The Role of Technology in Marketing & Sales Alignment

Increasing revenue is a challenge in the best of times, but when marketing and sales are not aligned, it can be a painful and inefficient process that negatively impacts revenue. According to a HubSpot research study, misalignment between marketing and sales costs the business world more than $1 trillion per year. 

An extensive 18-page research report, The State of MarTech, by the research firm Ascend2, takes a deep dive into the challenges marketers encounter as they organize marketing tools and customer data to align marketing and sales efforts to grow revenue. 

For this report, Ascend2 surveyed 187 marketing professionals in the U.S., using multiple third-party survey panels, and the survey was fielded in July 2021. The research was commissioned by SharpSpring to provide marketing professionals with data-driven guidance on how to identify and overcome their most critical challenges and pave the way to better results. Download the report, clip the charts for client presentations, and adapt it to support your marketing efforts.

The Problem: Marketing and Sales Alignment

Everyone wants marketing and sales alignment, but does your tech stack support that goal? When asked “What areas of improvement are needed for your marketing tools,” a top area for improvement was sales and marketing alignment. Marketing professionals know that without marketing and sales alignment (and technology supporting that alignment), revenue growth is hindered. 

Marketers aren’t thrilled with the way their tools and technology are working to support their marketing and sales alignment strategy. Marketing tools received an average ranking of a 6 out of 10 (that’s a failing grade) on how data is used between the marketing and sales teams to manage and convert leads.

 

Source: The State of Martech. Conducted by Ascend2.
Published August 2021. N = 187 U.S. marketing professionals. Download the report and clip this chart.

Technology also received a failing grade at achieving a single, centralized view of the customer.

Source: The State of Martech. Conducted by Ascend2.
Published August 2021. N = 187 U.S. marketing professionals. Download the report and clip this chart.

Yes, technology must do better. But how?

The Solution: Consolidate and Integrate tools and technologies! The research found that 83% of marketing professionals agree that consolidating tools in their marketing and sales would increase productivity and efficiency. 

Source: The State of Martech. Conducted by Ascend2.
Published August 2021. N = 187 U.S. marketing professionals. Download the report and clip this chart.

 

Without consolidated and integrated technology tools:

• Shared success goals (KPIs) are difficult (or impossible) to track. 
• The customer journey is too segmented, resulting in missed opportunities.
• Leads are not properly managed (slow response time, lack of personalized messaging, automation not used or not optimized) and as a result, conversion rates are negatively impacted.
• Poor hand-off of leads between marketing and sales results in missed opportunities and frustration between departments.
• Data is siloed and teams cannot optimize the overall lead process.

Running with a lean tech stack can reduce operational silos and enable better end-to-end visibility of prospects and customers. Consolidating tools can also decrease the time it takes to solve issues, significantly reduce costs, simplify forecasts and tracking KPIs, and streamline the training of staff members. 

Here is a list of tools used by the marketing and sales teams:

 

Source: The State of Martech. Conducted by Ascend2.
Published August 2021. N = 187 U.S. marketing professionals. Download the report and clip this chart.

 

Source: The State of Martech. Conducted by Ascend2.
Published August 2021. N = 187 U.S. marketing professionals. Download the report and clip this chart.

 

Learn more! Download the 18-page research report, The State of MarTech. Coverage and analysis of this research are also available by MarketingProfs, MediaPost, and Convince & Convert.