This is the question that both teams in B2B ask themselves regularly. Sales wonder why they don’t get enough support or the right support from marketing. Marketing wonder why sales don’t involve them and value what they provide. Business owners and boards see two teams that may look aligned on the surface but are anything but. So, we ask the question, “Why does sales and marketing alignment remain so difficult?”. Read on to find out why and how to fix it.
Sales and marketing alignment – a tentative collaboration
According to Forrester, 9 out of 10 in sales and marketing say that they are not aligned across strategy, culture, content and process. Unfortunately, the same survey highlighted that more than 97% believe this is bad for the business and the customer. Oh dear. If the findings worry you, imagine what it is like to work in either of those two teams. Additionally, pretend for a moment that you are on the front line (what we caustically jest as the main point of interaction).
But wait, why are we talking so much about the two teams? It is widely acknowledged to be BAD FOR BUSINESS and BAD FOR CUSTOMERS. Ultimately, you can’t afford to ignore this disconnect, missing out on up to a 209% increase in revenue (Marketo).
Why won’t they just get on with it?
Here at Think Beyond, we have our own framework just to deal with this very situation. This tells you that it isn’t a quick fix. We have seen everything from layering ABM on top of two ‘warring factions’ to using predictive lead sources for cold calling. It goes without saying that we don’t recommend either.
Many articles suggest that the answer is good communication. But, what does that mean? Why isn’t that happening now? Who has the time to support both teams? How will we maintain it? What does good look like? Does anyone dare admit it is a problem? The frustration of many is that the two teams don’t just ‘get on with it’ and when they do, they are working in silos. As a result, sales and money are left on the table and employee satisfaction is left at the door. This may be exacerbated by hybrid or remote working.
So, how do the problems manifest themselves in business impact?
Alignment between sales and marketing remains difficult
If your sales team don’t tell marketing what is happening in the businesses of their prospects and customers, marketing is forced to produce generic campaigns and content. If your marketing team don’t tell sales about content trends as a proxy to pain points, sales are having partially informed discussions about customer needs.
A lack of sales and marketing alignment leads to a few challenges:
- Poor quality leads
- Lower conversion rate
- Lower sales
- Less revenue and margin
- Increased brand building
- Poor solution fit
- Lower upsell and cross-sell
- Lower customer retention rate
- Less profit and cash
- Increased employee churn
It goes without saying that some sales still happen without alignment. Sales will identify some customers with a need that they can solve. Marketing will find some leads of which some will convert. The people most concerned with this disconnect are business owners, investors and the board of directors. Sometimes, growth is available simply by enhancing what you have. Before we look at the benefits, it is worth noting that 93% of people in the same survey cited ‘antagonism’ between the two teams.
Making sales and marketing alignment happen
Making a successful pairing requires a few cultural changes. In this case, a business typically identifies a need to leverage greater value from lead generation. Now, imagine that you have private equity investors. What better way for them to generate a return than fixing a disconnected sales and marketing function. 83% of people in sales and marketing say that alignment is the biggest growth opportunity today. Wow!
So, we need a few basic things to be fixed for proper alignment (SCISM):
- Strategy – why we are doing this
- Culture – how we need to behave
- Insights – where we are to look
- Service – what we are to deliver
- Metrics – what we are going to measure
The benefits of alignment in B2B
Getting the two teams rowing in the same direction is just the start. It provides a foundation to progress and boost results across the board.
Here are a few of the benefits:
- You can start to look at business change and lead gen initiatives.
- You can create content that aligns to what customers need.
- Your sales conversations align to what your customer needs.
- You can overcome challenges with two different perspectives.
- You can improve employee satisfaction and retention rates.
- Your customers are more likely to spend more and renew.
Recognising that you have two separate paradigms
Identifying sales and marketing misalignment is relatively easy. Just ask the marketing team how happy they are and then ask how happy they are with the sales team. It sounds parochial to suggest that sales are championing their ability and marketing are lamenting sales. But this happens to be true in many teams. If few of the marketing team want to spend any time with sales then it is indicative of a problem. If few of the sales team want to ‘waste’ their time with marketing then they don’t understand the value.
It is not uncommon for either the Sales Director or Marketing Director or both to deny there is a rift. Nobody on a six-figure salary wants to admit that something as silly as human nature is keeping the organisation from performing. But at what cost? If this is really an issue or you don’t realise your teams try not to work together, your biggest growth lever is being ignored.
Changing lead generation practices for aligned teams
There is no point in throwing good money after bad. If your sales and marketing engine is misfiring, now is not the time to increase automation, implement ABM or deploy intent. The cause of the stutter has to be cured before we try to extract performance. Think Beyond an award-winning management consultancy that offers research, plan and change services to enable accelerated time to value. So, let’s start working on your sales and marketing alignment.
If you would like to chat to a B2B smarketing alignment expert, simply call 01565 632206. Alternatively, if you prefer us to call you then email sales@think-beyond.co.uk or add a few details to our customer form.
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