Sales and marketing misalignment knocks revenue – Highspot

A major new international report has identified a number of common "pain points" business owners can address in order to maximise revenues. With economic turbulence on the horizon, it can't hurt to have a closer look.

Having surveyed sales and marketing executives, the report found a majority report mis-aligned functions negatively impact their revenues. This is according to sales enablement platform Highspot’s new European State of Sales and Marketing Alignment 2022 report.

The research examines key confidence indicators and barriers to success in order to identify trends and issues impacting alignment between sales and marketing teams.

From surveying people in sales and marketing roles in the UK, France and Germany, the report found alignment, communication and collaboration between sales and marketing teams to be crucial to sales success and bottom-line ROI.

A majority (71 per cent) said that a lack of alignment between their functions is negatively impacting their business’ revenue, whereas only just over a third (36 per cent) believe they have full visibility and the ability to prove the impact their function is having on company revenue.

According to 30 per cent of salespeople surveyed, their success is obstructed by a lack of visibility over which behaviours and assets are contributing to closed deals. 43 per cent of respondents across both categories believe too many overlapping and different systems between the two functions is a major issue in their success.

Read more - CV-Library acquires job site Brilliant Jobs

The report finds that, in turn, this is having a negative effect on confidence.

Just over half (53 per cent) of sales respondents say they are ‘somewhat confident’ they will hit their targets in the next year; only 28 per cent said they were ‘very confident’. Of those who are confident, 46 per cent say good marketing team collaboration and alignment is the reason behind their confidence, reinforcing its importance.

Taking a broader view, 58 per cent  of sales and marketing respondents said the cost of living crisis is one of their top concerns when it comes to meeting their targets in the next year.

This concern rises to 67 per cent in the UK, with 38 per cent pointing a national recession and 31 per cent citing the continued fallout from Brexit.

Andy Champion, VP & GM for EMEA at Highspot says: “The next 12 months will be challenging for businesses across Europe. Sales and marketing teams have an opportunity to drive real change, but in order to succeed, you need to understand the barriers to seller success.

“From revenue visibility to training and onboarding, our latest research identifies key pain points that you can address with sales enablement to empower your people, strengthen alignment and drive efficient business growth. Economic turbulence is on the horizon – now is the time to equip your teams with the tools they need to weather the coming storm.”

Read more - Marlow’s edison365 named among best small tech workplaces in the UK

Featured image: iStock