Hello and welcome back. It is great to have you here, and a big hello to the new faces who have joined us after our recent chat about Generative Engine Optimisation. That episode really seemed to strike a chord with those of you trying to figure out how AI is actually changing the way Perth customers find your business.
I have just come off a week that was a total whirlwind: quite eventful, as you will see. I had a stint on talkback radio that was a bit of a shocker. I ended up getting yelled at over a Halloween segment, which was a terrible topic, so I am moving swiftly on from that.
It was a good reminder, though: if you are going to put yourself out there, you need to be ready for the conversation. This week, we are looking at a conversation that happens inside almost every Perth industrial business: the messy, often frustrating tug-of-war between sales and marketing.
The disaster of mixing your roles
In many Perth businesses, the terms sales and marketing are used in the same breath. In a small team, it is common for one person to wear both hats, but this often leads to a lack of clarity. When these functions are mixed, your KPIs get murky. You end up with a business where revenue is stalling, but no one can pinpoint which part of the engine is actually broken.
The biggest issue we see is a lack of clear functions. Even if the same person is doing both, they need to have defined roles. Marketing is about the inbound: the leads that come to you. Sales is the hunting: the business development and the closing of those leads.
If you do not break these apart, you cannot measure success. As Mel says, if you mix these roles, you are always going to get disastrous results.
Why your sales team should not touch your marketing
A major issue for Perth SMEs is the distraction factor. When you give a salesperson marketing tasks, you give them a perfect excuse to avoid the hard work of being on the road. Cold calling is difficult. Door knocking in the industrial suburbs is uncomfortable. It is much easier for a salesperson to stay in the office and claim they are fixing the website or tweaking a brochure.
Our own Marketing Consultant, Mon, is very direct about this. She knows that a high-performing salesperson should stay in their lane: “It would terrify me if I had to make a pamphlet. I am just not interested in that.”
Marketing should deliver leads on a platter. It should not be an admin burden for your sales team. When your marketing team understands their role, they send your sales team on the road fully fueled.
MQLs vs SQLs: The only metrics that matter
If your marketing provider is only reporting on web hits or impressions, they are not providing marketing. A real Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a name, a requirement, a phone number, and an email address. In the B2B world, it is ideally a specific company that has enquired.
Once that lead comes in, the sales function takes over to turn it into a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). They decide if the person is actually a good fit or just a tyre kicker. This transparency is what most Perth businesses are missing. You need to know which channels are delivering the best leads and which ones are just wasting your time.
Mel is quite allergic to the jargon often found in these reports. Her advice is simple: “Get rid of all the leading indicators that do not matter. When we are talking about getting revenue for a company, a marketing qualified lead is actually someone you can speak to.”
The Techsteel story: From top hats to house frames
The danger of having no clear marketing strategy is best illustrated by the story of Corey from Techsteel. Corey initially wanted to run Pay-Per-Click ads for top hats, which are small components used in roofing.
The problem was his website. It did not explain why anyone should buy from him. He was trying to sell a product for $40 that competitors sold for $4. Without a messaging framework and the right landing pages, he was just burning cash on ads.
Once a B2B marketing strategy was implemented, the business trajectory exploded. Instead of chasing the chicken scraps of individual top hats, the marketing started driving high-intent leads for his core business: fabricating steel house frames. Marketing drove the business strategy by positioning the company to win the work they actually wanted.
The charismatic owner ceiling
Most Perth business owners are charismatic. They are the number one salesperson for their team. But you eventually hit a ceiling where you cannot do everything yourself.
Mel often sees the “marketing kid” in the corner of these businesses, a grad with no experience suggesting TikTok videos to a salesperson with 30 years of industry experience. It is no wonder people get frustrated.
If you are an owner who loves selling, stay on the phone and get a managed marketing service team to support you with the assets you need. If you hate qualifying leads, hire a gun salesperson but keep their focus strictly on sales.
Do not mix the roles. Know what you are good at, and outsource or hire for the rest. That is how you raise the bar for your business.