I once had a meeting with our Head of Marketing that perfectly illustrates why sales and marketing folks are different species.
While my team scrambled to close Q1 deals and start the year strong, Marketing locked themselves in a conference room for A WEEK to debate the color scheme of our new SaaS product.
The grand conclusion after 40 hours of discussion?
“Purple is a royal color.”
That’s it. That was the breakthrough moment.
Meanwhile, if you asked any salesperson what color the product should be, they’d say “whatever color makes customers click ‘Buy Now’ faster.”
Don’t get me wrong – I appreciate good design. But in sales, we operate on a simple principle: if it doesn’t help close deals, it’s just expensive art.
Marketing wants the perfect shade of purple. Sales wants to know if purple outperforms blue (our company logo color) in conversion tests.
Marketing creates the party. Sales pays for it.
This is why I tell my reps: respect marketing’s expertise, but never forget your job isn’t about making things pretty. It’s about solving customer problems and proving value better than the competition.
