THEROIFROMB2BSALESANDMARKETINGALIGNMENTANDWHATBESTPRACTICELOOKSLIKEByAndrewHausseggerManagingDirector-GreenHat28%24%15%CustomerExperiencestrategySalesEnablementstrategyNone2Inthise-book,AndrewHausseggeropensupthediscussiononSalesandMarketingAlignmentinB2Bfirmsandprovidesaguidelinetoturningthesetwooftendisparatefunctionsintoaunifiedfightingforce...Thereisstilla‘chasm’betweenmostB2BMarketingandSalesteams.IspokerecentlyataB2BMarketersForumonSalesandMarketing(SaMa)Alignment.Aspartofmypreparation,IreferredtoavailablemarketresearchaswellastheGreenHat/ADMAannualB2Bmarketingresearch.IsoughtouttheviewsofsomeleadingCMOstoseehowtheyfeltaboutthestateoftheiralignment.Theone-linesummaryis…therehasnotbeenmuchimprovementoverrecentyears.ANDREWHAUSSEGGERCo-founderandManagingDirectoratGreenHat28%24%15%3Isthatsurprising?YesandNo.Yes…becausealignmentissomethinginternaltoanorganisationthattheCXOscanactuallycontrolanditcanhavesignificantimpactonfinancialperformance.Moreonthatbelow.No…becauseB2Bfirmsaresales-driven,notmarketing-driven(likeB2C).Theytendtoinvestmoreinthesalesfunctionthanthemarketingfunction,andoftenarenotawareoftherevenueandpipelinebenefitstheMarketingteamcandeliverwithastrategicapproach.TheCMOcanbeleadingthewaybyeducatingtheCEOandHeadofSalesontheopportunitiespresentedbymoderndata-drivenmarketing,andaligningthesetofinancialobjectives.TheHeadofSalesneedstorecognisethatthewaysbuyersbuyhaschangedandideallyisopentocustomerengagementstrategiescomingfromMarketing.CustomerExperiencestrategySalesEnablementstrategyNone4Whatis‘SalesandMarketing(SaMa)Alignment’?Idefineitas:“JoiningSalesandMarketingatthehipwithsharedgoals,KPIsandpipelinedevelopmentprocessestogrowrevenue”.Thekeywordsare‘goals’and‘KPIs’.TheCEOwhoassignssharedtargetstotheCMO/HeadofSales,withastrongrecommendationto‘align’,providestheimpetusforsuccess.Thesetargetscancoverarangeofareasbutultimatelypipelinemetricsarekey.AlignedSaMaexecutivessharemiddlefunnelandbottomfunnelmetrics.UsuallytheCMOwillcarryrespons...
