How do I get my Sales & Marketing organisational structure right for B2B?
There are several schools of thought in relation to a corporate structure for sales and marketing teams. All can be effective depending on the lifecycle of the business and the corporate strategy.
For B2B the most effective structure is the traditional top down organisational design:In this structure the General Manager of the division is responsible for all marketing & strategy for the Group. This will align the principles that marketing drive awareness, understanding, consideration & registration and that the sales team take over from that point and help drive renewals along with marketing. The Marketing Manager has clear oversight of lead generation and the Sales Manager is free and clear to work with the team to close the deal. In this model there is a shared responsibility cross functionally for the Marketing Co-ordinator. The co-ordinator needs to work alongside the sales team to ensure that they have the right creative, offer and can be nimble to change this on the fly for the sales rep as it needs to be tailored for each client. But at the same time needs to provide marketing consistency and align to the brand rules.
An example is a rep is pitching via Zoom to a client. During the presentation the conversation turns to an area that the rep had not envisaged. The Marketing Co-ordinator is in the presentation and makes the necessary changes to the deck on the fly to meet the customer’s needs. After the presentation the co-ordinator then works with the rep to send across more tailored information, white papers and a tailored email which fits into the remit of Marketing. Because the rep and the co-ordinator are pitching together the end product is more beneficial to the client and has a higher likelihood to close.
In this model the sales rep sells all products and services offered by the Group. There is no differentiation and the reps are equally targeted with new and renewal business as well as cross sells into additional products & services. This is a truly integrated model.Other models that can be considered include:
Functional Silos – marketing and sales are in separate areas, supporting one another but marketing does not get involved in sales and vice versa. When a business is at scale or has products that each require a specialist this may be the best way to organise the teams.
Product Silos – each product has their own marketing and sales team. These teams may be integrated or work as silos within silos. This may work when an organisation has completely separate brands that allow for limited synergy, each business is being managed according to their own separate cost cenmtres or a business may be spun off in the near future and needs to be managed as if it was a separate entity.
Shared Services – marketing is separated out as a corporate cost and business units bid for the services. Sales will then sit within the product and will call on marketing support (outside of brand) on a case by case or campaign by campaign basis. Can lead to silo thinking, cost reduction verses investing to grow the product. Can also rely on personality of the individuals involved.
What works best for you will depend on your organisation, the product lifecycle and the maturity of your business. For more detailed advice on organisational structures tailored for your business, contact Linda White at Whole People today.
