Get Your Sales and Marketing Teams Aligned
Lack of alignment between sales and marketing is an age-old problem, frequently lamented yet rarely addressed. Conquering this issue requires a fresh approach and better understanding of both sides of the relationship. But where to start?
This report is designed to shed a light on the obstacles to sales and marketing alignment, but also show teams where to start, how to collaborate, and how to set aligned goals.
7 Methods to Get your Sales and Marketing Teams Aligned InfographicInsideView
Learn what separates leaders from laggards. Then discover 7 best practices these leading B2B businesses follow to achieve sales and marketing alignment.
Data That Supports True Sales and Marketing AlignmentMarried2Growth
Sales and marketing alignment is elusive but worth it. In our Nashville Analytics Summit presentation, we share the business metrics and initiatives that drove 30% decrease in CAC and 20% increase in LTV.
The Case for Enterprise Sales and Marketing AlignmentHubSpot
Companies with strong sales and marketing alignment achieve 20% annual growth rate. Learn how to build a SMarketing organization, agree on terminology, implement a service-level agreement (SLA), and manage your SMarketing teams.
According to the 2016 State of ABM by SiriusDecisions, the number one goal for ABM in 2016 is increasing revenue. Goals are only effective when they are measurable, so account-based marketers need to understand how to measure their ABM efforts in terms of revenue. Capturing the account-based nuance in your revenue measurement is essential to scaling and proving the value of ABM. In this session, I will discuss how ABM measurement differs from demand gen measurement – from measuring revenue on an account-basis, to engagement and attribution.
What a difference one year makes in the ABM journey. In this session, Megan Heuer will share results of the new 2016 State of Account-Based Marketing study, showcasing changes and trends in ABM adoption across B2B companies. Find out where the ABM revolution is today, and where it’s heading next.
7 Methods to Get your Sales and Marketing Teams Aligned InfographicInsideView
Learn what separates leaders from laggards. Then discover 7 best practices these leading B2B businesses follow to achieve sales and marketing alignment.
Data That Supports True Sales and Marketing AlignmentMarried2Growth
Sales and marketing alignment is elusive but worth it. In our Nashville Analytics Summit presentation, we share the business metrics and initiatives that drove 30% decrease in CAC and 20% increase in LTV.
The Case for Enterprise Sales and Marketing AlignmentHubSpot
Companies with strong sales and marketing alignment achieve 20% annual growth rate. Learn how to build a SMarketing organization, agree on terminology, implement a service-level agreement (SLA), and manage your SMarketing teams.
According to the 2016 State of ABM by SiriusDecisions, the number one goal for ABM in 2016 is increasing revenue. Goals are only effective when they are measurable, so account-based marketers need to understand how to measure their ABM efforts in terms of revenue. Capturing the account-based nuance in your revenue measurement is essential to scaling and proving the value of ABM. In this session, I will discuss how ABM measurement differs from demand gen measurement – from measuring revenue on an account-basis, to engagement and attribution.
What a difference one year makes in the ABM journey. In this session, Megan Heuer will share results of the new 2016 State of Account-Based Marketing study, showcasing changes and trends in ABM adoption across B2B companies. Find out where the ABM revolution is today, and where it’s heading next.
Sales and Marketing: The New Power Couple Has ArrivedDemandbase
Most modern businesses understand that today’s B2B sales cycle requires insight between sales and marketing teams and that operating in silos can be a major setback to success. You need a strategy for tackling the three biggest issues that divide your teams so you can turn your Marketing and Sales organizations into one unstoppable super team.
SMARKETING presented by Bill Faeth, CEO of Inbound Marketing Agents in Nashville, TN
At it's core, Smarketing is fairly simple. It is the alignment of Sales and Marketing around common goals like pipeline and sales quotas which require's visibility into each other's goals and progress. Bill Faeth, founder and CEO of Inbound Marketing Agents, will walk you through the 5 Steps to Integrate Smarketing into your business.
1. Speak the same language
2. Set up a closed-loop reporting
3. Implement a service level agreement
4. Maintain open and consistent communication
5. Rely on data
Insight to Action: How Predictive Analytics Accelerates B2B Marketing SuccessDemandbase
B2B Marketers are collecting more data than ever before, but many are not yet successfully using it to drive growth. In this session, Darian Shirazi will share how to use data science and predictive analytics to acquire new accounts and leverage data insights across the funnel, increasing pipeline opportunities and ultimately, revenue.
Eight Keys for Integrating ABM with Your Sales Team’s Existing Target Account...Demandbase
ABM can’t exist and succeed separate from your sales department. Whereas traditional marketing strategies and tactics can be executed without sales being involved, successful ABM requires tight coordination to achieve optimal results. Matt Heinz outlines eight essential elements for a successful integration of ABM with your sales team’s target account program.
We've gathered the most surprising, horrifying, and enlightening sales statistics on cold calling, social selling, sales training, and much more.
Whether you are a sales rookie or an experienced veteran, these 21 sales stats will knock your socks off and perhaps inspire you to improve the way you sell. Enjoy and share!
The relationship between the sales marketing divide and goldfish jumping bowlsCPI-Consulting
The sales marketing divide, the eternal bickering between the sales and the marketing department can be solved by embracing the concept of an integrated customer engagement department. In this presentation - delivered at the Fusion Marketing Experience Event Fusionmex on June 5th 2014 Patrick Maes explains how to solve issues related to integrate sales and marketing functions in the New Selling process and Sales 3.0
Reboarding the Sales Force: Leveraging Onboarding Principles to Keep Seasoned...QstreamInc
Enlightened sales organizations understand the need to invest in onboarding: a structured training and development effort to speed new hires up the learning curve. But given the incredible pace of change in today’s B2B sales environment, traditional onboarding is no longer enough. Sales enablement pros must find new approaches for optimizing salesforce performance and productivity throughout their tenure, essentially “reboarding” their sales teams as conditions demand. In this webcast, co-presented with the Sales Management Association, we explore the concept of “reboarding,” why it’s so critical for fast-growing enterprises, and share data-driven best practices for keeping both novice and veteran sales reps alike, engaged and ready to win.
ABM is making it easier to understand which companies to target while MA platforms are bringing a level of automation to the nurturing process. However, what must still happen in between targeting and nurture is positive demand generation. This session shares best practices from the world’s best demand marketers.
10 Lessons from Account-Based Marketing SuccessSangram Vajre
Account-based marketing (ABM) might sound easy but it's hard to operationalize it. Here are the 10 lessons I have learned from doing and seeing others do ABM at scale.
You’ve heard a lot about Account-Based Marketing, but the reality is that Marketing alone isn’t sufficient. In order to turn your most valued accounts into revenue, you need to look beyond traditional marketing channels to incorporate sales, sales development, and customer success.
Join CEO and Founder of Engagio, Jon Miller, and CMO of Demandbase, Peter Isaacson for an in-depth look at how you can expand your account-based focus beyond just Marketing. You’ll learn how to surround your target accounts with relevant and timely messaging through coordinated campaigns extending across sales and marketing.
Account based marketing: from strategy and plans to execution and insightsEngagio
It’s time to go beyond the buzz of Account-Based Marketing and put the strategy to work. However, even some of the smartest and most sophisticated companies are struggling to align their organization and get started with ABM. It doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it’s easier than you think. Join Engagio and Demandbase, to hear how the marketing leadership from each team has built a world-class ABM program from the ground up. You’ll discover who the key players are that you'll need for your ABM Tiger Team, critical factors for selecting the accounts most likely to close, and how to find the buyers and key influencers to cut sales cycles times in half. You'll also learn how to capitalize on anonymous buying behavior, and the biggest secrets to launching your ABM program.
Download Engagio's Clear and Complete Guide to Account Based Marketing at Engagio.com/guide
Learn more about Engagio at Engagio.com
Twitter.com/Engagio
Linkedin.com/Company/Engagio
Facebook.com/Engagio
We’ve gathered the most surprising, horrifying and enlightening sales statistics on cold calling, social selling, sales training and much more.
Whether you are a sales rookie or an experienced veteran, these 21 sales stats will knock your socks off and perhaps inspire you to improve the way you sell.
Money & Metrics: Bridging marketing finances with campaign dataAllocadia Software
As an organization using Oracle Marketing Cloud, you're accustomed to having all your marketing campaigns and programs in one place, fully measurable, and integrated with other systems. You're automating campaigns, building advanced workflows, and tracking metrics.
But what about the "I" in ROI -- the investment side of things?
How are you managing your marketing spend, plans and budgets? Are your budgets, plans and actuals linked with everything you're doing in OMC? The financial side of marketing is often the one piece of the marketing puzzle that's not yet connected to the bigger picture.
See more at: http://learn.allocadia.com/webinar-money-and-metrics/#sthash.F07OyXOQ.dpuf
Sales and Marketing: The New Power Couple Has ArrivedDemandbase
Most modern businesses understand that today’s B2B sales cycle requires insight between sales and marketing teams and that operating in silos can be a major setback to success. You need a strategy for tackling the three biggest issues that divide your teams so you can turn your Marketing and Sales organizations into one unstoppable super team.
SMARKETING presented by Bill Faeth, CEO of Inbound Marketing Agents in Nashville, TN
At it's core, Smarketing is fairly simple. It is the alignment of Sales and Marketing around common goals like pipeline and sales quotas which require's visibility into each other's goals and progress. Bill Faeth, founder and CEO of Inbound Marketing Agents, will walk you through the 5 Steps to Integrate Smarketing into your business.
1. Speak the same language
2. Set up a closed-loop reporting
3. Implement a service level agreement
4. Maintain open and consistent communication
5. Rely on data
Insight to Action: How Predictive Analytics Accelerates B2B Marketing SuccessDemandbase
B2B Marketers are collecting more data than ever before, but many are not yet successfully using it to drive growth. In this session, Darian Shirazi will share how to use data science and predictive analytics to acquire new accounts and leverage data insights across the funnel, increasing pipeline opportunities and ultimately, revenue.
Eight Keys for Integrating ABM with Your Sales Team’s Existing Target Account...Demandbase
ABM can’t exist and succeed separate from your sales department. Whereas traditional marketing strategies and tactics can be executed without sales being involved, successful ABM requires tight coordination to achieve optimal results. Matt Heinz outlines eight essential elements for a successful integration of ABM with your sales team’s target account program.
We've gathered the most surprising, horrifying, and enlightening sales statistics on cold calling, social selling, sales training, and much more.
Whether you are a sales rookie or an experienced veteran, these 21 sales stats will knock your socks off and perhaps inspire you to improve the way you sell. Enjoy and share!
The relationship between the sales marketing divide and goldfish jumping bowlsCPI-Consulting
The sales marketing divide, the eternal bickering between the sales and the marketing department can be solved by embracing the concept of an integrated customer engagement department. In this presentation - delivered at the Fusion Marketing Experience Event Fusionmex on June 5th 2014 Patrick Maes explains how to solve issues related to integrate sales and marketing functions in the New Selling process and Sales 3.0
Reboarding the Sales Force: Leveraging Onboarding Principles to Keep Seasoned...QstreamInc
Enlightened sales organizations understand the need to invest in onboarding: a structured training and development effort to speed new hires up the learning curve. But given the incredible pace of change in today’s B2B sales environment, traditional onboarding is no longer enough. Sales enablement pros must find new approaches for optimizing salesforce performance and productivity throughout their tenure, essentially “reboarding” their sales teams as conditions demand. In this webcast, co-presented with the Sales Management Association, we explore the concept of “reboarding,” why it’s so critical for fast-growing enterprises, and share data-driven best practices for keeping both novice and veteran sales reps alike, engaged and ready to win.
ABM is making it easier to understand which companies to target while MA platforms are bringing a level of automation to the nurturing process. However, what must still happen in between targeting and nurture is positive demand generation. This session shares best practices from the world’s best demand marketers.
10 Lessons from Account-Based Marketing SuccessSangram Vajre
Account-based marketing (ABM) might sound easy but it's hard to operationalize it. Here are the 10 lessons I have learned from doing and seeing others do ABM at scale.
You’ve heard a lot about Account-Based Marketing, but the reality is that Marketing alone isn’t sufficient. In order to turn your most valued accounts into revenue, you need to look beyond traditional marketing channels to incorporate sales, sales development, and customer success.
Join CEO and Founder of Engagio, Jon Miller, and CMO of Demandbase, Peter Isaacson for an in-depth look at how you can expand your account-based focus beyond just Marketing. You’ll learn how to surround your target accounts with relevant and timely messaging through coordinated campaigns extending across sales and marketing.
Account based marketing: from strategy and plans to execution and insightsEngagio
It’s time to go beyond the buzz of Account-Based Marketing and put the strategy to work. However, even some of the smartest and most sophisticated companies are struggling to align their organization and get started with ABM. It doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it’s easier than you think. Join Engagio and Demandbase, to hear how the marketing leadership from each team has built a world-class ABM program from the ground up. You’ll discover who the key players are that you'll need for your ABM Tiger Team, critical factors for selecting the accounts most likely to close, and how to find the buyers and key influencers to cut sales cycles times in half. You'll also learn how to capitalize on anonymous buying behavior, and the biggest secrets to launching your ABM program.
Download Engagio's Clear and Complete Guide to Account Based Marketing at Engagio.com/guide
Learn more about Engagio at Engagio.com
Twitter.com/Engagio
Linkedin.com/Company/Engagio
Facebook.com/Engagio
We’ve gathered the most surprising, horrifying and enlightening sales statistics on cold calling, social selling, sales training and much more.
Whether you are a sales rookie or an experienced veteran, these 21 sales stats will knock your socks off and perhaps inspire you to improve the way you sell.
Money & Metrics: Bridging marketing finances with campaign dataAllocadia Software
As an organization using Oracle Marketing Cloud, you're accustomed to having all your marketing campaigns and programs in one place, fully measurable, and integrated with other systems. You're automating campaigns, building advanced workflows, and tracking metrics.
But what about the "I" in ROI -- the investment side of things?
How are you managing your marketing spend, plans and budgets? Are your budgets, plans and actuals linked with everything you're doing in OMC? The financial side of marketing is often the one piece of the marketing puzzle that's not yet connected to the bigger picture.
See more at: http://learn.allocadia.com/webinar-money-and-metrics/#sthash.F07OyXOQ.dpuf
Introduction
Content is a nexus between the sales and marketing functions in most organizations. The traditional content model calls for marketing to produce content assets and sales to use them. Having this model work well requires a great deal of intentionality on the part of both functions: marketing must endeavor to understand customer content needs and how well the assets they produce engages those customers. Then, the sales team must diligently provide feedback to marketing so that content quality and effectiveness rises.
While this model is conceptually simple, there are challenges related to alignment that impact content effectiveness in the form of visibility, communications, feedback, process, tools and even culture. The statistics tell the story: when the level of sales/marketing alignment is high, 81% of study participants report that marketing content meets sales’ needs well. However, when alignment is poor or non-existent, the content effectiveness percentage drops to 35%.
Quality content that is easy for sales to find and use is a critical success factor in sales interactions. The dynamics of the content process are not difficult to understand, but the content creation, deployment, usage and feedback loop is often a point of friction between sales and marketing. This friction is not one-sided; marketing is frustrated when it has limited feedback and visibility into the use of content assets. The sales team gets frustrated when content assets don’t meet customers’ need, or those assets are hard to find and use. This frustration is more than just an inconvenience: 70% of sales teams acknowledge that the lack of effective content negatively impacts the outcome of a sales conversation.
Since content is so often the key to successful sales interactions, it merits constant attention and improvement efforts. Demand Metric and Showpad together conducted research to understand the sales-marketing relationship around content, and how it affects sales interactions. This research shares key insights, such as when marketing has little or no visibility into sales conversations, only 32% of the content produced meets the needs of sales team well. This research will help organizations understand how to get better results from their marketing content.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Executive Summary
- The Content Process
- Content Process Success Factors
- Content Use
- Content Impact on Revenue
- Analyst Bottom Line
- Acknowledgements
- About Showpad
- About Demand Metric
- Appendix - Survey Background
Marketing disruption: Five blind spots on the road to marketing's potential -...Bertrand Barbet
“Disruption” has become a blanket term to encapsulate the massive changes affecting businesses. But the term’s overuse and broadness have obscured what really matters to marketing. Often missing in the debate is a clear-eyed look at the causes of disruption to help marketers make better decisions regarding what to do about them.
Sales and Marketing Alignment Benchmarking ReportDemand Metric
How influential is sales and marketing alignment on achieving revenue goals? A Demand Metric Benchmark Study concluded that sales and marketing alignment is more than just “happy talk”; it has a real effect on revenue performance.
In June 2013, Demand Metric conducted a benchmarking study to assess the influences on sales and marketing alignment and how in turn in impacts revenue performance. Key findings from this study include:
• Not an “all or nothing” proposition: complete alignment of sales and marketing goals is related to the highest revenue achievement, but even partial alignment is far superior to none.
• Rose-colored glasses: Presidents, CEOs or owners of their firms are more likely to perceive strong or complete sales and marketing alignment than their sales and marketing teams.
• Two is better than one: Organizational structure is related to achievement. Separate sales and marketing teams outperform organizations where sales and marketing operate as a single, combined team.
• The one with the best tools wins: Mature implementations of sales and marketing systems, such as marketing automation or CRM, are having a significant impact on revenue achievement.
• Integration = Revenue: The highest level of revenue achievement coincides with the highest level of integration effectiveness between sales and marketing systems.
• Diminishing returns: once qualified leads account for 10% of total leads generated, revenue achievement remains flat even as the percentage of qualified leads increases.
Learn more about the impact of sales and marketing alignment on revenue performance by downloading a copy of the report.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Executive Summary
3. Research Methodology
4. Revenue Goal Acheivement
5. Perception of Alignment
6. Organizational Structure
7. Alignment & Technology
8. Leads & Lead Quality
9. Analyst Bottom Line
10. Acknowledgements
11. About Demand Metric
Research Methodology
The Demand Metric 2013 Sales & Marketing Alignment Survey was administered online over a period of June 24th through June 30th, 2013. During that time, over 600 responses were collected, 550 of which were complete.
All members of the Demand Metric community received email invitations to participate in the survey, and participation was encouraged through a random draw incentive for an iPad Mini.
While respondent email addresses were collected in order to facilitate the prize drawing, no identifying information was retained or considered in the analysis of the survey data.
Following collection of the survey data, Demand Metric used IBM SPSS statistics software to analyze the results and draw statistically significant conclusions.
Gleanster Research and Act-On Software sought to answer these questions. We conducted a study in Q4 2014 and Q1 2015, surveying marketing professionals in 750 companies to understand how they perceive and support customer relationship management. For the purposes of this study, we defined CRM as: Any iteraction a customer has with your brand across all stages of the customer lifecycle.
How A 'One Team' Mindset Fuels Revenue Growth in 2021Sales Hacker
Macaroni and cheese. Bacon and eggs. Sales and marketing.
All of them should make the perfect team. But somewhere along the line, sales and marketing teams developed deep-rooted differences that need resolution. As organizations grow, this rift widens as the two teams act like two different organizations that plan, execute, and optimize two separate processes for the same buyer.
To develop a deeper understanding, we interviewed 1200+ global sales and marketing professionals - the largest-ever survey on sales and marketing alignment.
Learn from Stephen Pacinelli, Chief Marketing Officer at BombBomb and Brogan Taylor, Head of Enterprise Sales at Freshworks as they discuss the findings and share tactical ways to align the two in order to drive revenue and collaboration.
How influential is sales and marketing alignment on achieving revenue goals? A Demand Metric Benchmark Study concluded that sales and marketing alignment is more than just “happy talk”; it has a real effect on revenue performance.
In June 2013, Demand Metric conducted a benchmarking study to assess the influences on sales and marketing alignment and how in turn in impacts revenue performance. Key findings from this study include:
• Not an “all or nothing” proposition: complete alignment of sales and marketing goals is related to the highest revenue achievement, but even partial alignment is far superior to none.
• Rose-colored glasses: Presidents, CEOs or owners of their firms are more likely to perceive strong or complete sales and marketing alignment than their sales and marketing teams.
• Two is better than one: Organizational structure is related to achievement. Separate sales and marketing teams outperform organizations where sales and marketing operate as a single, combined team.
• The one with the best tools wins: Mature implementations of sales and marketing systems, such as marketing automation or CRM, are having a significant impact on revenue achievement.
• Integration = Revenue: The highest level of revenue achievement coincides with the highest level of integration effectiveness between sales and marketing systems.
• Diminishing returns: once qualified leads account for 10% of total leads generated, revenue achievement remains flat even as the percentage of qualified leads increases.
Learn more about the impact of sales and marketing alignment on revenue performance by downloading a copy of the report.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Executive Summary
3. Research Methodology
4. Revenue Goal Acheivement
5. Perception of Alignment
6. Organizational Structure
7. Alignment & Technology
8. Leads & Lead Quality
9. Analyst Bottom Line
10. Acknowledgements
11. About Demand Metric
Research Methodology
The Demand Metric 2013 Sales & Marketing Alignment Survey was administered online over a period of June 24th through June 30th, 2013. During that time, over 600 responses were collected, 550 of which were complete.
All members of the Demand Metric community received email invitations to participate in the survey, and participation was encouraged through a random draw incentive for an iPad Mini.
While respondent email addresses were collected in order to facilitate the prize drawing, no identifying information was retained or considered in the analysis of the survey data.
Following collection of the survey data, Demand Metric used IBM SPSS statistics software to analyze the results and draw statistically significant conclusions.
State of Digital Marketing in Associations Benchmark Report - 2016Demand Metric
This association marketing benchmark study is now in its third year, and from the beginning, the study’s goal has been to help associations become better at marketing. A healthy, effective marketing function whose contributions are well understood is a key ingredient to overall association wellness and growth. Yet, such market functions are in the minority, not just in the association world, but across corporations as well. At the low end of the marketing effectiveness spectrum are organizations that struggle, as represented through comments shared by this frustrated association marketer:
“Email blasts are the main communication tool. When angry recipients demand opt-out, the leadership team doesn't take the request seriously until legal action is threatened. There are no goals set from Social Media to measure success. We still use FAX blasts with the assumption that they are effective. Brochures are still used with very heavy amounts of text (copy). Any time a discussion is brought up about content marketing with valuable information provided for free to help grow the community - the idea is dismissed as ‘giving away the farm’...We've seen membership remain flat and decline and event attendance is flat with fluctuating numbers by location but no real evidence of growth.”
As the comment above suggests, marketing’s failure to perform isn’t always the fault of marketing. There are many issues that help or hurt marketing’s effectiveness. This study takes a broad look at the issues shaping the association marketing landscape, reports the data from the study survey, providing some analysis and commentary to help association marketing improve.
As a marketer, you’re busy. We get it. You have a lot of priorities to juggle:
• How many leads are you bringing in?
• Which channels are providing the most leads?
• Is your budget running low?
• How are leads converting down the funnel?
• How can you get the most accurate measure of ROI?
At every turn, you need data—and lots of it. But in the past decade alone, marketers’ trouble with data has gone through a dramatic shift: instead of being too difficult to obtain, data is now too difficult to maintain.
In fact, IBM reports that 71% of CMOs feel unprepared to handle today’s “data explosion,” saying that “most CMOs are struggling in one vital respect—providing the numbers that demonstrate a return on investment (ROI) for marketing.”
This survey report reveals marketers’ troubles and successes with data, and it reveals important trends that are defining the data-driven marketer.
The Truth About the Field Sales to Inside Sales Migration TrendVelocify
As featured in Harvard Business Review: Over the past several years, there has been strong anecdotal evidence to suggest that many sales organizations are increasing the size of their inside sales teams at the expense of their field sales organizations. Velocify commissioned Steve W. Martin, noted sales expert, college professor and contributor to Harvard Business Review to learn how extensive the migration is to inside sales and the reasons organizations are making the move.
In “The Trend Changing the Sales Landscape” whitepaper, you will learn:
- The magnitude of the shift to inside sales
- Factors driving the shift
- Most common challenges faced by sales leaders and how different sales models can help overcome those challenges
- Potential obstacles to successfully starting a new inside sales team
Discover the truth about the field to inside sales migration.
The State of the Sales & Marketing FunnelDemand Metric
The classic B2B sales and marketing funnel is a model that has served marketers well for decades. An entire ecosystem of job titles, roles, responsibilities and technologies now exists around the funnel. Funnel management has evolved as a science with precise measurements that marketers use to manage and optimize a set of complimentary tools, processes and relationships that have to work in harmony to pull things through the funnel. But whether marketers realize it or not, they’re no longer working with their grandfather’s funnel.
A sustained period of barely perceptible change with the funnel has taken most marketers to an unfamiliar place. Top of funnel performance in the not too distant past was often the worst. It was predictably unreliable, with a chronic shortage of leads to feed the more efficient, demanding and hungry sales process at the bottom. An expansive collection of tools, technologies and solutions has been directed at the funnel’s traditionally weak point – the top – to increase the inflowing leads from a trickle, to a stream to now in many cases, a deluge. While marketers welcome the lead flow, for most it simply moves the problem to another funnel location.
The reality for many marketers is they now have more people interacting with their content. There are ever greater numbers of things to follow-up on, to route, to track and to push through the funnel. Demand Metric, in partnership with MRP, has completed a study about the current state of the funnel. The “funnel flow” survey measured how well leads flow through the sales and marketing funnel. This report shares the data and analysis from this research effort, providing insights on how to optimize the flow of leads through the funnel.
Beyond the Basics of ABM: Using Account-Based Strategies to Unite Sales & Mar...InsideView
Account-Based Marketing is a red-hot topic. There’s a seemingly endless amount of information about why ABM is important, what tools you should be utilizing, and measures of success. But we’ve been so focused on the high-level components that we’ve overlooked the operational elements of ABM that will make or break our success.
It’s time to get beyond the basics. Learn from the sales and marketing teams at InsideView about how they aligned their teams to orchestrate a successful ABM Program.
During this session we’ll discuss actionable and specific ways to create a successful ABM program, how to align sales and marketing teams to drive toward the same success metrics, and tested and successful program tactics.
Attendees will go back to the office equipped to:
- Identify the right targets for your program
- Use insights to scale personalized ABM “plays”
- Orchestrate motions between demand gen and sales development
- Avoid common obstacles to operationalizing ABM
Improving CX with AI: Microsoft Case Study [SiriusDecisions Summit 2017]InsideView
In this case study, learn how Microsoft is applying deep AI-driven market intelligence through its applications to impact the different phases of its customers’ lifecycle
Beyond the Basics of ABM: Using Account-Based Strategies to Unite Sales & Mar...InsideView
During this session we’ll discuss actionable and specific ways to create a successful ABM program, how to align sales and marketing teams to drive toward the same success metrics, and what program tactics to implement for success.
Aligned to Achieve: How to Unite Your Teams into a Single Force for GrowthInsideView
Marketing and Sales teams are frustrated with each other. Aligning these two teams is an age-old problem, but companies must get their collective act together in order to survive today's evolved buyer-centric market.
Originally presented at Marketing Nation Summit 2017, this session is based on original research, content, and contributions from "Aligned to Achieve", a groundbreaking new book. The authors will discuss highlights of the book and give tips on how and why to get aligned. Want to know what misalignment is really costing you? Need practical advice on how to go after the problem? We’ll discuss real-world actions for improving your culture, processes, and technology, and you’ll learn the financial and strategic impact of getting alignment right.
How to Align Sales & Marketing - CEB October 2016 InsideView
Without tight alignment between sales and marketing, your company is leaving revenue on the table. Research shows aligned teams achieve more growth, better profits, and higher productivity.
Hosted by two industry veterans, Joe Andrews and Andrea Austin, this presentation from CEB in Las Vegas, is based on original research and content from Aligned to Achieve, a new book published by Wiley.
Indian Sales & Marketing Mindset Under the LensInsideView
InsideView continues its research into the state of B2B sales and marketing alignment with this latest report, "Indian Sales & Marketing Mindset Under the Lens."
How the sibling you never wanted, but grow to love: How Sales and Marketing Alignment can make or break your customer experience.
Jeff Marcoux, CMO Lead, Microsoft
InsideView Market Insights in action - InsideView DriveInsideView
InsideView grew up as a Sales Intelligence company and really defined the category. However in 2013 we expanded the company’s charter and our product portfolio to address the needs of marketing, customer success, and operations. Encompassing the lead to revenue journey.
InsideView Sales and Marketing Alignment - InsideView DriveInsideView
The ultimate, some might say only, goal of sales and marketing leaders is to grow revenue.
Whether you are talking about generating bigger and better pipeline, crushing your quota, or driving better lead- to-close rates...the end goal is always MORE REVENUE.
Top 3 Reasons Sales and Marketing Alignment is Off!InsideView
Misalignment between sales and marketing is an age-old problem that’s rarely addressed. This infographic breaks down the top 3 issues and why your top priority should be to align your teams for growth.
Sales and Marketing have moved in TogetherInsideView
A Valentine’s Day-themed infographic talking about the relationship (or lack thereof) between Sales and Marketing within an organization. So what's next?
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
How to Use AI to Write a High-Quality Article that Ranksminatamang0021
In the world of content creation, many AI bloggers have drifted away from their original vision, resulting in low-quality articles that search engines overlook. Don't let that happen to you! Join us to discover how to leverage AI tools effectively to craft high-quality content that not only captures your audience's attention but also ranks well on search engines.
Disclaimer: Some of the prompts mentioned here are the examples of Matt Diggity. Please use it as reference and make your own custom prompts.
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
First Things First: Building and Effective Marketing Strategy
Too many companies (and marketers) jump straight into activation planning without formalizing a marketing strategy. It may seem tedious, but analyzing the mindset of your targeted audiences and identifying the messaging points most likely to resonate with them is time well spent. That process is also a great opportunity for marketers to collaborate with sales leaders and account managers on a galvanized go-to-market approach. I’ll walk you through the methods and tools we use with our clients to ensure campaign success.
Key Takeaways:
-Recognize the critical role of strategy in marketing
-Learn our approach for building an actionable, effective marketing strategy
-Receive templates and guides for developing a marketing strategy
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
[Google March 2024 Update] How To Thrive: Content, Link Building & SEOSearch Engine Journal
March 2024 disrupted the SEO industry. Websites were deindexed, and manual penalties were delivered—all to produce more helpful, more trustworthy search results.
How did your website fare?
Watch us as we delve into the seismic shifts brought about by Google's March 2024 updates and explore strategies to not just survive, but thrive in this dynamic digital landscape.
You’ll learn:
- How to create content that is valuable to users (not just search engines) using E-E-A-T.
- How to build links that can boost rankings and withstand algorithm updates.
- Best practices for content creation and link building so you can thrive during algorithm updates.
With Vince Ramos, we'll examine the implications of the latest algorithm changes on content creation, link building, and SEO practices, and offer actionable insights from businesses like yours that have remained steadfast amidst the volatility.
Using real-life case studies, we’ll also show you the effectiveness of manual link building techniques and person-first content strategies.
Whether you're a seasoned SEO professional, a budding content creator, or anyone in between, this webinar will help you weather the changes in Google's algorithms and capitalize on them for sustained success.
Check out this webinar and unlock the secrets to thriving in the new Google era.
Financial curveballs sent many American families reeling in 2023. Household budgets were squeezed by rising interest rates, surging prices on everyday goods, and a stagnating housing market. Consumers were feeling strapped. That sentiment, however, appears to be waning. The question is, to what extent?
To take the pulse of consumers’ feelings about their financial well-being ahead of a highly anticipated election, ThinkNow conducted a nationally representative quantitative survey. The survey highlights consumers’ hopes and anxieties as we move into 2024. Let's unpack the key findings to gain insights about where we stand.
Top 3 Ways to Align Sales and Marketing Teams for Rapid GrowthDemandbase
In this session, Demandbase’s Stephanie Quinn, Sr. Director of Integrated and Digital Marketing, Devin Rosenberg, Director of Sales, and Kevin Rooney, Senior Director of Sales Development will share how sales and marketing shapes their day-to-day and what key areas are needed for true alignment.
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
The Secret to Engaging Modern Consumers: Journey Mapping and Personalization
In today's digital landscape, understanding the customer's journey and delivering personalized experiences are paramount. This masterclass delves into the art of consumer journey mapping, a powerful technique that visualizes the entire customer experience across touchpoints. Attendees will learn how to create detailed journey maps, identify pain points, and uncover opportunities for optimization. The presentation also explores personalization strategies that leverage data and technology to tailor content, products, and experiences to individual customers. From real-time personalization to predictive analytics, attendees will gain insights into cutting-edge approaches that drive engagement and loyalty.
Key Takeaways:
Current consumer landscape; Steps to mapping an effective consumer journey; Understanding the value of personalization; Integrating mapping and personalization for success; Brands that are getting It right!; Best Practices; Future Trends
A.I. (artificial intelligence) platforms are popping up all the time, and many of them can and should be used to help grow your brand, increase your sales and decrease your marketing costs.In this presentation:We will review some of the best AI platforms that are available for you to use.We will interact with some of the platforms in real-time, so attendees can see how they work.We will also look at some current brands that are using AI to help them create marketing messages, saving them time and money in the process. Lastly, we will discuss the pros and cons of using AI in marketing & branding and have a lively conversation that includes comments from the audience.
Key Takeaways:
Attendees will learn about LLM platforms, like ChatGPT, and how they work, with preset examples and real time interactions with the platform. Attendees will learn about other AI platforms that are creating graphic design elements at the push of a button...pre-set examples and real-time interactions.Attendees will discuss the pros & cons of AI in marketing + branding and share their perspectives with one another. Attendees will learn about the cost savings and the time savings associated with using AI, should they choose to.
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?Cut-the-SaaS
Discover the transformative power of AI in content creation with our presentation, "Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?" by Puran Parsani, CEO & Editor of Cut-The-SaaS. Learn how AI-generated content is revolutionizing marketing, publishing, education, healthcare, and finance by offering unprecedented efficiency, creativity, and scalability.
Understanding
AI-Generated Content:
AI-generated content includes text, images, videos, and audio produced by AI without direct human involvement. This technology leverages large datasets to create contextually relevant and coherent material, streamlining content production.
Key Benefits:
Content Creation: Rapidly generate high-quality content for blogs, articles, and social media.
Brainstorming: AI simulates conversations to inspire creative ideas.
Research Assistance: Efficiently summarize and research information.
Market Insights:
The content marketing industry is projected to grow to $17.6 billion by 2032, with AI-generated content expected to dominate over 55% of the market.
Case Study: CNET’s AI Content Controversy:
CNET’s use of AI for news articles led to public scrutiny due to factual inaccuracies, highlighting the need for transparency and human oversight.
Benefits Across Industries:
Marketing: Personalize content at scale and optimize engagement with predictive analytics.
Publishing: Automate content creation for faster publication cycles.
Education: Efficiently generate educational materials.
Healthcare: Create accurate content for patients and professionals.
Finance: Produce timely financial content for decision-making.
Challenges and Ethical Considerations:
Transparency: Disclose AI use to maintain trust.
Bias: Address potential AI biases with diverse datasets.
SEO: Ensure AI content meets SEO standards.
Quality: Maintain high standards to prevent misinformation.
Conclusion:
AI-generated content offers significant benefits in efficiency, personalization, and scalability. However, ethical considerations and quality assurance are crucial for responsible use. Explore the future of content creation with us and see how AI is transforming various industries.
Connect with Us:
Follow Cut-The-SaaS on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Medium. Visit cut-the-saas.com for more insights and resources.
Monthly Social Media News Update May 2024Andy Lambert
TL;DR. These are the three themes that stood out to us over the course of last month.
1️⃣ Social media is becoming increasingly significant for brand discovery. Marketers are now understanding the impact of social and budgets are shifting accordingly.
2️⃣ Instagram’s new algorithm and latest guidance will help us maintain organic growth. Instagram continues to evolve, but Reels remains the most crucial tool for growth.
3️⃣ Collaboration will help us unlock growth. Who we work with will define how fast we grow. Meta continues to evolve their Creator Marketplace and now TikTok are beginning to push ‘collabs’ more too.
Mastering Multi-Touchpoint Content Strategy: Navigate Fragmented User JourneysSearch Engine Journal
Digital platforms are constantly multiplying, and with that, user engagement is becoming more intricate and fragmented.
So how do you effectively navigate distributing and tailoring your content across these various touchpoints?
Watch this webinar as we dive into the evolving landscape of content strategy tailored for today's fragmented user journeys. Understanding how to deliver your content to your users is more crucial than ever, and we’ll provide actionable tips for navigating these intricate challenges.
You’ll learn:
- How today’s users engage with content across various channels and devices.
- The latest methodologies for identifying and addressing content gaps to keep your content strategy proactive and relevant.
- What digital shelf space is and how your content strategy needs to pivot.
With Wayne Cichanski, we’ll explore innovative strategies to map out and meet the diverse needs of your audience, ensuring every piece of content resonates and connects, regardless of where or how it is consumed.
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
2. 2 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The lack of alignment between sales and marketing is an age-old problem,
frequently lamented, yet rarely addressed or solved. A new survey shows the
lack of alignment is actually becoming a bigger problem today and the
disconnect is having a direct effect on top and bottom line performance.
This report reveals the results of a comprehensive survey that uncovers
why sales and marketing teams are not aligned and, better yet, defines a
path forward. These findings not only expose the quantitative measures of
these effects on performance, but also expose underlying attitudes that fuel
the pain of misalignment.
While the gap between sales and marketing remains a challenge, this
research reveals areas where that disconnect is softening and where
trust has strengthened between the two groups. Leading companies are
gaining a competitive edge by addressing misalignment, and their best
practices can be learned and adopted.
This broad-based survey polled a wide mix of 995 U.S.-based sales
and marketing professionals from across industries. It included a
close to even split between sales and marketing respondents for a
balance of perspectives. These executives shared everything from
why they believe the teams are not aligned to their attitudes about
each other and what they’re doing to improve the relationship and
improve the bottom line.
3. 3 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
ADDRESSING ALIGNMENT FROM ALL SIDES
● Marketing
● Sales
● Other
● Fewer than 500 employees
● 501 to 4,999 employees
● 5,000+ employees
Respondent distribution is split
evenly across the Northeast,
the Midwest, the South and
the Western regions of the U.S.
60% male 40% female
40%
26%
50%
33%
41%
10%
This extensive survey gathered responses from a diverse mix of sales and marketing professionals across
a wide range of industries and company sizes.
4. Interestingly, both sales and marketing say contention over leads isn’t the top contributor to misalignment.
Communication, cited by 49% of respondents, is by far the greatest culprit. Broken and flawed processes
(43%), as well as sales and marketing being measured by different metrics (40%), rounded out the reasons
for the gap between sales and marketing.
Challenges To Alignment
What do you think are the biggest challenges in aligning sales and marketing?
WHY ARE TEAMS STILL MISALIGNED?
4 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
Communication 49%
Processes are broken/flawed 42%
Measured by different metrics 40%
Lack of accurate data on target accounts 39%
Reporting challenges 27%
Lack of common prospect & customer data 27%
Lack of accountability on both sides 26%
5. 5 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
TELL ME SOMETHING. ANYTHING.
Communication, cited by nearly half of sales and
marketing professionals (49%), is the top reason
sales and marketing are not aligned. The survey
revealed that the communication breakdown has
many dimensions, such as how leads are being
converted and what levers might be affecting
performance and close rates. That means
marketers won’t be able to identify where lead
quality issues may be occurring.
When we asked sales to prioritize what they need
most from marketing, lead quality (55%) and lead
quantity (44%) registered high, but they also seek
competitive information (39%), brand awareness
(37%), and lead nurturing (37%).
When we quizzed marketers on the same question,
they told us better lead follow-up (34%) and
consistent use of systems (32%) were what they
needed most from sales. While technology is not
a silver bullet to solve all of marketing’s problems,
both camps need to adopt consistent and integrated
use of systems in order to work together effectively.
One of the most significant ways ineffective
communication inhibits alignment is that it fuels
the other major challenges reported by survey
respondents. Without strong communication
between both teams, broken processes and
disconnected metrics become even larger issues.
We asked sales: What do you want most from marketing?
Better-quality leads
More leads
Competitive information/intelligence
Brand awareness
We asked marketing: What do you want most from sales?
Better lead follow-up
Consistent use of systems (e.g., CRM)
Feedback on campaigns
Use messaging & tools provided by marketing
55%
34%
32%
15%
13%
44%
39%
37%
6. 6 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
Among those surveyed, the second highest-ranked issue is a lack of defined and workable business
processes, specifically those that tie directly to the lead funnel. Agreement on key factors, such as lead
flow, what makes a qualified lead, and the process to examine the pipeline, are absent and contribute to
misalignment. Pipeline is key and is arguably where the true integration between sales and marketing occurs.
The lead handoff is not the final step. If a lead makes it into the pipeline, marketing has done their job, but
agreement must happen much earlier in terms of what qualifies as pipeline and how it will be measured.
There are two key areas we examined regarding the process: pipeline conversations and earlier-funnel
definitions of leads and scoring principles.
A massive disconnect exists between marketing and sales in terms of how often they say they collaborate on
pipeline. Forty-two percent of marketers say they meet with their sales counterparts weekly, while nearly the
same percentage of sales executives (44%) say they meet with their marketing peers less than quarterly.
THE PROCESS IS BROKEN? YOU MEAN WE HAVE A PROCESS?
We asked sales: How often do you meet
with the marketing team to discuss pipeline?
Weekly 14%
Monthly 23%
Quarterly 18%
<Quarterly 45%
We asked marketing: How often do you meet
with the sales team to discuss pipeline?
Weekly 42%
Monthly 34%
Quarterly 10%
<Quarterly 14%
7. 7 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
This disconnect is so extreme that it’s hard to draw
a conclusion as to whether it’s based on perception,
process, or something else.
The survey revealed that the foundational
conversations about pipeline are either not
happening or are not delivering equal value for both
teams. Regardless, there is an obvious difference
in opinion on the degree to which the teams are
invested in critical topics like pipeline.
The findings around collaboration are just as
troubling. More than half of marketers (57%) indicate
they meet with sales weekly to discuss lead scoring,
while close to two-thirds of sales (63%) say they don’t
collaborate on lead scoring with marketing at all.
Experts agree that lead scoring is an area in which
sales and marketing should be working together to
identify the best prospects, and the communication
between them is even more vital because scoring is
an iterative and ongoing process.
Among sales respondents, the fact that more than
one-third (37%) of sales is working with marketing
on lead scoring is heartening. Ten percent of
those respondents do meet regularly to review/
update scoring criteria and effectiveness, while
27% responded more generally that “we have
collaborated on lead scoring.”
Broken processes are a major hindrance to
sales and marketing alignment. Many sales and
marketing executives are not on the same page
regarding pipeline, lead handoff, or lead scoring.
The only way they will align is through building
processes and committing to working together to
bridge the gaps that currently exist.
We asked sales: Do you meet with your marketing
team on how leads should be scored?
We asked marketing: Do you work with your sales
team on how leads should be scored?
Yes 37% No 63%
Yes 57% No 43%
8. Secret Weapons?
Survey findings revealed areas of untapped opportunity to advance
alignment. These include predictive intelligence, insights, and data on
target accounts. Specifically, when quizzed about which emerging tools
are most important to drive successful prospecting, prospects and
customer intelligence was cited by 74% of respondents, while
51% want data/lead enrichment and 46% want predictive intelligence.
When quizzed about which emerging tools are most
important to drive successful prospecting, prospects and
customer intelligence was cited by 74% of respondents.
Sales and marketing executives are beginning to gain
sophistication in nurture tactics. They are moving toward targeting
and engaging qualified leads over time, and they clearly value
intelligence about prospects and customers. Intelligence is
foundational for advanced nurturing tactics such as mapping the
customer journey, applying predictive analytics to lead routing
and scoring, and launching account-based marketing programs.
The interest from both sales and marketing in expanding in
these emerging areas is promising, as it naturally fuels
stronger synergies between both teams.
8 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
TWEET THIS!
9. 9 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
Forty percent of respondents identified disconnected metrics as a challenge to sales and marketing
alignment, making it the third highest-ranked challenge. Sales is typically measured on quota attainment,
win rates, and renewals, yet none of those show up on marketing’s radar, because marketing is traditionally
more focused on leads. With both teams focused on different metrics and aspects of leads and accounts, it’s
no wonder there is conflict.
THESE METRICS DON’T ADD UP
Sales traditionally focuses on:
¡¡ Quota attainment
¡¡ Accounts, titles, names
¡¡ Closing deals
¡¡ Velocity through sales cycle
Marketing traditionally focuses on:
¡¡ Top of lead funnel
¡¡ Segments
¡¡ Campaign metrics
¡¡ Brand awareness
We asked marketing: How are your marketing
efforts measured?
Pipeline
Lead quantity
Lead quality
Brand awareness
66%
56%
53%
32%
We asked sales: Besides quota attainment, how
else are you measured besides quota attainment?
New accounts
Number of deals closed
Renewals/retention
Upsell
62%
46%
40%
30%
10. 10 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
“Measuring and tracking efforts is central
to achieving alignment, but differing
perspectives and priorities continue to hold
sales and marketing professionals back. If
the two sides can start to agree on and
honor each others’ priorities and goals,
the needle can begin to move closer
to alignment.
Tensions will likely persist since these teams
have different charters and timelines under
which they operate. Marketing and sales
may share demand creation goals, but they
don’t get measured in the same way or with
the same metrics.
– Forrester Research, Despite Modern Marketing
Improvements, Sales Alignment Challenges Persist,
June, 2015
One bright spot is that
two-thirds of marketers (66%)
in the survey indicated that
their marketing efforts are
being measured by pipeline.
That shift should bode well for
future alignment, uniting both
teams around actual pipeline.
TWEET THIS!
11. 11 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
The Good News: Affinity Measures Are High
The good news gleaned from the survey is that the majority of sales and marketing executives alike
characterized their relationship as positive. Nearly 60% of sales rank the relationship as good, and close
to 80% of marketing rank the relationship as good. Hostility between the two camps appears to be a
relic of the past, replaced by respect and an interest in closer collaboration. In addition, affinity measures –
respect, appreciation, and likability – are very high across both teams. The majority of sales respondents say they
respect marketing, and two-thirds are friends with marketing colleagues. Among marketers, the prevailing attitude
is the acknowledgement that sales is a difficult job. Marketers are also, in general, far more apt to describe the
relationship with sales as excellent or good. That may be in part because marketing executives are often operating
in service to the sales team and regard them as internal clients. Thus, they are more inclined to act in deference to
their sales counterparts.
DO YOU REALLY LIKE ME?
We asked marketing: How would you describe
your relationship with your sales team?
J Excellent or Good 77%
K Just OK 21%
L Poor 2%
We asked sales: How would you describe
your relationship with your marketing team?
J Excellent or Good 58%
K Just OK 33%
L Poor 9%
12. Sales
Agree – I am friends with people on our
marketing team
Agree – I respect my marketing
department
Agree – I could do a better job in
marketing than my marketing coworkers
Marketing
Agree – I am friends with people on
our sales team
Agree – Sales is a difficult job
Agree – I could do a better job
selling than my sales colleagues
12 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
66%
94%
86%
90%
27%
16%
13. 13 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
The Bad News: Some Stereotypes Remain
There are still pockets of misunderstanding
across sales and marketing. When a toxic
culture is prevalent, sales executives display
the stereotypical lack of understanding about
what marketing does, and recognition
of where marketing adds value is low.
On the other hand, while about one-fourth
of marketers hold fast to stereotypes when
describing their sales counterparts – “Salespeople
are a bunch of mavericks” and “Salespeople are
single-celled organisms that chase revenue” – that
percentage of old-school
thinkers is lower than one might expect.
Sales
Agree – Marketing spends most of
their time on branding/events
Agree – Marketing isn’t accountable
for pipeline
Agree – Marketing thinks they know
better what will work in the field
Marketing
Agree – Salespeople are a bunch
of mavericks
Agree – Salespeople are single-celled
organisms that chase revenue
Agree – Sales people are greedy
65%
26%
55%
27%
48%
22%
14. 14 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
Leading companies realize that the path to
successful alignment centers around shared
priorities. This section illustrates how the
Leaders operate and delineates best practices
they demonstrate.
Of those surveyed, a majority of respondents
reported exceeding or meeting revenue goals
in the last year, while 22% fell short.
Exceeded revenue goals
Met revenue goals
Fell short of revenue goals
We found patterns among the Leader respondents
(those who exceeded revenue goals) that reveal a
more sophisticated approach to alignment. These
findings can inform best practices for teams that are
looking to strengthen alignment.
Leaders tend to have better processes in place
overall, and they are using emerging tools such
as data enrichment to fuel more effective and
collaborative prospecting efforts. Overall, Leaders
also have far greater confidence in the quality of
leads generated.
Leaders are three times more likely to characterize
lead quality as excellent compared with Laggards.
The Leaders among both sales and marketing
executives also reported better relationships with
their counterparts. Additionally, while the research
shows that sales and marketing teams are simply
not meeting often enough, a higher percentage of
sales Leaders conduct weekly meetings with the
marketing team.
BE A LEADER
B2B companies’ inability to align sales and
marketing teams around the right processes
and technologies has cost them upwards
of 10% or more of revenue per year, or
$100 million for a billion-dollar company.
Source: IDC, January, 2013
38%
40%
22%
15. Leaders demonstrate strength in four key focus areas
that are foundational to alignment: communication skills,
common pipeline measurement, adherence to lead quality,
and data enrichment to drive successful prospecting.
In order to remain competitive in reaching growth goals
in the future, more organizations are likely to move to a
“shared funnel” approach. Therefore, adopting common
measurement, consistent communication, and a focus on
lead quality, data quality, and buyer insights are likely
to become essential strategies for sales and
marketing departments.
Leaders
¡ Focus on lead quality
¡ Discuss pipeline more
frequently (2x)
¡ Work on lead scoring
together (5x)
¡ Place increased priority on
database quality
and enrichment
Laggards
¡ Focus on lead quantity
¡ Don’t hold marketing
accountable
for pipeline
¡ Work on lead scoring
in isolation
¡ Say their “database is
a mess” (25%)
Winners and Losers
15 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
A Spotlight on Success
Gainsight, a pioneer in the customer
success software industry, is exhibiting
the bottom line benefits of aligning its
sales and marketing teams. Gainsight
took a cooperative approach to lead
nurturing and funnel management by
collaborating on lead scoring, routing,
and enrichment practices. As a result,
Gainsight was able to convert leads
into opportunities at three times the
frequency and double the number of
wins from marketing-sourced leads.
“By putting aligned processes in place,
we were able to scale our marketing
efforts and make a bigger impact on
our revenue number,” said Lauren
Olerich, director of demand and
customer marketing at Gainsight. “Wins
from marketing-sourced leads alone
doubled.”
16. 16 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
CRACK THE CODE
1. Focus On Communication
The research shows that affinity measures are high
between sales and marketing. Sales and marketing
executives would do well to build upon that by
focusing on improving communication and fostering
camaraderie between the two teams. Experts agree
that the alignment mission and message should
stem from the top down.
Some tools to promote that mission are:
¡ Weekly reviews of marketing campaigns
promote accountability and help you avoid
blindsiding the sales team
¡ Discuss lead scoring continually with
counterparts
¡ Examine lead routing on a regular basis to
ensure it’s working properly and tune the
process as territories change
¡ Senior leadership buy-in: Relationships and a
collaborative culture start at the top
2. Review Processes
Ensure that you have good process on critical
alignment topics such as lead scoring and routing.
These topics are not “set it and forget it” items.
They require regular review and examination to
ensure they are working properly. Scoring should
be revisited at least twice each year, if not quarterly.
Lead routing should be monitored by marketing
operations and sales development leaders to ensure
no lead is lost or falls into the wrong hands. We
all know that if a lead gets routed improperly, the
“It’s got to be ingrained into the culture, so
ultimately the person who’s responsible
has to be the C-level person who’s trying to
drive [sales and marketing alignment].”
– Evan Liang, CEO, LeanData
TWEET THIS!
17. 17 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
recipient will just move on to the next thing – they
don’t often take the time to reroute. Then leads are
gone forever. Marketing might as well light money on
fire when that happens!
3. Put Lead Quality Before Quantity
A focus on lead quality over quantity is critical to
the successful alignment between teams; attaining
high-quality leads is de rigeur for Leaders polled in
the study.
In terms of lead quality, the Leaders had far greater
confidence in lead quality than the Laggards. Forty-
five percent of those who exceeded revenue goals
said quality was “good” or “excellent,” compared
to only 22% for Laggards. Conversely, among the
Leaders, only 15% characterized lead quality as
“below average.” That contrasts with a third (33%) of
the Laggards citing “below average” lead quality.
A bonus to emphasizing lead quality over lead quantity
is that it encourages collaboration between sales and
marketing to place definitions around a “qualified”
lead. In fact, the number of Leaders who reported
that they meet to discuss lead scoring was over three
times greater than the number of Laggards.
4. Enrich Prospect Data
A lack of data or lack of a complete picture of
targeted leads can stall the team’s ability to align.
It can cause problems in lead routing and follow-
up. More than half of respondents to the survey
(51%) said data and lead enrichment are the most
important emerging tools for driving successful
prospecting. Of those who prioritized data and lead
enrichment, 40% are Leaders.
Cornerstone OnDemand, a cloud-based learning
and talent management software company, is just
one example of a company that has invested in
data enrichment processes in an effort to bring
stronger alignment to sales and marketing initiatives.
“Maintaining the integrity of our lead data has been a
linchpin in allowing us to streamline the lead handoff
point between sales and marketing so we can route
the correct leads to the right salesperson,” said Dave
Vacanti, director of sales technology at Cornerstone
OnDemand.
18. 18 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
The focus on data is necessary and has tremendous
value, but it is not easy. In another recent DGR
survey, marketers’ most commonly cited challenge
was insufficient data to support segmentation and
targeting initiatives, with 52% pointing to that as a
stumbling block to marketing across the revenue
funnel. Marketers are also lacking data to identify
prospects that are most likely to convert, a challenge
for 43% of respondents. An increasing number of
marketers are tackling that challenge by working
in-house or with vendors to append data in order to
target more accurately.
5. Seek to Understand
There are many key aspects of the sales organization
that the savvy marketer needs to understand in order
to facilitate alignment between the teams. If you
believe the mantra “marketing exists to make sales
easier,” then thorough understanding of all aspects of
the sales organization is essential. These include:
¡ The sales organization, including people and
reporting relationships.
¡ Quotas and quota attainment. Many sales
leaders keep a sales performance “ladder” that
they’ll make available to you.
¡ Sales process and stages.
¡ Selling methodology (Challenger, Solution
Selling, Spin, etc.). Many of these methodologies
have marketing recommendations.
¡ Pipeline by sales rep or team. When examined,
the marketer might find that while overall
pipeline looks good, individual reps may be
struggling to get enough.
¡ Win rates by competitor. This can help
the marketer understand how to position in
the marketplace.
¡ How sales is using the tools marketing provides,
and what is and is not working.
6. Align On Pipeline
While it’s encouraging that 66% of marketer
respondents say that pipeline is the primary way they
are measured, this still means that a large portion
are prioritizing lead-related metrics to measure their
19. 19 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
success. Shifting to emphasize pipeline will drive
mutual accountability among sales and marketing
teams. It aligns metrics, values, and goals and
requires consistent reporting, definitions, and
analysis of results.
“If marketing is to more effectively support sales, then
we need to start by getting everyone on the same
page regarding what success looks like,” said Jim
Dickie, research fellow at CSO Insights. “If you don’t
invest the time to align on the big picture, then don’t
expect to move the needle when you look at lead
quality and quantity.”
7. Bite the Bullet: Give Marketing
Variable Compensation
It’s good news that so many marketers are measured
on pipeline. The next step is to tie compensation to
pipeline. This drives revenue-focused behavior in
the marketing team and increases credibility with the
sales organization. It also tightens the relationship
at lead handoff, such as the transition from demand
generation to sales development. Those teams will
spend more time examining lead quality, improving
enrichment, and monitoring lead routing to ensure
strong processes.
A recent audience poll of 250 sales and marketing
people at an October 2015 Corporate Executive
Board event showed that only about 20% had
variable compensation for their marketing teams.
This is a new trend and a bit controversial among
marketers. Many marketers will object, “I have no
control over whether sales can close what I send
them.” Marketing leaders need to bite the bullet and
make it happen.
To get started, assign one objective each quarter that
is tied to pipeline goals for marketing. Make it 30%
of the achievement number for teams on a bonus
program, and establish it as a shared goal across the
marketing organization. The benefits far outweigh
the drawbacks.
20. 20 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
The benefits of aligned sales and marketing teams are significant.
Organizations can expect to:
✔Drive revenue growth. Organizations with tightly aligned
marketing and sales achieved 24% faster revenue growth
and 27% faster profit over a three-year period (Source:
SiriusDecisions, Inc. B-to-B Confidence Index Study)
✔Retain customers. Companies with aligned sales and
marketing teams experience 36% higher customer retention
rates (Source: MarketingProfs)
✔Expand customer base. Companies with aligned sales
and marketing teams are 67% better at closing deals
(Source: Marketo, July, 2015)
THE REVENUE IMPACT OF ALIGNMENT
21. 21 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
The challenges standing in the way of true sales
and marketing alignment are many. Shedding a
light on our differences is the first step towards
eliminating these obstacles to growth.
This research shows that well-aligned
organizations see significantly better top and
bottom line performance over unaligned
organizations. Sales and marketing alignment,
undoubtedly, is a true differentiator.
Executives on both sides of this divide realize
a solution requires a new approach that begins
with better communication and coordinated goals.
Adopting best practices borrowed from leaders
in the space—from effective communication
to pipeline measurement to a focus on quality
leads and enriching data—will pave the way for
increased collaboration, greater trust, and a strong
and lasting alignment.
This report has dissected the underlying obstacles
to alignment and improved your understanding of
the issues involved. You can now build a shared
foundation for addressing misalignment. From
common ground, sales and marketing together
take responsibility for pipeline growth.
By addressing both the quantitative and attitudinal
perspectives at play, your teams can create
successful and sustainable alignment, uniting
around shared goals to gain an unmatched
competitive edge.
THE BOTTOM LINE
22. 22 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
As it turns out, not only do sales and marketing have an affinity toward
each other, but they’re also surprisingly similar to one another! A
deeper picture of respondents’ perspectives emerged when we took a
look at some common everyday choices they make. Interestingly, they
agreed on nearly every attribute.
¡ 59% claimed to be the more creative right-brained rather than
the analytical left-brained
¡ 64% opt for a more indulgent steak instead of a healthy-living salad
¡ 67% are iPhone aficionados instead of Android loyalists
¡ 65% prefer to be fueled by Starbucks coffee rather than Dunkin
Donuts coffee
¡ 65% favor tweeting over snapchatting on social media
¡ 69% kick back in casual work jeans instead of business suits
¡ 56% flip on comedy flicks instead of action-packed movies
¡ 60% tune into NPR rather than Fox News
APPENDIX: WE AREN’T SO DIFFERENT AFTER ALL
23. 23 | Crack the Code of Sales & Marketing Alignment
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About Demand Gen Report
Demand Gen Report is a targeted e-media publication spotlighting the
strategies and solutions that help companies better align their sales and
marketing organizations, and ultimately, drive growth. A key component
of the publication’s editorial coverage focuses on the sales and marketing
automation tools that enable companies to better measure and manage
their multi-channel demand generation efforts.
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accurate company and contact data and enhances it with relevant, real-time
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use InsideView data to find and qualify the best targets, engage with more
relevancy, close more deals, and retain and expand accounts. InsideView
headquarters are in San Francisco.
For more information on sales and marketing alignment, visit the InsideView
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