The document discusses how to achieve true alignment between sales and marketing. It outlines 4 "watershed moments" for a company: 1) establishing joint criteria for assigned marketing-generated leads; 2) creating a shared sales and marketing operations role; 3) developing an explicit joint data strategy; and 4) moving from separate sales and marketing KPIs to shared KPIs like inbound pipeline created. By focusing on shared goals and metrics like customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and the "magic number" ratio, companies can drive capital efficient scale and better growth. The document advocates for jointly aligning tools, data, and decision-making between sales and marketing teams.
3. What do we know about sales & marketing alignment?
At ion interactive, the company we co-founded, Anna led the sales team and Justin led the marketing team. We
believe sales and marketing alignment doesn’t happen with status updates or “one hand knowing what the other is
doing”. Sales and marketing alignment comes from joint KPIs and agreements.
4. Let’s face it, the
sales and
marketing stuff is
complicated.
Cisco’s 2017 MarTech Stackie is
just one example of the
complex set of systems
operated by sales & marketing.
Many of these collect data and
surface analytics.
5. Is it any wonder sales & marketing
alignment is a challenge?
6. Typical Sales KPIs
‣ Calls, emails, connects
‣ Appointments set
‣ Demos given
‣ New pipeline generated
‣ Cross-sell, up-sell, renewals
‣ Bookings
21. Organizations with tightly aligned
sales and marketing functions enjoy
36% higher customer retention rates.
MarketingProfs
22. Aligning sales and marketing also
leads to 38% higher sales win rates.
MarketingProfs
23. B2B organizations with tightly aligned
sales and marketing operations achieve
24% faster three-year revenue growth and
27% faster three-year profit growth.
SiriusDecisions
24. Companies with “dynamic, adaptable sales
and marketing processes” report an average
of 10% more sales people on-quota
compared to other companies.
CSO Insights
25. 56% of aligned organizations met their revenue
goals, and 19% beat their goals. Among misaligned
organizations, by comparison, just 37% met their
revenue goals, and just 7% beat them.
Act-On
26. 30% reduction in CAC and 20%
improvement in LTV.
When we prioritized strong sales and marketing alignment we
achieved significant business results. Here’s how.
51. We used interactive content to learn more about the leads.
Gathering prospect data through interactive content experiences such as
assessments, quizzes, calculators and interactive ebooks.
60. For Example
We moved from marketing being measured on inbounds, and sales being measured on overall
pipeline created, to a new joint KPI of inbound pipeline created. Each team depended on each other to
achieve the goal. Joint KPIs bring true alignment because both teams are equally responsible.
61. Joint Sales
& Marketing KPIs
‣ Inbound Pipe
‣ Marketing Generated Pipe
‣ Normalized Closed-Lost Reasons
‣ Lead Velocity
‣ CAC, LTV, and Magic Number
62. Our Joint KPIs Included Joint Decision Making
Data tells most of the story, but humans perspective brings it all together. Most budgeting decisions were made
with input from both sales and marketing, based on both the numbers and the experience with the leads. Which
trade shows to attend is a perfect example of joint decision making.
66. Magic Number
The ratio of acquisition cost to annualized revenue. In other
words, what it costs to acquire a dollar in annual revenue.
67. Alignment = Capital Efficient Scale
We attribute our 30% reduction in Customer Acquisition Cost and
20% improvement in Lifetime Value to sales & marketing alignment.
68. Summary
1. CPAL Aligns Spend & Efficacy
2. Shared Ops Aligns Tools, Scoring, Surfacing, Appending & Nurturing
3. Joint Data Strategy Aligns What Drives Pipe
4. Shared KPIs Align Customer Acquisition with the Business
5. Business Metrics Align Everything to Growth