Breaking into Marketing from Sales
Making the move from sales to marketing is an exciting journey, and with a bit of knowledge and preparation, you’ll be ready to break into the marketing space. This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Alexis Scott from Workspan to discuss her transition from B2B Sales to Senior Manager of Growth Marketing at her new company, Workspan. Here’s what Alexis had to say about making the leap from sales to marketing.
Relationships Matter
Salespeople know how to build relationships; it’s in their DNA. It’s what they do day in and day out for their jobs. Whether you’ve been laid off or you’re job searching in a down market or a thriving one, people are everything in your job search. Alexis even believes that for 75% of the jobs out there, knowing someone is going to be key to securing that job.
You don’t have to know all these people now, but you need to meet them because they will be the key to your success. Double down on relationships. Where do the people you want to be like hang out? Go there. Hang out there. Have conversations with them and become friends with them. You have to become who you want to be and this starts with hanging out with the people you want to become.
Go and have conversations with those people and don’t be creepy or weird. Don’t ask for things. Just be nice, ask questions, be interested, and make them interested in you.
Be a Detective
When you are a job seeker and you’re wanting to start conversations, you have to be a detective. When you find a job posting, figure out who the hiring manager is. You’re probably good at this detective work because you already do it in B2B sales. Figure out who’s on the team in the marketing department. Ask the people you find, who the hiring manager is.
Once you find out who the hiring manager is, you’re ready to start the conversation. There are three things to remember about starting this conversation. First, send a short message about why you’re interested in the role. Why does this role entice you? What is exciting about it? Second, write a couple of bullet points about why you’re qualified for this marketing role. And third, attach your resume to the message. They shouldn’t have to ask you for anything. Make it easy for them to say yes and front load that initial message. Give them everything they could possibly ask from you. You could even go as far as asking if they have any availability next Tuesday or Thursday to chat.
The harder you make it for someone, the less likely they are to reply to you.
- Alexis Scott
You get one shot at this message. Do everything you can do to make it count and make it good and don’t be creepy. All of this parallels what you do in your B2B sales job. Use the skills you have. You are selling yourself now instead of that SaaS product. This is the most important sale you will ever make.
Sales Aren’t What Most People Think It Is
Many people cringe at selling themselves and this stems from the wrong view of sales. Many people get heartburn because they think of inaccurate stereotypes about what a successful salesperson looks like. Sales aren’t about closing or getting one over on someone. It’s not that car dealership salesperson stereotype. True sales are about solving problems and helping people find solutions to their problems. In a job search, it’s about how you align what you can do with what the hiring manager needs.
Advice for Multipotentialites
Alexis, like many others, considers herself a multipotentialite. If you’re not familiar with the term, it refers to someone who can do and likes to do many things. One of the biggest mistakes Alexis admits to making in her job search is not putting herself into a box. She didn’t want to miss out on any opportunities.
If you are a multipotentialite, you need to pick one job to focus your job search on. Not two, not three, but one. Once you pick that one job, you can tailor everything to become that ideal candidate. Doing this will transform you and you will get hired.
When Alexis didn’t zero in on a job target, she says it stretched her job search out forever. She would get to the final round interviews for some roles and she consistently received the same message, “We love you, but went with someone with more experience.” If you’ve experienced this, you know that those messages get old fast. When she decided to focus on content and community marketing, it was a game changer. She updated her LinkedIn and resume. She tailored them to that specific role and focused on those jobs. Within a week, she interviewed for a role in content and community marketing and was hired.
How Does Marketing Differ From Sales
Alexis, like many others, mentions that her number one challenge is relying on others. In sales, you typically own your results. You have a goal and have to figure out what it takes to hit it. In marketing, much of the work relies on other people. You’re waiting on data from other people, information from other people, and introductions to clients from other people. If you need to have a conversation with a customer, the best way to go about doing that is to get a warm introduction from the sales team member who speaks with them regularly. Whereas in sales, you don’t typically need to wait for a warm introduction, you can pick up the phone and call. In marketing, there are more working pieces to the puzzle that are required to obtain the goals. You can’t be a one-man or one-woman show in marketing like you can in sales. If you cannot cross-functionally collaborate, you will fail in marketing. But the same isn’t true with sales.
Transferable Skills to Focus on When Making a Pivot Into Marketing
One of the most important transferable skills to focus on is data analysis and collection. Ultimately, the marketing team will have a revenue number associated with their success. Marketing, like sales, has to drive a pipeline and bring in customers. You will need to know what key data points you should look for and you need to communicate these types of things in your resume. Your resume needs to speak marketing language, not sales language and data is one thing that is massive because in marketing you’re always testing what works and what doesn’t work. There is a lot of trial and error in the work so being able to understand what is working and double down on that is key to success.
The other transferable skills depend on what type of marketing you’re interested in. For example, product marketing tends to be very technical. It’s all about how things work. How do you communicate product information in a language that is accessible to people and that your target audience can understand. It’s not necessarily super creative. If you are targeting a product marketing role, writing about your creative abilities is probably the wrong message for your resume.
Content marketing on the other hand is where you and your computer will be lovers because you are going to be writing all the time. This is a heads-down role, thinking about strategy, thinking about content, and thinking about what messaging will resonate with your buyers. In this role, creative communication will be incredibly important.
Lastly, there is growth marketing or demand generation. Demand generation is really akin to sales. This is where you get people excited about your offering. Analytical skills will be important for this role as you’re asking questions like, are we getting people interested in the product, are we bringing in those leads? For this type of marketing, doubling down on your business development skills would be an asset. Talking about how you communicate, how you structure messaging, and how you manage a funnel are all relevant talking points.
Never Give Up
For anyone trying to make a career pivot into marketing, never give up. You are smart. You are capable and you can make this pivot. It may not be on your timeline and that is something we all have to come to terms with, but if this is something you truly want, you can do it.
Immerse yourself in the marketing community. Have conversations and don’t give up. Keep applying to marketing jobs. Keep meeting with people. New opportunities open all the time so if there isn’t something for you right now, that doesn’t mean that in a week the right thing won’t become available.
Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t cut yourself short. You have to give it time to happen and it will if you are determined to make it happen.
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