Why we're failing at sales and marketing alignment

Strong sales and marketing alignment is the holy grail for many organizations. It promises higher win rates, better revenue, and faster growth. Yet according to a Forrester report, only 8% of organizations achieve it, and in my experience, many have given up trying.

Why? Because we’re approaching it all wrong.

focusing on content without first aligning strategy

Many sales and marketing alignment initiatives focus on making marketing content available to sales teams. Organizations spend thousands of dollars developing content libraries, categorizing the content according to its place in the “customer journey,” and creating searchable platforms for sales teams to find marketing content to share with their customers. Most of the time, salespeople ignore the shiny new system and keep doing things the way they always have.

Some of this is a failure of training, but most of it is a failure of strategy. If salespeople and the marketing teams lack clarity on customer strategy, the content will consistently miss the mark. And when it misses the mark, the sales team won’t use it. To be successful, organizations must focus on strategy first, and use content as a tool to support the strategy.

focusing on aligning with each other instead of with the customer

Many organizations get excited about the promise of sales and marketing alignment, and forget that it’s pointless if neither of them aligns with the customer. They get hyper focused on aligning their content assets and lead handoffs, and spend vast amounts of money without taking the time to understand the customer.

This results in a system that runs efficiently without running effectively. Salespeople in this situation may know where content assets are and be ready and willing to use them, but find that they don’t increase win rates, sales size, or other significant KPIs. Likewise, the marketing teams may deliver leads according to the sales team’s definitions, but if the leads may not result in increased sales.

Organizations with effective alignment start by understanding the customer’s needs and buying journey, and aligning both marketing and sales to meet it effectively. When both marketing and sales are aligned with the customer, they will automatically align with each other.

focusing on aligning with the customer without also focusing on leading the customer

Aligning with the customer is critically important, but it’s not enough to simply walk alongside them during their buying journey. Organizations must be ready and prepared to influence that journey. This means we must understand deeply what problems the buyer is trying to solve, as well as the unique ways in which our offerings solve those problems. Then our marketing and sales must serve to guide customers toward understanding their problems in a way that leads them to our unique solution.

Without this factor, even the best aligned sales and marketing teams will capture only those customers who are already leaning toward buying their product. Top teams seek alignment and leadership in both their marketing and sales.

Effective sales and marketing alignment has the potential to substantially improve sales performance. Sirius Decisions says it can deliver 19% more growth to the organization. MarketingProfs says it leads to 36% higher customer retention. Marketo says it can generate 209% more revenue from marketing, and help your company become 67% more effective at closing deals.

With statistics like that, it’s easy to see why many organizations will make sales and marketing alignment a priority this year. If you’re among them, make sure you get the benefit of your efforts by starting with a customer focus, aligning strategy before content, and planning to partner alignment with leadership.

I’d love to show you how Membrain can help you execute on your marketing and sales alignment strategy. Request a demo today.