Question

Topic: Strategy

Investment In Staff For Next Leap Forward

Posted by ricks on 9/2/2007 at 10:50 AM ET 250 Points
dilema in making decision to add sales manager position along with marketing mgr position at the same time. This is a budget stretch for the marketing mgr. too at same time, but looks and feels like the right thing to do for double barrell effect. Question being is to wait for salesmanager to take off running before hiring the new marketing dept. mgr. or do the both at the same time?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 9/2/2007 at 11:09 AM Member
    I understand the limited budget issue, but if there's an opportunity for growth I'd say you MUST hire the marketing manager. Otherwise where is the sales manager going to get direction for prospecting, product positioning, pricing, etc.?

    Do you have business and marketing plans? If so, was this decision built into the plan? What did you THINK you would have to do when you started the business? Or did you just wing it and hope that somehow it would all fall into place?

    And how did you think you'd finance the growth when you started? Are you short on budget because you overspent on something else, or did you plan to never have enough money to achieve your objectives?

    I'm interested in how entrepreneurs get into this kind of dilemma, and whether they ever regret not having spent more time planning up-front.
  • Posted by freejacq03 on 9/2/2007 at 11:25 AM Member
    You also have the option of hiring a sales and marketing manager who has experience in both areas. Need more information about your business, purchase process, sales cycle, etc.

  • Posted by kpalmer on 9/2/2007 at 12:04 PM Member
    mgoodman is totally correct.

    Stop what you are doing, refinance - get a marketing consultant and plan this out.

    Otherwise, you'll be doing what I used to do - skeleton operations that can't possibly win over time as it's always behind the eight ball.

    You'll end up missing more business than you'll get. See the bank, line of credit, etc. If you don't have faith, neither will anyone else.

    Kevin Palmer, RMP, CMInst.M, CTB (hons, Arizona) EDCO
  • Posted by ricks on 9/2/2007 at 12:07 PM Author
    Steve: ours is a well established business and the question in my mind was in line with what you were saying. We are replacing a sales mgrs position in existence but thinking of adding the mktg position at the same time. Do we do both at same time or wait for the sales mgr. to have time to come out of the box and then add the mktg support later. It's not like there is no mktg now, but we want to take it up a notch to the next level. Wait or go with both guns?
  • Posted by ricks on 9/2/2007 at 12:49 PM Author
    Randall:
    great advice. I guess I'm just looking for confirmation of my own thinking. Will go for both as great candidates for the two positions have been already found.
    Thanks,
    Rick
  • Posted on 9/2/2007 at 4:54 PM Member
    I want to echo Randall's comments. The MM is absolutely critical. However, make sure that s/he understands your brand deeply and intends to develop a marketing plan, and then -- in concert with sales manager -- a sales plan. Per Randall's advice, yes! you should have the MM help choose the sales manager... I do not recommend hiring them both separately and then putting them in a conference room and saying, "welcome to the person who will determine a lot of your destiny here..." That is very risky if they do not happen to gel and flow as a team.

    In the end, the MM must have a holistic marketing vision for your company, and s/he will have no problem seeing the big picture, how sales fits in, and how everybody in the company is responsible to keep the brand promise, rather than break it.

    all the best

    Peter



  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 9/2/2007 at 6:47 PM Member
    Since you said, "It's not like there is no mktg now, but we want to take it up a notch to the next level." You definitely need more marketing to take it up a notch.

    Why?

    Presumably you've taken your existing message to your prospects and got some sales. You can either continue with your existing message and try to find more prospects or improve your message and send out the new message to both your existing prospects and new ones (and perhaps new markets as well). A new message is necessary to go to the next level.
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 9/3/2007 at 5:24 PM Member
    have you thought about bringing one or both on as contract vs employee?

    I'd review where you are stuck sales wize. I rep a billion dollar company that has zero marketing -- relying totally on us reps to get the word out.

    Consider also, marketing and sales are often butting head to head. Is marketing going to support sales, or is, as another poster suggested-- do you need a new message? If you are an established company-- I kind of doubt it.

    If you get your sales manager in place first, you will have a valuable source of info for marketing to understand your SWOT's, and what support is actually needed.

    Sell Well and Prosper tm
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 9/4/2007 at 1:57 AM Member
    Rick

    Given the supplentary info you provided on 9/2, I'd say hire the marketing manager first, work up a new business plan with them, and then let them hire the sales manager in line with their plan.

    Plan the work, then work the plan.

    ChrisB
  • Posted by mgoodman on 9/4/2007 at 8:26 AM Accepted
    Keep in mind that both jobs are full-time, important positions. Further, they each require specific skill sets that are different from each other.

    And while you may want to structure the jobs so that they are somewhat independent of each other and/or of equal importance, at least at the intellectual level, Sales is one element of the Marketing Mix, not a separate function. Sales deals with customer relationships, while Marketing deals with building the company so that it serves the unmet needs of the customer base -- both short-term and long-term -- and makes money at it too.

    It would be a big mistake to think that the same person could do a great job of managing both functions. It's not unheard of, but there are a lot more cases where that approach costs a lot more than it saves. Why do that to yourself?
  • Posted by ricks on 9/4/2007 at 3:53 PM Author
    The sales mgr. position is naturally being filled first with the strategic plan of adding the mktg mgr thereafter. Thanks to all for the advice.
    Rick
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