Want to Engage Your Customers? Align Marketing and Sales

With macroeconomic headwinds globally placing a squeeze on revenue growth, organizations are prioritizing an alignment of their sales and marketing strategies to better engage target customers, new research has discovered. According to Gartner, which polled 200 sales leaders at the end of last year, the majority of sales organizations have faced challenges in bringing their commercial strategies together, with almost two-thirds (62%) revealing that their sales and marketing teams defined qualified leads differently, causing an ineffective engagement of customers. The research also discovered that, when it came to customer engagement, sales teams were undecided on when and how to use either people or digital channels. “As buyer journeys become more complex, commercial organizations must deliver a more integrated human and digital customer learning experience,” said Bill Luckey, director of advisory for the Gartner Sales Practice. “Breaking down silos between sales and marketing to ensure a seamless, multichannel purchase experience is an incremental, but fruitful, process. Sales organizations that align cross-functional KPIs are nearly three times more likely to exceed new customer acquisition targets,” Luckey claimed. With Handshakes on Hold, Media Ad Sales Teams Must Navigate a New World Order In response to the findings, Greg Carroll, vp of global revenue for Activision Blizzard Media, told Adweek that silos within rapidly expanding businesses are natural as priorities shift rapidly. Regardless, he added, “In a media-led business that relies on both human and digital channels, we have found it critical to maintain a close partnership with our marketing functions to ensure we take advantage of every opportunity.” Another Gartner survey conducted at the same time, involving 771 b-to-b buyers, found that three-quarters (75%) of them preferred an experience that did not involve a company representative. However, those who bought using digital channels exclusively were more likely to regret their purchases. But those who worked with a sale representative were also found to be less likely to complete a high-quality deal, too. Companies including Spotify, for example, have recognized the need for “clear alignment” between sales and marketing within a fast-moving environment, said Rak Patel, the streaming platform’s head of EMEA sales. “It is absolutely critical for sales leaders such as myself to encourage and drive internal strategy alignment between our sales and b-to-b marketing teams. We have to row together in order to deliver on our revenue targets; silos simply do not work, Patel said. "This is just as important within the sales organization itself, especially as a platform like Spotify that is servicing clients in 184 markets,” Patel continued. “I find the biggest challenge and biggest reward is in striking a balance between building a successful regional plan while staying flexible for local nuances.”

Marketing and Sales

Want to Engage Your Customers? Align Marketing and Sales Strategies

Research from Gartner discovered a disconnect between the departments

Stephen Lepitak

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Stephen Lepitak