, Growth and Sales part in Bizzllet. It can really be doing sales. Especially outreach. How do you approach outreach and make results? By going full auto mode or by social selling?
@andriyuh There are 3 co-founders at Salesforge. I do everything apart from the product so I have no choice, but I do a bit of everything right now. Reddit, PH, Slack communities, cold email, LinkedIn etc. When it comes to outbound, only email scales. For example today I've activated a 6K+ campaign. You can't do this sort of scale on LinkedIn and you have to be strategic about every channel. Scale only without sacrificing on quality.
In some cases, startups have separate teams or individuals dedicated to marketing and sales. This allows for more focused efforts in each area. However, in smaller teams, it's not uncommon to see one person handling the entire go-to-market motion.
Regarding your observation about the Product Hunt community, I agree that it seems to have more marketing-oriented professionals. However, I believe that Product Hunt can be valuable for both marketing and sales folks alike. It's a great platform to showcase products and gain exposure to a wide audience.
As for where salespeople spend their time, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Slack communities are indeed popular choices. These platforms offer opportunities for networking, sharing insights, and engaging with potential customers.
Both are the leading part
@hina_shehzad what's your experience been so far?
It's an interesting topic, in my personal experience, I've seen a mix of dedicated marketing and sales roles, as well as individuals who handle both aspects of the go-to-market motion in smaller teams. As for Blocks team, we don't have a separate sales person, cause there's no need for it yet.
For those looking for sales-focused communities, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Slack are definitely popular platforms. However, Product Hunt can be a great place for salespeople to gain insights into new products and understand how they can benefit their sales strategies.
Best of luck with your upcoming launch!
@darya_antonyuk I love your take on what's the value for sales people to spend their time here.
Marketing
@lubna_amber what about marketing?
Marketing is a sales!
@anna_vasilenko fully agree, it's same same at the end of the day as long as both are fully aligned that the need to generate revenue.
Sales and marketing are like a dynamic duo within a business, with each complementing the other to drive revenue and promote a company's products or services. Marketing sets the stage, creating the spotlight and anticipation, while sales steps into that spotlight to deliver the performance and capture the applause of satisfied customers. Together, they're the heartbeat of business success, working in harmony to achieve common goals.
Sales gets you through the door, marketing keeps you in the room. Launched a SaaS tool last year and this balance has been key.
@doristhomas23 curious how big is your team, Doris?
Let's not forget that the end goal of both sales and marketing is revenue generation. Healthy discussions around 'sales vs marketing' can only lead to better strategies that maximize ROI for businesses.
Sales without marketing could be likened to a great product hidden in the shadows.
The distinction between sales and marketing is becoming less pronounced as automation and AI play larger roles. However, the human touch remains pivotal, and that's where the expertise of both teams truly shines
I think it depends on account size, too. You don't want sales for small lifetime value and you can't market your way to whale size deals - that's like winning the lottery.
Good marketing is if you promote your product in a way that there is no need for sale!
Launching soon!
I feel like in a startup ecosystem - both sales and marketing tend to exist under the same roof as those teams (if its more than one person) need to be in lockstep on every resource / direction decision.
I think it also depends on your product. Some service based products rely more on the marketing side, whilst physical products rely more on the sales team. To be successful you would have to incorporate both strategies.
I do agree with you - PH is mainly for marketing folks.
Goodluck with your Launch soon!
I personally think marketing is more about getting them in the door (say TOF marketing) and sales is more about nurturing and closing (say MOF and BOF).
That said, I think product led growth is a modern way of growing a software business because founders have realized that users hold the power and if they can we can adjust the product according to the feedback from the user they will be able to grow faster and achieve PMF too!
Currently I am working as a marketing head/co-founder at a new startup so I handle the marketing and sales side of things majorly!
