Has anyone ever read a Harvard Business Review? Or what about a case study? Or anything business related that talks about efficiencies, sales relationships, processes, etc? I’ve read several of them over the last decade, and one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from them is the balance a company must strike between internal and external resources. I’ve learned (oft the hard way) that sales people are happy to go and sell anything and everything to everyone and anyone. However it must be understood that without their efforts, a company probably wouldn’t survive (so what if Beta was better than VHS, their sales team sucked). So in that vein, I also must say that resources that support sales, or develop products that the sales team is responsible for selling, must also be understood. Regardless of product, there is a symbiotic relationship between the two sides, and the most successful organizations are the ones that realize that. The companies that insist on superstar R&D folk, or only go after rockstar sales people often learn the hard way that success isn’t from them. It is from being able to continuously improve a product that customers like, while at the same time increasing the breadth and depth of understanding that the people who interact with the product have. If it means that the Sales department take some time to learn more about the product, then they should. If the other departments want to learn more about the sales process, or management, or what not, then they should, in order to understand why success is defined through teamwork and understanding.
This long rant is brought to you by too angry Sales and R&D staffers.
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