Sales and marketing CRM alignment
The old chestnut about “sales-ready leads” versus “marketing qualified leads” never ends – it just mutates like a virus.
I went to a presentation of a sales research project last week and their survey and report were interesting.
If you work in marketing or new business development and are starting to use ABM, take a read – the link is at the bottom.
Results of 2020 sales leader survey
Key 2020 Sales takeaways
- Three quarters of survey respondents use a CRM
- 39% of sales teams are using a different CRM from the rest of the firm
- 35% monitor website engagement
- One thing the sales team thinks they can do better – Business Development
My interpretation of this is:
- Absolutely stunning. Why are firms not using a CRM? FFS it’s 2020 folks! Even small firms can afford one.
- Why is a CRM not deployed? Are you expecting the sales team to initiate this tech project – because they won’t.
- Using a different CRM from the rest of the firm is astonishing. Do the IT department not check why the firm and the sales team are using different software? Siloed data is a giant challenge and this creates and reinforces this problem.
- Glad that a third of sales people realise customers go to websites FIRST before contacting sales.
- The “wait and see” for disruptive technology reinforces my view of the static nature of sales compared to marketing.
- Take the lead, marketing folks, and draw the sales function along with you for the ride to integrating your work.
- Business development is the interface between sales and marketing. If this is ONE thing your firm can do better – marketers initiate the project. Sales are gagging for it.
- CRM and website marketing are not “disruptive technologies” any more. They are BAU. Get used to it.
Here’s the report – it is on page 10.