The numbers don’t lie: Companies that align their sales and marketing functions win more business, keep more customers, and reap far more revenue than those who don’t.
However, true alignment for many organizations can be evasive, and for others, it can be entirely absent. In our experience here at Chief Outsiders, we find that many organizations mistake cross-functional communication for alignment. With the need to plan business strategies to withstand times of economic uncertainty, it’s now even more critical for your sales and marketing teams to be on the same page.
True alignment can have myriad benefits, including stronger lead generation efforts; better fortification against competitive forces; and a more efficient and prolific sales cycle.
We recently reached out to a contingent of CEOs and sales and marketing leaders who, like you, have struggled to understand the best approach to achieving sales and marketing alignment. Though many companies consider their sales and marketing efforts to be aligned, alarmingly, nearly one-third of executives perceive a disconnect between these functions.
To grow, companies need to embrace sales and marketing alignment as a priority to achieve success. For example, as business-to-business (B2B) marketers move from an era of classic ‘funnel marketing’ to a practice of ‘account-based marketing,’ it is ever more critical that marketing and sales are able to act as one unit. It’s no longer about marketing handing qualified leads to sales – rather, it’s about both functions working together to continually engage prospects and, ultimately, drive revenue.
For example, look backward and align on the facts to help get your sales and marketing people on the same page. As you look at deals, timelines, and people, you will inevitably recognize how prospects came to you in the first place, what questions they arrived with, and what information was most important to them. Marketing can then take these insights to help build a more effective lead generation process and a fuller top of the sales funnel.
Chief Outsiders, the nation’s largest fractional CMO executive organization, has rolled out a new service designed to expedite your ability to achieve sales and marketing alignment -- the fractional chief sales officer, or Fractional CSO. Whether working a solo engagement, or in tandem with a CMO, our CSOs help businesses align their sales and marketing efforts, build distinct strategies, and instill measurement into the corporate culture.
With so many benefits to be derived from sales and marketing alignment, don’t put off this essential strategy any longer. Contact us today to learn more about how Chief Outsiders might help your company grow and thrive through sales and marketing alignment.