Should brand ambassadors also sell?
You are probably still arguing between marketing and sales.
My 2 cents:
It depends on what you expect from the role:
There are many shades of grey.
What stage your brand is at and what do you expect from that role?
- craft brand at the founder stage: duplicate & free-up the founder
- craft brand with a small team, scaling-up: grow those duplicates
- craft(y) brand in big organizations: inject a fresh mindset into an existing mainstream sales team.
Like with all things you must manage expectations when recruiting, ensuring that the person is the right fit:
It's not only a salesperson / hunter.
It's not only an educator / activator / farmer.
It's both.
Brand ambassadors embody the brand and they should have the ability to generate demand and brand pull but if that fails, they should be ready to push and make that sale.
- For all 3 cases above the clarity is crucial: what is expected, how they are KPI:ed (measured upon) and STI:ed (incentivized) and how those 2 link back to the strategy.
- In the 3rd case above, you must have clear rules of engagement vs the current sales team.
After all, maybe a better name should be Sales Ambassador?
