Digital ReThink: The 5 tenets of Sales and Marketing Alignment

Sales and Marketing are essential to most organisations. Without Marketing, there will likely be little relevancy to the market, and a lack of interest in your offering, and without Sales (particularly in B2B), your organisation will struggle to obtain any customers. Yet, in the last 10 years both Marketing and Sales have undergone massive technological transformations that many in these professions are simply unaware of or refuse to address head on.

There are 5 core tenets which underpin any successful Sales and Marketing relationship. These range from the theory of Sales and Marketing alignment itself, and the reasons tension may exist, to the trends and dynamics that drive most modern Sales and Marketing functions. This is supported by the technology that provides the platform for digital transformation in intelligent organisations across the globe such as IBM, Deloitte, Fujitsu, Phillips and Deliveroo.

Tension

It comes as no surprise that there can be tension in the relationship between Sales and Marketing.

Traditionally, Sales had the view that marketing operated within its’ own bubble, and provided a smaller business contribution than Sales, whereas Marketing often viewed Sales as rarely following a process, operating off gut feel, and with little attention to detail.

• In a Sales led environment (B2B), Marketing traditionally functioned as a support and service provider, but the technology available has pushed Marketing into more influence due to greater control of the lead lifecycle, be that through campaigns operated within the MA platforms, or control of customer and prospect data through the CDP/CRM.
• In a brand led environment (B2C) Sales is a function, or just one channel of influence available to the Marketer. This could be in the form of a support role such as merchandiser or educator.

These perceptions have evolved alongside the technology which supports them, and Sales and Marketing need to work together and utilise the technology available to create great customer experiences across the entire lifecycle, be that brand or sales led. 

Theory

Not every business was born digital, but every business needs to be digital today.

Old, draconian businesses are going through modernisation at an incredible rate, in no small part due to the impact of the last 18 months. Ex-Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that 2 years of digital transformation happened in 2 months at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The traditional Sales and Marketing model has now evolved, with Marketing now owning more of the customer journey than ever before, and the inception of business models like the SiriusDecisions Waterfall have allowed modern marketing to evolve beyond just demand generation and filling the funnel.

Marketers now need to acknowledge that customer experience, lifetime value and customer retention are as essential, if not more so, than demand generation. The ways in which we measure and record success now need to reflect this new reality. 

Trends

According to Gartner, 2020 was the first year that spend on marketing technology outweighed spend on marketing talent. This is indicative of several new and changing trends in the marketing space:

• The introduction of GDPR and data privacy back in 2018 also signaled a move from 3^rd party data to 1^st party data.
• A shift in focus from acquisition of customers to retaining and growing existing accounts.
• Customer journeys are now ‘always-on’.
• Proving Marketing Return on Investment (MROI) and managing marketing performance has become an essential part of the CMO’s role.
• Sales is arguably the most expensive function, and so organisations are now prioritizing making them more efficient, and onboarding Sales faster. 

Technology

The Martech landscape has grown enormously in the last 10 years, with over 8,000 technologies now in this space. Scott Brinker's Martech 'supergraphic’ has long been at the forefront of depicting this growth of technologies. However, this image is surely just a fun bibliography of the available technologies. It is not a strategy.

The supergraphic no doubt looks pretty on a PowerPoint, but in reality, it’s an incoherent mess of technologies. Organisations need to adopt the Martech Spine as their framework. The Martech Spine prioritises the technology according to its business use, and doesn’t encourage organisations to just buy new tech, but instead to ensure that the tech bought works well together according to your organisation’s specific processes.

The technology at your disposal is the enabler for your marketing department and ensuring it all works together seamlessly is an essential priority for any ambitious CMO.

 The Martech Spine

Transformation and Summary

It is the job of the CMO to drive change within the marketing department, and the greater business. Senior Marketers need to acknowledge the fact that customer journeys aren’t linear, and marketers need to be constantly adapting to change in order to fully utilise the constantly improving technology available. Change Management knowledge is an essential component of any CMO’s skill set, and in order to keep up, CMO’s need to be constantly adapting. 

 If you want to find out how we can help you better align Sales and Marketing to the same goals through the effective use of marketing technology, get in touch here.