MIT Sloan Management Review

Marketing

 

Industrial Marketing: Managing New Requirements

By Frank V. Cespedes

April 15, 1994

IN MOST INDUSTRIAL FIRMS, MARKETING EFFORTS ENCOMPASS THREE GROUPS: PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, SALES, AND CUSTOMER SERVICE UNITS. MANAGERS HAVE devoted much attention to managing effectively within each unit but not to coordinating across the units. The author discusses why managing these marketing interfaces is increasingly important and complex at industrial firms, the interdependencies and organizational barriers that affect their joint activities, and the strengths and vulnerabilities of initiatives aimed at improving links among the marketing groups.

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An industrial products firm recently held a meeting for senior managers to discuss marketing strategy and implementation. An outside facilitator, who led a discussion about improving marketing effectiveness, encouraged participants to list the key issues facing the firm. The blackboard in the meeting room was soon filled with two lists:

Salespeople say:

  • “Marketing people do not spend enough time in the field. They don’t take specific customer complaints seriously enough. Marketing needs to establish a system for better field communications.”
  • “Marketing should be more demanding with R&D and manufacturing to alter product designs and production schedules.”
  • “Biggest frustration to our sales reps is lack of timely information.”
  • “Sales reps’ compensation should not be penalized for price erosion. . . . That’s a product issue out of our control.”

Marketing people say:

  • “Salespeople are always asking for information that they have already received. We spend much effort gathering and writing up product and competitive information, send out that information, and reps call a week later for the same information. . . . This takes time away from other important tasks we have.”
  • “We are underresourced: too many chiefs and not enough implementation people.”
  • “Our success depends on fulfilling customer expectations for tomorrow, not just today.”
  • “Sales is happy to criticize, rather than accept responsibility and suggest constructive improvements.”

These comments reflect the changing tasks these managers face. Salespeople in this firm need more information, more often,... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.

 
 

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