Just one in five sales and marketing professionals believe that the activities of their respective teams are fully aligned, according to new research from OneGTM, with one in ten believing they are not aligned at all.
The research, carried out in partnership with The Leadership Foundation, questioned 1,000 professionals (half in sales and the other half in marketing) in B2B organisations to understand the dynamics of the sales and marketing relationship. The report, “Sales and Marketing: Best of enemies or sworn friends?” found that although sales and marketing teams both value marketing, tensions, misunderstanding and a lack of communication between the divisions is threatening business success.
57% respondents said lack of a cohesive strategy was a source of problems with their organisation’s go-to-market approach. They claimed less than two-thirds of marketing activity was part of a long-term plan, and that more than a third is unplanned and reactive. Almost a third felt that marketing activities were too driven by short term goals and admitted that around a third of planned marketing activity doesn’t ever get implemented– so ends up being a waste of time and money.
Two thirds of respondents said the divide between marketing and sales teams is a result of being driven by different targets and objectives. Shockingly, nearly two-thirds felt that political conflict between senior managers was a cause of disconnect between the teams. Poor communication between departments, a failure to value each other’s contribution to the business, and lack of understanding of each other’s roles were also highlighted as issues by more than half of respondents.
The majority of sales people (59%) believe marketers don’t spend enough time talking to customers and so don’t understand how their products or services create value for them. Over half of sales executive also said that marketers lack understanding of the sales role and equally, over half think the marketing team don’t understand what the sales team needs to be successful. 48% claimed that marketers lack commercial awareness.
Phil Brown, director at OneGTM says: “Disconnects between sales and marketing teams can fundamentally undermine the go-to-market efforts of any B2B organisation. Clearly, the survey shows that there are big issues with planning and collaboration that need be addressed. Companies need to be building integrated go-to-market plans, which are jointly developed and owned by sales and marketing, to ensure that everyone is working to a common set of objectives and targets, and that everybody understands each other’s role and value. Failure to do this results in the sorts of issues we’re seeing – lack of alignment, political conflict and mutual suspicion.”
“The fact that marketing are perceived as not understanding the needs of salespeople reflects another common issue we see, which is that marketers are failing to take responsibility for the end-to-end go-to-market process. There’s no point achieving some great market positioning and generating leads, if the salespeople aren’t fully equipped to convert that interest into sales. Sales enablement should be an absolute focus for any B2B marketing organisation.”
Only 16% of marketers felt that all of their go-to-market activities were fully aligned today. A range of factors were highlighted that limit their ability to build fully integrated plans. Lack of budget was identified by 27% of marketing people as a very significant obstacle, as well as a lack of direction from senior management (26%) and lack of time (24%).
On a more positive note, sales people do value many marketing activities. A wide range of marketing activities were rated as ‘valuable’ by at least two-thirds of salespeople, including building brand awareness (83%), generating sales leads (83%), developing compelling propositions (81%), and providing market insight (81%), which suggests the commonly held view that sales people don’t value marketing is overstated.
Phil Brown concludes: “In 2013 businesses really need to focus on improving the alignment of their marketing and sales activities. Selling complex solutions to business customers is rarely a straightforward process. It usually requires a multi-faceted go-to-market approach, and it’s vital that every element works in harmony to deliver a clear and compelling message. It might not always seem that way, but sales and marketing are on the same side, and senior managers have an obligation to ensure that they are working as an effective single team if they’re to maximise their chances of success.
“Those B2B organisations that are able to deliver a fully aligned go-to-market approach will have the best chances of driving profitable growth next year.”
To read our full insight, visit our insights page here.
