A recent Televerde study found that more than a third (38 percent) of sales professionals believe their companies’ sales and marketing departments are misaligned. Not surprisingly, a lack of regular communication was one of the most popular reasons cited for this misalignment. But even those companies whose departments do communicate well will run into problems if they don’t address one of the study’s key findings: that there is often a disconnect between the way sales and marketing departments define success in the first place.
According to the study, 33 percent of sales leaders say they define success and view the buyer journey differently than marketing departments. We’ve seen this misalignment in the distribution industry as well.
Misunderstandings in what constitutes a qualified lead or opportunity, for example, can cause outside sales reps to reach out to new leads before they are ready. They can also cause marketing teams to back off their efforts too soon, or to produce marketing campaigns that don’t resonate. Sales forecasts may also become less accurate.
Sales and marketing must adopt a common language and work closely together. The reward could be big: The survey found that organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing functions had 36 percent higher customer-retention rates and 38 percent higher sales win rates.
Request a free demo now to learn how Selltis CRM can support communication and alignment not only between your sales and marketing teams but also with the rest of your team.