New York Yankees pitcher Aroldis Chapman consistently throws a fastball in excess of 100 mph. In fact, I have been at games where he has been clocked at 105 mph. The pitcher’s mound is a mere 60 feet 6 inches away from home plate. Now let me ask you the unthinkable. Would you ever attempt to stand behind home plate and catch a 100 mph fastball without a catcher’s mitt? Do you think you could just catch it with your bare hands? Absurd! Yes it is. However, I suppose after many tries, someone might be able to catch a baseball traveling that quickly with their bare hands. But it raises the question, why would anyone try it? A catcher’s mitt is designed to stop the trajectory of a baseball that is thrown at a high velocity and to do so without breaking your fingers in the process.

Now let me make a comparison. Trying to sell without marketing is like trying to catch that fastball bare handed. You see, marketing and sales are made to go together like a hand in a glove. One complements the other. Can you sell without marketing? Yes, but it is much harder to do. Marketing is like the glove. It is designed for a specific task that aids in successful sales. We like to break marketing down into three segments: awareness of your brand, first time sales marketing, and retention marketing. We use marketing methods to support each of these three segments. Let’s take a look at a common problem that happens between marketing and sales. Awareness marketing helps a potential customer understand your brand: what you stand for and what you are selling. If marketing is going to help you in the sales process, it has to entice the prospective customer to do more than be aware of the brand. There is a transition point from being aware of a brand to actually purchasing something. This is where marketing helps prospects cross over into first time sales marketing. When marketing is working correctly, there is a call to action that woos the customer towards a sale. This is a critical step where marketing and sales have to work hand in glove. If your marketing never gets past brand awareness, it is left to your sales team to bare hand the fastball.(See my previous post, "The ticklish little problem: My content marketing isn't selling.")

In the same way, marketing without a plan of action from your sales team is like a glove without a hand. If your marketing plan is generating leads of interested prospects, but your sales team does not contact them in a timely manner, you are pitching to an empty mitt. You would think that this would be a no-brainer in business today, with all of our sales software to track potential buyers in their journey down our sales funnel. But in practicality, there is a big disconnect between marketing and sales in many companies. Part of that stems from the overemphasis on awareness marketing sans transition plans to get customers to make a purchase. It seems that everyone is focused on content marketing and has forgotten about the connection to sales. It also has roots in a flawed understanding of the advantages today’s marketing mediums have in producing leads. Many sales teams are not taking advantage of e-marketing campaigns that can pinpoint potential customers. E-marketing can hand off the data to the sales team, but the sales team has to close the deal. It has always been that way and it has not changed, even with techno-driven marketing campaigns.

So how is your marketing and sales working together? Are you asking your sales staff to catch without equipping them with a glove? Are you asking your marketing to produce without giving them a hand to close the deal? Marketing and sales should be hand in glove if you are going to reach your true sales potential.