Togetherness:Achieving Sales and Marketing Alignment

jeff@jeffdavis2.com, @jeff_davis2

Jeff Davis - Founder, jd2 Consulting Group

Why Align Sales and Marketing?

What does misalignment look like?

▪ Communication is one-way

▪ When something goes wrong, finger pointing starts

▪ Content utilization by sales is low or non-existent

▪ Pipeline revenue is stagnant or declining

▪ Sales quotas continue to be missed

▪ Low quality leads from marketing

The Marketing and Sales

Conflict

Digital has changed modern buyer behavior.

Most sellers have not adapted.

79%of shoppers research products

prior to purchasing in-store

Source: Salesforce – Connected Shoppers Report (2017)

10sources of information are used

to make a decision by the

average shopper

Source: Google/Shopper Sciences, Zero Moment of Truth Macro Study,

U.S. (April 2011)

80% of shoppers make use of

messaging apps, live chat, or

voice assistants like Amazon’s

Alexa to enhance their

shopping experience

Source: Mojix

The Paradox of

Choice

2020will be the year that CX

overtakes price and product as

key brand differentiators

Source: Walker Information

63% of shoppers do not feel like

retailers know them

Source: Salesforce – Connected Shoppers Report (2017)

55% of shoppers say retail

experiences are disconnected

across channels

Source: Salesforce – Connected Shoppers Report (2017)

Lost sales productivity and wasted marketing

budget cost companies at least $1 trillion a year.Source: 101 B2B Marketing and Sales Tips from The B2B Lead (Reach Force)

Companies with strong sales and marketing

alignment achieve 20% annual growth rate.

Companies with poor sales and marketing

alignment have a 4% revenue decline.

Source: Aberdeen Group

Companies with strong sales and marketing

alignment achieve 20% annual growth rate.

Companies with poor sales and marketing

alignment have a 4% revenue decline.

Source: Aberdeen Group

Alignment produces real business results

Source: Aberdeen Group, Marketing/Sales Alignment 2016: Who is Agile Enough To Win?

Alignment is not a Tech issue

Marketing Tech Landscape Sales Tech Landscape

DATAPROCESSCOMMUNICATION

The 3 Pillars of Alignment

CX

Data

ProcessCommunication

DATA – Insights Enable Growth

Data-focused Single Source of Truth Insights

PROCESS – Map the Customer Journey

Source: Accenture Customer Experience Solution

PROCESS – Map the Customer Journey

• Both teams should focus on their contribution to pipeline revenue

• Agree on common goals – % to Revenue is #1

• Ensure both teams know and understand the company’s “why” (value

proposition, customer personas, messaging, etc.)

• Create content that enables sales to engage customers at each stage

of the sales process in a meaningful way

• Map process to the buyer’s (non-linear) journey

COMMUNICATION – Collaboration Is Key

Source: Arthur T. Himmelman, Collaboration for a Change: Definitions, Decision‐making Models, Roles, and Collaboration Process Guide. January 2002, Himmelman Consulting, Minneapolis, MN.

COMMUNICATION – Collaboration Is Key

• Alignment must be CEO-driven and accountability focused

• Develop a common vocabulary and definitions

• Schedule regular leadership/colleague alignment meetings

• Establish a formal feedback loop to get market intelligence from

sales back to marketing

• Support true collaboration in the organization with the right

resources and capabilities

The Business Case for Alignment

*Aligned to Achieve by Tracy Eiler and Andrea Austin (2016)

✓Alignment must be a CEO-driven initiative*

✓The modern buyer is empowered by digital and needs to be engaged in a new

way by sellers

✓ Lost sales productivity and wasted marketing spend due to misalignment is

extremely costly to the business

✓Alignment can be directly tied to increased revenue

✓Tech alone will not fix underlying misalignment issues between sales and

marketing

✓The 3 pillars of an alignment strategy – Data. Process. Communication.

create togetherness.

Q & A

Jeff DavisFounder

jd2 Consulting Group

jeffdavis2.com

TheAlignmentPodcast.com

jeff@jeffdavis2.com

@jeff_davis2

708.628.7913