I’m one extremely lucky gal.

Marketing and Sales…we’re supposed to mix like oil and water, right? Well…yeah - I’ve seen and heard and experienced this enough to know that the odds aren’t exactly stacked in everyone’s favor that you’re going to turn out being BFFs.

But, being aware of this common fact has fortunately not left me (too) jaded.  As our sales staff has grown, I sort of winced, held my breath and waited for the usual headbutting and strained conversations. But now, I don’t even know why I was worried - honeymoon period being what it may be or not, I couldn’t be happier with our team - and that’s saying a lot given CES is increasing everyone’s workload and stress level.

Here’s what I think is helps

Wanting to have the discussion: I could just smile and nod when someone makes a suggestion…and Senor Sales could roll his/her eyes at my copy and then just trash it. But I can’t tell you how liberating it is to have someone sitting across the table with useful feedback and at least sane if not brilliant ideas. Not only am I ingesting feedback, but I feel comfortable enough to voice my own opinion…so now we have multiplied the brainpower instead of chopping it up. How could that not be a better foundation?
Competence, confidence, and mutual respect: I may not have twenty years under my belt, but I care deeply about what I do and spent an great deal of time studying, reading, and thinking about the different aspects of my job. Some of the people I work with have been in the business for many, many years more than me. But they don’t throw that around - instead they offer their experiences as guidance…as additional data points. No one’s threatened or makes themselves feel better by belittling the less experienced folks.
Genuine excitement: We are all driving toward the same goal. We are all on the same bloody team and we all want to succeed. I can’t imagine holding the training session I ran yesterday with a group of more enthusiastic, fun, intelligent people. I also can’t imagine getting through it with colleagues who just worked the nine to five.

Having all this - man, what a treat. Last night I was up until 2am building an html email…and I don’t really know how to code. Nor am I a graphic designer. But being so jacked up about the team I’m working with made it worth it. So, I made it work, the email went out and hey…I (sorta) learned a few new skills (FYI Adam I promise you never have to look at my messy code ever again…okay, THAT messy code, maybe not ALL the messy code I’ll inevitably create…).

I love marketing. And being able to love my sales team too just makes me relish my role all that much more.