Running over the same old ground (# 2)
In part 1, we outlined the first issue that has negatively impacted our ability to market effectively: "Lack of Strategy."
Only 61% of marketers believe their marketing strategy is effective. (HubSpot)
After discussing how to turn our focus back to that very important discipline, we turn our attention to the next issue for improving our ability to drive top line. This is a controversial topic and only a few have taken progressive steps to align sales and marketing.
Sales & Marketing Disintermediation
“We will no longer depend on quick-fix tactics for ailing marketing and sales functions, treating only the symptoms, not the cause.”
Sales and Marketing are now the “Revenue Office.” According to HubSpot:
52% of marketers say they provide salespeople with their best quality leads, while salespeople rank marketing-sourced leads last
Only 25% of salespeople said marketing was their best source of leads
Only 8% of salespeople said leads they received from marketing were very high quality
During the buy process, a natural gap is created by the separation of sales and marketing. Marketing only influences up to “Interest” and sales often engages at the point a Project/RFP is developed.
Sales and Marketing both bear the responsibility of closing this gap. The two disciplines are conjoined for a singular quota and ROI on dollars spent for all revenue-generating activity. The practical way to do this is to create a Revenue Office, sitting at the table with other “C” peers:
The Chief Revenue Officer is responsible for:
1. Top line achievement and KPI’s, committing to an ROI of dollars spent to drive gross revenue and margin achievement
2. Sales and marketing budgets - eventually, there are no separate budgets, but a Revenue Office budget
3. Integration of sales and marketing functions, particularly to include the immersion of both functions in the Voice of the Customer
4. Developing a seamless process to get prospects from Awareness to Advocacy
The obvious challenge is having a Chief Revenue Officer who can appreciate the uniqueness of both sales and marketing and can subsequently integrate the two seamlessly. It can be done, it has been done, and there are those who have experience in both sales and marketing who might fit that role. Alternatively, the CRO can be developed from within with a framework for transition. It requires the investment of time from the Management team.