Marketing

3 Things Sales Reps Wish Marketers Would Stop Doing Now

July 9, 2014

Sales vs. marketing — it’s the longest established rivalry in B2B. But according to these sales reps, all could be resolved if marketers would simply stop doing three things that drive them crazy.

The relationship between sales and marketing is a two-way street. And while it may be bumpy ride at times, it’s incredibly important to keep the communication flowing both ways. To help facilitate that process — and to get everything out in the open — I recently reached out to marketing experts to see what grinds their gears when it comes to working with business development reps (BDRs). Now it’s only fair that we turn the tables and letting BDRs voice their biggest marketing pet peeves. And the good news is, each and every complaint has a solution.
First, let’s take a moment to set the stage: Being a BDR is a grind. Having the tenacity, drive, and confidence to pick up the phone after a bad call takes a lot. And while many of the contributing factors to a BDR’s success or failure are innate or a result of the team structure, there are external factors that impact the overall success of the team, as well.
Enter: marketing. BDR teams rely on the support of marketing to move leads through the funnel, and ultimately to a point where they are ready to convert into customers. However, the relationship isn’t always as fluid as we might hope. BDRs often feel as though marketing is a roadblock or distraction in their daily/weekly/monthly rhythm. Below you will find the top three marketing-related pet-peeves from today’s BDRs.

3 Things BDRs Wish Marketers Would Stop Doing Now

1) Think selling is easy

Every BDR has heard this from marketing at least once this week, if not in the last hour:

“You should call the prospect back and say this…” or “These leads ARE good…I don’t understand why you haven’t talked to them….” “Did you ever follow up with prospect X”

Since BDRs are often comped on the appointments they set and opportunities they generate, it would make sense that they would call that lead back ASAP, and that the lead would be closed. That said, not every lead is going to be the right fit. Selling is an art and a science. Don’t just assume that becuase a lead came in, that they will be closed this afternoon.
The Solution: Marketers, be patient with your BDR team and have a clear definition of what a qualified MQL, SAL, and SQL looks like.
Also, get on the phone with your BDR team! I’m not saying every day, or even week, but at least once a quarter. It will open your eyes, help you better understand your campaign responses, and help you empathize next time your team says they couldn’t qualify any leads. Dive into the funnel with them and see the results of your work first-hand!

2) Over-complicate Salesforce with too many fields

BDRs spend a majority of their day in Salesforce.com. And what is shocking is that more often than not, the view is designed for marker rather than a prospecter. Yes, Salesforce.com (or any CRM for that matter) is the best place to log any piece of information or intelligence on a lead. However, sometimes less is more. When a lead form is cluttered with multiple fields, getting BDRs to adopt is going to be easier said than done.
The Solution: Simplifying the view for BDRs (and AEs) is a great way to increase CRM adoption, and make everyone’s life a bit easier!

3) Have too many reports

Marketing loves reports, and BDRs love to track results. However, the sheer number of marketing related reports that live in Salesforce.com is simply overwhelming.
The Solution: Marketers: check with your BDRs and their managers to determine what metrics are important to them, and then create one unified view for displaying those metrics so that they don’t have to dig through multiple iterations of reports to find the one that works.

There you have it — three of BDRs’ biggest pet peeves when it comes to marketing. What tips do you have for addressing these and marking the sales-marketing relationship more productive

Image by Rich Anderson

Associate

<strong>CeCe Bazar</strong> is an Associate on OpenView's investment team. She was previously a Sales Strategist also at OpenView.