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ALIGNING sales and marketing is the key to competitive advantage, according to new research in buyer behaviour.
Sales performance company Huthwaite has revealed traditional lead generation marketing no longer holds true after conducting a two-year study of business executives and buyers.
The “Focus on the Buyer” study found that 75 per cent of companies whose sales and marketing were aligned and sending the same message were breaking away from competition.
Companies in which sales and marketing worked independently were struggling.
Huthwaite CEO and president John Golden says marketing should be deeper into the buying process than ever before.
“Sales departments need to recognize that the part marketing plays in the buying process has expanded and it has a role to play at every phase of the process, not just the front end,” says Golden.
“The revenue generation process has become a continuum where sales and marketing are constantly and consistently engaged with their market in a much more fluid, overlapping and ultimately partnering way.”
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