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Sales and marketing departments are not collaborating enough and the onus should be on software companies to bring these silos together for the good of their business.
New research from CallidusCloud states that only 15.7% of respondents have aligned the two departments in their organisation, 63% do not fully share data and 62.5% have all or part of their lead data in systems that are only visible to marketing.
An abysmal 41% of sales and marketing representatives admitted using separate applications for each division, showing that the era where a business’ divisions all work together in harmony is not yet upon us.
Reorganisation benefits
Marketo’s Elizabeth Smyth, area vice president marketing, finds it difficult to comprehend why businesses are taking this backwards approach to company structure because of the benefits a reorganisation can provide.
“While some companies still have separate silos for their sales and marketing engines, cutting-edge organisations are outselling and outsmarting their competition with a combined revenue engine, running on a mixture of relevant dialogue in synch with a buyer’s online behaviour and information needs – all orchestrated through a software-based marketing engagement platform.”
There is a hunger for new technology that is capable of achieving a collaborative way of working. The Sales and Marketing Sentiment Survey pointed out that more marketers are dissatisfied with their current software than sales, 34% vs 24%.
Slow uptake of automation
Automation, a subject that many marketers are unaware of, has seen minimal uptake, with one in three reporting less than a quarter of their sales and marketing processes were automated and only 13% have automated three quarters of their processes.
Creating a single customer view is the best way to combine sales and marketing, according to Charles Randall, head of solutions marketing at SAS UK & Ireland, who says the advantages of this strategy will fall into place once this is achieved.
“If done effectively, the benefits will be twofold. Firstly, both sides will be able to work better together to deliver more cohesive customer engagement and reduce the risk of conflicts between tele-marketing programmes and live sales cycles.
“This then leads to the second benefit. Improved customer service will allow for real time interaction, ensuring the right recommendations or services are delivered to customers at the right time.”
