Good data—supported by the right tech—is at the heart of alignment between B2B sales and marketing

Regardless of changes in the market, marketers will always have to build their first-party data around the buyer’s information and behavior. Complete and accurate data on prospects and customers is essential to making sound decisions about accounts that sales and marketing should target together.

• Sales must be in accordance with marketing on data and technology. But that’s a clear challenge: Only 19% of US B2B professionals said their tech and data were aligned across teams, according to an April 2022 Insightly and Ascend2 survey. Without aligned data, firms are unlikely to have aligned buyer experiences. As a result, both teams will miss activities that are important pieces of the buyer’s journey.
• Invest in martech that delivers data that drives revenues. The same survey found that 42% of respondents were considering a new customer relationship management (CRM) tool to improve alignment across teams. However, marketing technology (martech) only delivers value when used to its full potential. In the CMI and MarketingProfs study, 31% of B2B marketers worldwide said that wasn’t happening. This could result in missed revenue targets.

Measurement and attribution are critical for success.

Once data and tech are in alignment, marketers should focus on their ability to continually measure marketing efforts at scale. The June 2022 DGR survey found that 33% of marketing and sales execs in North America felt measuring different metrics was the biggest challenge to alignment between the two teams.

• Align on what to measure. In a May 2022 DGR measurement and attribution survey, 41% of US B2B marketers said improving alignment was a reason for needing deeper metrics. But there are frequently discrepancies between teams on what the top metrics should be, such as closed-won deals versus account engagement. Sometimes, marketers mistakenly lean on website visits or other metrics that are not easily linked to revenues.
• Ensure both teams are seeing the same metrics. Teams need to have a single source of truth—such as one shared dashboard—to view metrics and determine attribution. That’s especially helpful if marketing efforts are tied to pipeline and revenues. This source should show the KPIs that the teams already agree are priorities.