Have you ever looked back and seen the tension between marketing and sales teams in your company? Does it sometimes feel like they are speaking different languages? Do you sometimes wonder if they ever talk with each other? Do you listen to each of them complain about the other?

1. The International Magazine of Spring Manufacture
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Winter 2010,Volume 49 Number 1
Number
mber
e A Publication of the S i M f
bli i f h Spring Manufacturers I i
Institute
Sales and Marketing
AVOIDING A LETHAL DISCONNECT— GETTING
SALES AND MARKETING OUT OF THEIR SILOS 20
MANUFACTURERS’ REPRESENTATIVES —
THE ORIGINAL OUTSOURCING SOLUTION 24
TURNING ANGRY CLIENTS INTO HAPPY ONES 29

2. Table of Contents
FEATURES
20 Avoiding a Lethal Disconnect—
Getting Sales and Marketing Out of Their Silos
By Tom Marx
24 Manufacturers' Representatives: The Original Outsourcing Solution
By Gary McCoy
29 Turning Angry Clients into Happy Ones
33 When is a Sale Complete?
By Frank Fazio
20 38 So,You Want to Buy a Used Conveyor Oven!
By Daniel Pierre III
41 Repair or Replace, Depreciate or Write Off?
By Mark E. Battersby
COLUMNS
15 Spotlight on the Shop Floor
More Trickery — Lowering Spring Rate
By Randy DeFord
17 Be Aware Safety Tips
The OSHA Hexavalent Chromium Standard is Being Enforced
24 By Jim Wood
52 IST Spring Technology
Cautionary Tale: Marketing of Extension Springs
By Mark Hayes
55 Technically Speaking
Showcasing ASD 7.0: Springs in Series
By Luke Zubek, PE
DEPARTMENTS
2 President’s Message
Take Care of the Little Things
33 7 Global Highlights
12 Regional Spring Association Report
34 Flashback
Manufacturers’ Representative Versus Direct Salesman: A Panel Discussion
44 Springmaker Spotlight
Winamac Coil Spring: A Family Business Built Through Hard Work
49 Inside SMI
2010 SMI Annual Meeting to Convene in St. Thomas; Springs Managing Editor
Receives Education Award
58 New Products
63 Advertisers’ Index
44
64 Snapshot
William Lathrop, Colonial HanDee Spring
4 SPRINGS Winter 2010

3. ©Istock.com/kutay tanir
Avoiding a Lethal
Disconnect –
Getting
Sales and
Marketing
Out of
Their Silos
By Tom Marx
Have you ever looked back and seen t The Marx Group we’ve witnessed this disconnect
the tension between marketing and
A between sales and marketing teams countless
times. Each one points his or her finger at the other.
sales teams in your company? We often see this when sales and marketing teams
work in the same building, right next to each other.
Does it sometimes feel like they But we’ve also observed this with larger multi-national
are speaking different languages? companies that have corporate and regional marketing
and sales teams.
Do you sometimes wonder if they We believe that the relationship between marketing
ever talk with each other? Do you and sales is critical for the success of a company’s sales
strategy. In the course of our marketing planning for
listen to each of them complain clients, we continue to experience a potentially lethal
about the other? disconnect between these two teams.
When sales and marketing teams are aligned in
their purpose, mission, messages and methods, and
both teams have open channels of communication, the
power—and resulting leverage that becomes available—
is formidable. The company connects directly to the
heart of its target audience. Internal communications
are in line with company goals and the drive to be
territorial is completely eclipsed by a substantial
increase in revenues and new business.
Most companies spend their budget on a variety
of marketing initiatives, such as creating or increasing
awareness, lead generation and promotions. Within
20 SPRINGS Winter 2010

4. these categories are multiple tactics like advertising, do their job. At the end of the day, the two teams have
promotions, direct marketing, web sites, e-commerce, no one to blame but themselves.
point-of-sale (POS), and sales support materials. The Let’s be clear — we know sales and marketing
lethal disconnect is when sales and marketing lack people have an ongoing dialog concerning goals,
agreement on focus with regard to deliverables or initiatives and success. What we are talking about is a
benchmarks for these programs. rigorous discussion, with clear-cut strategic planning
and a mutual focus on results.
The Problem Here are a couple of proven solutions to help
The problem occurs when various divisions of prevent this disconnect:
a company, such as R&D, manufacturing, Ànance, Establish an institutionalized communication
marketing, sales and customer service develop and process between marketing and sales.
execute these initiatives without working together on Initiate a comprehensive and flexible working
mutually agreed benchmarks and timelines. relationship between the two departments, called “The
When a particular product launch or campaign is Cartridge Marketing Model.”
successful, a signiÀcant level of inquiries and leads can
be generated. The leads are passed on to the sales team,
but marketing has no idea what sales intends to do Solution #1: READY
with them nor have they provided guidance (consistent
with the marketing strategy) on how to do follow-up. Communication Process
The result? Sales is left holding the bag and everyone Designing and institutionalizing an ongoing
points Àngers at marketing. communication process between sales and marketing
The problem is then compounded because sales will bring rigor to the conversation and clarify mutual
is focused on getting the business in for the running
quarter. If the information coming from marketing
isn’t complete, there is little value to the leads. If they
do accept the leads, sales will often procrastinate on
Our precision shaped wire –
follow-up because they are “too busy.” The leads end up where your great products begin.
getting older and colder, and so does the relationship
between marketing and sales. Radcliff custom rolled wire
Unfortunately, the ultimate loser in this “weakest is at the heart of the
link” process is the potential customer. They have superior springs and
taken the time and made the effort to respond to the other products our
marketing activity. In some cases they’ve invested customers make.
valuable time to attend a seminar or exhibition and With the best
then they are left behind. Chances are this potential service, on-time
customer will not make the same effort again — no delivery and
matter how compelling the value proposition! competitive
pricing, we’re the
The Result industry leader.
When the right hand does not know what the left ISO 9001:2000
hand is doing, the result is often a dis-investment certified and RoHS
by management of both sales and marketing. The compliant. Credit
marketing budget is not realizing an acceptable cards accepted.
return on investment (ROI). Next thing you know, the Call: 860-583-1305.
marketing budget is slashed (Isn’t that what most
companies do when times are tough?).
In the worst-case scenario, an impassioned decision
is made to just stop marketing! This decision does
double harm to the company. It destroys credibility and
makes it that much harder for sales and marketing to www.radcliffwire.com
SPRINGS Winter 2010 21

5. expectations. Think of this as “READY-AIM-FIRE” — politics, departmental differences and private agendas,
rather than what often happens, such as ready-Àre-aim. to one of cohesion and consistency.
First, get sales and marketing out of their silos
and on to the same playing Àeld. Second, we urge The Process
you to include your outside marketing/advertising/ Essential is a (minimum) one-day, closed-door,
PR partner as part of your team. Involve them with head-to-head meeting with sales and marketing (and
your core values, your company vision and your sales ideally, your marketing/advertising/PR partner).
and marketing goals. This should happen from start Minimum is a yearly major strategy session and
to Ànish. The power in this collaboration is especially quarterly review and readjust meetings. To eliminate
potent when your marketing/advertising partners interruptions, the meeting should be off-site. To ensure
are seen as an integral element of your marketing no biases, an outsourced, skilled facilitator should
department. manage the conversation (this could be someone
What’s the advantage? You’ll have an objective from your marketing/advertising/PR team or another
voice in the conversation and someone to help you consultant).
focus on your mutual goals. They will listen intently Keep on track and focus on providing solutions
from a deeply experienced marketing perspective, and that support the goals of both marketing and sales. An
will be solely dedicated to growing your business. effective guideline for managing conversations is “every
When you win, they win. Their grounded, objective complaint must include a request.”
and professional viewpoint will keep the conversation As a result of this brainstorming session, a strategy
focused: Growing your brand, making more sales and can be developed ofÁine by a designated management
generating more proÀt. The internal dialog shifts from group and presented back to the teams. We call this
a Marketing RoadMap™. Once the teams agree on
the strategy, a tactical plan and budget guidelines
will follow. With sequential buy-in from all parties
throughout the process, the tactics can be successfully
launched, with speciÀc benchmarks and a clear picture
of ROI.
Would you Rather Spend Time Brainstorming or
“Blamestorming”?
Here’s the clincher. Consistency is the key
to effectiveness and longevity for your marketing
communications. Everyone has to speak the same
language: To each other, to your customers and to your
prospects. That means the same team that meets to
take part in the process outlined above, needs to be the
team that continues to manage your successful ROI.
Solution #2: AIM
Define the Marketing Model
Marketing is based on the age-old principle that
there is a market and from that market you want to
get customers. Sounds simple, and it is. Now that
marketing and sales are on the same page, marketing
can do its research and come up with a plan that calls
out the various marketing tactics it will use to fulÀll
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Once the marketing tactics are delineated,
marketing meets with sales and presents the plan, in Tom Marx is the president and CEO of The Marx Group, a full
service advertising agency that specializes in business development,
order to ensure that the sales objectives can be met.
marketing strategy and communications support services primarily
Once approved, the next step is implementation. to the automotive and heavy duty aftermarket. Marx brings a depth of
marketing and business knowledge from 25-plus years of experience
in lead generation, direct mail, public relations and almost every
Solution #3: FIRE AND EVALUATE discipline of marketing and advertising. He support his clients with
highly strategic marketing planning and the implementation of
marketing programs that create breakthrough results. This includes
It’s now time to get going with messaging, innovative processes such as Contract With Sales™ and The Cartridge
creative development and placing media, doing news Marketing Model™, which are highlighted in his book “Marketing
conferences and news releases, designing collateral, Sucks! (And Sales, Too!).” To contact Marx, phone (415) 453-0800
publishing catalogs, creating new packaging, and more. ext.106, or e-mail tmarx@themarxgrp.com.
By launching these marketing tactics now,
marketing will get valuable and grounded feedback
from sales on how the marketing programs are working.
Both marketing and sales can evaluate and redesign on
the Áy. This will be far more satisfying and successful
since marketing and sales have developed trust,
respect, accountability and commitment — all with the
“we’re in this together” attitude.
SPRINGS Winter 2010 23