Commentary

B2B Bickering: Sales And Marketing Disagree On Many Points

There has been much talk about the aligning of sales and marketing in B2B. But the two sides are hardly in lockstep, judging by The State Of Marketing And Sales Alignment 2022, a study from SharpSpring from Constant Contact, done in partnership with Ascend2.  

While 82% report having integrated sales and marketing tools, only 12% say they are totally integrated and another 43% that they are strongly so. However, only 7% report they are not integrated at all. 

Still, the two departments disagree on many points. 

It starts with goals: 52% of marketers says driving more leads is one of their top concerns for the year head. But only 44% in sales agree. 

Rather, 45% in sales want to see an improvement in lead quality, versus 36% of those in marketing. 

In addition, 28% in marketing want too greater aligning of the teams, but only 22% in sales are concerned with driving that.  

Also, 21% in marketing want to establish more effective KPIs, compared to 16% in sales. And while 30% in sales seek to improve the buyer experience, a mere 21% in marketing concur. 

Failure to align sales and marketing and their tools causes these consequences, the respondents say::

  • Leads that don’t convert to sales — 53% 
  • Frustration between marketing and sales teams — 38%
  • Inefficient workarounds and employee strain — 37%
  • Fragmented, frustrating customer experience — 36% 
  • Negative impact on brand — 30% 
  • Higher cost per lead (CPL) — 20%

On the reverse side, alignment creates these primary benefits: 

  • Higher conversions of leads to customers — 46%
  • Increase revenue — 36%
  • Seamless customer experience — 35%
  • Customer referrals — 30%
  • Competitive advantage — 29% 
  • Lower cost per lead (CPL) — 28% 
  • Shorter sales cycles — 24% 
  • Better qualified leads — 18%

Yet 82% of those who report totally or strongly integrated marketing and sales tools say their overall customer experience is above average or excellent. 

If they could only stop quibbling. The State Of Marketing And Sales Alignment 2022, a study from SharpSpring from Constant Contact, conducted in partnership with Ascend2. 

Of the sales team members polled, 41% say email is the tool that best enables teams to align their efforts. And 40% of marketers agree.  

But email falls behind project management, which is cited by 44% of sales respondents and 41% of marketers.  

In perhaps the biggest difference, 43% in sales list CRM, versus 35% in marketing. 

How are companies doing? They report the following changes in revenue for the past year:

- Increased by more 20% — 8%

- Increased by 10-20% — 21%

- Increased by up to 10% — 30%

- Stayed the same — 25%

- Decreased by up to 10% —10%

- Decreased by 10-20% — 4%

- Decreased by more than 20% — 2%

Meanwhile, 59% rate their customer experience as above average, but only 18% as excellent. Another 21% say it is average, and 2% below average.

To the extent that firms have disjointed customer experiences, here are the factors that contribute to it:

- Differing/misaligned goals — 41%

- Complex processes/workflows — 36%

- Frustration between departments — 29% 

- Disparate technology — 23% 

- Lead hand-off process — 21%

- Differing attribution models — 19%

- Siloed data—18%

- Tracking KPIs — 16%

On a positive note,  B2B brands plan to focus on these objectives to drive revenue growth: in the year ahead:

- Generating more leads with new tactics — 40%

- Generating more leads with existing tactics — 37%

- Improving lead quality—37%

- Improving the buyer experience — 36%

- Aligning sales and marketing teams — 28%

- Updating technology — 26% 

- Centralizing data — 12%

- Establishing more effective KPIs — 10%

If they could only stop quibbling. For its part, sales accuses marketing of:

  • Targeting the wrong leads — 43%
  • Underperforming tools or systems creating extra tasks — 32% 
  • Inability to effectively calculate leads — 29%
  • Insufficient or inaccurate data — 25% 
  • Lack of willingness to collaborate — 25%
  • Incorrect attribution or vanity metrics (tracking quantity of leads over quality) — 20% 
  • Competing go-to market strategy or goals (KPIs) — 12% 

Now let’s give marketing a chance. Its complaints about sales include: 

  • Insufficient or inaccurate data — 40%
  • Not following up on leads — 38% 
  • Underperforming tools creating complexity and workarounds — 33% 
  • Lack of willingness to collaborate — 30% 
  • Incorrect attribution (crediting what actually contributed to a sale) — 2%
  • Competing go-to-market strategy or goals (KPIs) — 17% 
  • Not following brand guidelines — 13%

The sides agree on one thing:86% say that not having a single source of data hinders the company’s ability to fully understand the customer journey.  

Ascend2 surveyed 329 B2B professionals, 46% in marketing and 54% in sales. 

 

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