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Dear Quota Team,
I sell software to the healthcare industry, but our marketing team has recently been focused on generating content and leads from completely unrelated sectors. The CMO claims they're "expanding our total addressable market," but I'm spending countless hours with prospects from retail and manufacturing that have a much lower close rate than the established healthcare vertical. Meanwhile, my healthcare pipeline is stagnating because the marketing team is spending too much marketing budget and time trying to generate leads for these new verticals. They're making it harder for me (and my coworkers) to close deals with customers who are the right fit — and more likely to buy. What can I do?
Annoyed in the Midwest
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Dear Annoyed,
It sounds like your company is trying new ways to grow the business. There are likely lots of things going on at the management level that are leading the company to expand this way. You're a salesperson, so you should focus on selling and improving your pitch to the prospects in the new verticals. Whatever issues you're having with the prospects in the new sectors, document their objections and bring them back to the marketing/product team to help enable you to sell better. If you do so, not only will you be helping the company grow, but you'll be growing your skills as a salesperson.