Alignment between B2B sales and marketing teams is improving, increasing the opportunities for account based marketing, according to a new survey from Televerde.
Over 75 percent of the over 200 B2B sales executives surveyed characterized the leads they receive from marketing as “good” to “excellent,” and 62 percent said they felt sales and marketing was aligned in their organizations.
The biggest challenges in getting sales and marketing to work well together included a lack of regular communication (34 percent) and differences in the way each department measures success (33%). The top three assets sales professionals said they want from marketing were industry events (50 percent), value proposition (46 percent) and customer case studies (42%).
“What we’ve found is that there are some simple, but key, steps to take that help ensure sales and marketing are on the same page,” said Ray Kemper, CMO, Televerde. “Things like adopting a common language by jointly defining an inquiry and a lead and agreeing on buyer personas and journeys are seemingly obvious steps that are often not put in place and can make a big difference.”
Marketing needs to act and think like a sales enabler, Ajay Gupta, CEO, Stirista, recently told Chief Marketer.
“Marketing can save the day when it thinks and acts as a sales enabler. Even in the widest cast messages there ought to be a proposition, a pain point, a marked opportunity that resonates with the buyer,” he said. “The most common complaint is often the ‘leads are no good’ or ‘they’re not ready,’ when marketing has fallen short in qualifying leads and scoring them as sales-ready. Interest in the right type of content can very much be a buying indicator, while interest in another type is an indicator the prospect needs to be nurtured.”
B2B sales pros surveyed said the having the best product was the reason they most often won deals (43 percent). Other reasons they were successful was that their brand was the best at knowing customer needs (38 percent), they were easy to work with (37 percent), or their product offered the best ROI (35 percent).
Why did they typically lose deals? According to the Televerde’s “What Does Sales Need and Want From Marketing” report, it typically comes down to price (52 percent), the product or service’s value not being adequately conveyed to the prospect (47 percent), or, the solution simply wasn’t a match for the customer (35 percent).
Related Articles:
Q&A: Bridging the Sales and Marketing Divide
Network
