50 Statistics About B2B Sales and Marketing (Mis)Alignment

June 17, 2014

It’s hard to imagine a 2014 topic hotter than Jimmy Fallon right now. I mean, who would’ve imagined that lip syncing would have such a come back? But if there’s one, at least in the business world, it’s how to fix the chasm between sales and marketing so companies quit bleeding leads (qualified or not) and customers.

Why is this such a huge problem? Well, actually it’s a change management problem, rather than just a sales and marketing alignment problem. Until marketing, sales and the executives to whom they report change their mindset about how these two  groups work together, the problem will be just as big – actually, probably bigger – five years from now.

Regardless, here’s a list of 50 statistics that come from the misalignment between these two groups:

1. 50{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting (101 B2B Marketing and Sales Tips from The B2B Lead)
2. Sales reps ignore 50{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketing leads (101 B2B Marketing and Sales Tips from The B2B Lead)
3. Lost sales productivity and wasted marketing budget costs companies at least $1 trillion a year (101 B2B Marketing and Sales Tips from The B2B Lead)
4. 38{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of CMOs say that aligning and integrating sales and marketing is a top priority for 2014 (CMO Council)
5. Only 30{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of CMOs have a clear process or program to make marketing and sales alignment a priority (CMO Council)
6. B2B organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing operations achieved 24{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} faster three-year revenue growth, and 27{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} faster three-year profit growth (SiriusDecisions)
7. 75{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of buyers want marketers to curb the sales-speak in their content (DemandGen Report)
8. 95{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of buyers chose a solution provider that “Provided them with ample content to help navigate through each stage of the buying process” (DemandGen Report)
9. Organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing functions enjoyed 36{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} higher customer retention rates (MarketingProfs)
10. They also experienced 38{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} higher sales win rates (MarketingProfs)
11. Companies with “dynamic, adaptable sales and marketing processes” reported an average of 10{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} more sales people on-quota compared to other companies (CSO Insights)
12. When sales and marketing teams are in sync, companies became 67{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} better at closing deals (Marketo)
13. Companies with aligned sales and marketing generated 208{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} more revenue from marketing (MarketingProfs)
14. 57{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of the buyer’s journey is completed before the buyer talks to sales (Corporate Executive Board)
15. B2B companies’ inability to align sales and marketing teams around the right processes and technologies has cost them upwards of 10{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} or more of revenue per year, or $100 million for a billion-dollar company. (IDC)
16. Alignment of sales and marketing impacts revenue growth up to 3 times (Bulldog Solutions)
17. By 2020, customers will manage 85{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of their interaction with the enterprise without interacting with a human. (Gartner)
18. 60-70{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B content created is never used. Most cited reason why is because the topic is irrelevant to the buyer audience. (Content Marketing Institute)
19. 79{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance. (Hubspot)
20. Businesses with websites of 401-1000 pages get 6x more leads than those with 51-100 pages (Hubspot)
21. Social media has a 100{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing (Hubspot)
22. 68{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B businesses use landing pages to garner a new sales lead for future conversion (MarketingSherpa)
23. 61{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B marketers send all leads directly to Sales; however, only 27{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of those leads will be qualified (MarketingSherpa)
24. Just 56{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations verify valid business leads before they are passed to Sales (MarketingSherpa)
25. A whopping 68{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations have not identified their funnel. (MarketingSherpa)
26. 57{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations identify ‘converting qualified leads into paying customers’ as a top funnel priority. (MarketingSherpa)
27. 65{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing. (MarketingSherpa)
28. 79{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B marketers have not established lead scoring. (MarketingSherpa)
29. 34{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a monthly basis. (MarketingSherpa)
30. 22{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a weekly basis. (MarketingSherpa)
31. 15{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a quarterly basis. (MarketingSherpa)
32. 9{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a daily basis. (MarketingSherpa)
33. 2{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on an annual basis. (MarketingSherpa)
34. Nurtured leads make 47{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (ANNUITAS Group)
35. 46{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketers with mature lead management processes have sales teams that follow up on more than 75{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketing-generated leads. (Forrester Research)
36. 25{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketers who adopt mature lead management processes report that sales teams contact prospects within one day. Only 10{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketers report the same follow-up time without mature lead management processes. (Forrester Research)
37. Companies with mature lead generation and management practices have a 9.3{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} higher sales quota achievement rate. (CSO Insights)
38. Nearly 2/3 of B2B marketers identified engaging key decision makers as their top challenge (Forrester Research)
39. 64{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of CMOs have either an informal or no process to manage their marketing automation (ANNUITAS Group)
40. Businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} increase in qualified leads (ANNUITAS Group)
41. Nurtured leads make 47{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (ANNUITAS Group)
42. 46{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketers with mature lead management processes have sales teams that follow up on more than 75{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketing-generated leads. (Forrester Research)
43. 25{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketers who adopt mature lead management processes report that sales teams contact prospects within one day. Only 10{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketers report the same follow-up time without mature lead management processes. (Forrester Research)
44. Companies with mature lead generation and management practices have a 9.3{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} higher sales quote achievement rate. (CSO Insights)
45. Only 44{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of companies are using any kind of lead scoring system (DecisionTree)
46. 76{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of content marketers are forgetting sales enablement (Hubspot)
47. Only 9{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of marketers say their digital marketing is effective (Adobe Digital Distress Report)
48. Increasing customer retention rates by 5{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} increases profits by 25-95{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} (Bain & Company)
49. Customers believe that sales reps are 88{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} knowledgeable on product and only 24{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} on business expertise (Corporate Visions)
50. 86{1fa3f09e2bb6719cc6653a34c4038b8f8c4ebd7a060bb979778d4383cd5dd806} of B2B buyers access business-related content on mobile devices (Genwi)

But this is just my take. What do you see in your world as, not only the impact on business (as these stats show), but why sales and marketing can’t get along?