There are books about marketing, and there are even more about sales. No wonder that both disciplines typically see their contribution to the buyer’s journey from awareness to advocacy. But I didn’t find many titles in the intersection crossing the chasm. Therefore no surprise that this remarkable title is called “Smarketing: Sell Smarter, Not Harder”.

Peter Strohkorb is the first author I met in Australia when I came over six years ago. We both came from a similar background in the tech sector and we have both been in sales and in marketing. His desire to find the middle ground instead of a “we against them” mentality resonated well with me. I still remember his energising presentations in industry associations after publishing his first book, “The OneTEAM Method”, added by customer stories who illustrated a shift in their results after letting marketing and sales work together.

The book is a convincing approach how marketing and sales can work together in a fruitful way with mutual results. Smarketing is a proven methodology that restores the high levels of productivity that each function deserves and which they should receive from each other. In short: “Sales will help Marketing to better understand what Sales needs. Marketing will respond by better supporting Sales.”

The flow begins with the philosophy and mindset towards Smarketing adding urgency in the time of lost productivity and missed quota achievement. Further chapters cover target setting, the maturity curve of the implementation up to success stories and a clear call to action for the reader to leverage the concept in their environment.

A range of quotes got my attention. It starts with a cartoon about a person coming to a library. “Never mind a book about how to change myself. I need a book about making everyone else change.” About marketing and sales he declares: “They should be two sides of the same coin, two teams that work in unison towards a common goal.” Adding a mindset quote: “We need to start viewing our business from our customers’ perspective, view it from the outside-in.” And a final sentence which many sales reps can align with: “Daily pressures to perform makes salespeople want to look for shortcuts, which is not the way that marketers operate.”

How can you put the learning from Smarketing into practice? It seems to be easier for the VP of Marketing and VP of Sales when their CEO understands the concept of the book. Or it will be extremely difficult in organisations which are drilled top down against each other. But typically there is a kind of autonomy even in country organisations of global companies. And many sales and marketing leaders can utilise a huge part of the concept if they both see it and encourages their teams to apply the mindset – especially when they agree on KPIs in the first place so that they can widen the common ground, added by change management.

Instead of just pushing an idea, Peter dedicates one chapter to the top seven possible mistakes, and another one with the typical roadblocks when attempting an implementation. In both cases he gives practical examples how to overcome those challenges. This book is also special in my view as it covers not just curing a pre-existing issue but also covering prevention before getting those challenges.

The future author of a non-fiction publication can learn a lot from Peter’s work. As my main observation he doesn’t push his own idea in theory, instead he gives practitioners the appropriate space to demonstrate change success in their stories. Readers are guided by easy understandable chapter takeaways which act like a refresher if they take the book in their hands at a later stage. The choice of images underlines the story flow nicely while the carefully curated links provide further reading where needed. Speaking of graphics: the interwoven feedback loops of marketing and sales in form of two arcs form Peter’s company logo in form of a collaborative circle made of gold!

If you want to check your readiness for Smarketing, take this assessment: https://peterstrohkorb.com/smarketing-test

Q&A with Peter Strohkorb

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

In the early 2000’s I worked for a multinational corporation that I also describe in my book, without mentioning names. The relationship between sales and marketing in that company was toxic. I described it as there being barb wire fences between the two departments. The culture and the work atmosphere were always full of tension. Morale suffered, performance suffered, customer experience suffered, good people left and bad people stayed. It was bad.

Seeing all that going on gave me the idea for the book. But I didn’t just want to write a book about how bad things can get between sales and marketing. I also wanted to propose a solution.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

It took quite a while. I started off thinking: “This is such a common problem, surely there must be a common solution.” But I could not find one.

I even reached out to one of the great veterans and personal heroes of mine in the sales industry, Neil Rackham, to find out what solutions he was aware of. What he said shocked me. He basically said that most people try to make do with platitudes, encouraging the parties to “just collaborate better”.

So I knew I had a challenge on my hands to find a remedy for this malaise. I spent six months researching the internet, talking to people and devising my solution. Then it took another six months to write the book, have it edited and then finally published. So it didn’t exactly happen overnight.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

A large part was online research, reading articles and papers by thought leaders in this space. Then I conducted a whole bunch of interviews with sales and marketing leaders, CEOs and practitioners. I wanted a 360-degree view of the subject matter.

Later, in the 2nd edition of my book I wrote customer stories and of examples of my method’s success to illustrate how things can be turned around for the better.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The biggest challenge I faced then and to a degree am still facing is this: Plain old denial. Typically, salespeople don’t mind saying that they could do with more help and support from marketing. Marketers, however, often find themselves pretending that there is no problem and that everything is alright between them and sales.

I even created a simple questionnaire to help marketers self-assess their collaboration quality with sales. I vividly recall this senior marketer at a multinational IT firm fill in the questionnaire in front of me, ticking all the boxes that basically said “there is no problem here”. Denial is so counter-productive, it’s bad. You just can’t help someone who doesn’t want to accept the fact that they could use the help.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I was convinced I was on the right track and that I was doing the industry a favour. I was on a mission. It was later that I realised that not everybody would embrace the notion that lack of Smarketing is a real problem worth tackling. It was very frustrating at times.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

Several factors:

1. There is now greater awareness of a proven methodology to bring sales and marketing together in a collaborative manner that makes a real difference to an organisation, its people, its customers and its results.
2. That method is now commercially available to any organisation.
3. It has given me a reputation for being someone who is not shy to tackle difficult challenges, someone who has solutions and someone who is not afraid to speak out.

That’s why I am now on a mission to make selling more buyer focused.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

1. Choose a subject you are passionate about. It just makes everything easier.
2. What worked for me really well to get the book organised in my head was to start off with a mind map. Unstructured initially, but then as I added more bubbles to the map the chapters crystallised and the structure of the book emerged.
3. Get a good editor. After re-reading and re-writing your chapters over and over again you lose sight of the forest for the trees. It takes a 3rd party to come in and take an objective view of what’s on the pages, sort it all out, put it into the right sequence and make sure it all flows and makes sense.
4. Lastly, have fun. Don’t make the book super dry and academic, unless that’s the market you are aiming for. Make sure there are anecdotes, stories and even some humour in your book, so people will learn something AND enjoy the read.

Peter Strohkorb: “Smarketing – Sell smarter, not harder”, Sydney 2022 (2nd edition), ISBN 979-8621608019 (Paperback) or Kindle

More about the author and the book: www.peterstrohkorb.com/books