Featuring:
John Arnold, Principal Analyst and Rick Bradberry, Principal Analyst
Show Notes:
Though marketing and sales alignment has long been the ideal in many B2B organizations, it remains elusive. And given changes in buying dynamics and growing overlap in marketing and sales technologies, it may be time to strive for a different way to work together. On this week’s episode of What It Means, Principal Analysts John Arnold and Rick Bradberry explain why it’s time to think beyond alignment and toward other, deeper forms of marketing-sales partnership.
The episode starts with the analysts describing the sizable disconnect in perceptions of alignment between C-level leaders and marketing and sales teams. While 82% of company leaders believe that their sales and marketing functions are aligned, nearly two-thirds of sales and marketing professionals disagree. The disparity, Arnold says, often stems from disagreement on the meaning of alignment. There could be “codependency masquerading as alignment,” he says, where one function is dominant and the other more subservient, or a lack of obvious friction could be perceived as alignment when it is actually an indication of silos.
The discussion then turns to how changing buyer dynamics are impacting the marketing-sales relationship. The rise of self-service buying paired with overlap in marketing and sales technologies has blurred marketing and sales roles, forcing the need to rethink what alignment means. The future of alignment, the analysts say, may not be alignment but instead a partnership that balances collaboration and overlap with each team’s distinct strengths. This type of arrangement will look different in different organizations.
Arnold and Bradberry then describe four types of marketing-sales partnerships that will likely emerge in the next few years. To succeed, marketing and sales teams need to center their partnerships on buyer and customer needs and be purposeful about the relationship dynamic. “Articulate how you want the organization to work together and establish a strong partnership agreement in all of those different areas,” Arnold says. “Map it out and be strategic about it.”
The episode closes with the analysts sharing concrete advice for marketing and sales leaders to begin forging successful partnerships, so stay tuned for that.
