Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

I know for some of you that have been in managment awhile, that this particular problem is an ongoing one that you always have to watch and keep an eye on - the lack of communication between a sales department and a marketing department.

This problem is about as old as business, yet still has the problems that have always beset it. I would even go further than that though, it goes even beyond marketing and sales to be a company-wide issue.

The truth is a sales department should be the first line of offense and defense in products and services offered and in the creative pipeline. Who hears more of the gripes, complaints, needs or compliments than those that are in sales? They hear what is being struggled with or what is working. They hear what a company wishes they had that could be communicated to those in charge of product development.

Yet so many still don't understand the interconnectedness of everything that goes on in a business.

What can be done as a manager? First of all there is the need to remind workers and employees over and over again of the value of communication and its importance to their jobs and company growth. That is more the macro need.

The other thing is that your sales department needs to learn to transfer its knowledge to others in the company for review and discussion.

Here are several things they can focus on. What the customers

1) need
2) care about
3) gripe about
4) emotional responses are

The sales people know! They are your front line to everything concerning your customers. Even if you're a small retail business, your employees will always be hearing the customers talk directly or indirectly. Learn to mine them for their information, it's imperative that we all learn to do this more consistantly. They, probably more than anything else, are your true measurers of success or failure concerning products and services.

They better be, if you are waiting to your customers to speak, it will be from the business across the street. Learn to be proactive in this, not reactive.