Trouble in sales and marketing paradise: the smarketing landscape uncovered

An enormous 89.5% of sales and marketing pros believe it’s important to work together. So, what’s stopping them? KAYBE’s report – Sales and Marketing: The Age-Old Battle – uncovers tonnes of interesting findings about how the two teams actually work together, and what they expect from each other. But what else does the report tell us? And what’s the big deal about sales and marketing teams working together? Read on to find out more…

What’s the story? Sales and marketing glory?

Sales and marketing: it’s an age-old tale. Clashes, confusion, chaos. Both teams have an opinion; neither agrees. At KAYBE, we were curious to take a closer look at the smarketing landscape to see if sales and marketing colleagues are any more closely aligned than in previous years. To figure out how they work together, what they expect from each other, and, based on that, what they can do to improve the way they work. So, we did a bit of research. 

We reached out to over 2,500 sales and marketing experts, from across a variety of industries, to get a better view of the current smarketing landscape. The results? Both sides know they should be working closely together, but the two teams are disillusioned by each other’s efforts. Here’s a top-level breakdown of some of the key results and, essentially, what this means for businesses. 

Successful smarketing? Negatory!

If you haven’t heard the term ‘smarketing’ before, and you’re wondering what it actually means, it’s a portmanteau of the words ‘sales’ and ‘marketing’. And a fusion of the two words isn’t where it stops. It should, in theory, also be a fusion of the two teams; working closely together to get the best results for their business. 

But is successful smarketing a given in all businesses? It turns out…um…no. In our research, we discovered that while the vast majority of sales and marketing pros (89.5%) say they know it’s “very important” to work together, only half of respondents actually told us they feel their teams’ goals are aligned. 

On top of this, less than ⅓ of salespeople feel the quality of the leads their marketing colleagues pass to them is “high” or “very high”…

…while marketers, too, are pretty uninspired by the leads they pass to their sales teams, with a whopping 57.1% describing these leads as just “adequate”. 

So, what does this actually mean? KAYBE co-founder Kris Britton says, 

“Despite a widespread recognition of the importance of working together, our findings suggest that there is a significant gap between belief and practice in the alignment of sales and marketing goals.

As we work through the data, it becomes evident that the path to achieving true smarketing synergy is challenging, but also rewarding.”

Intrigued to find out more? Read the full report, Sales and Marketing: The Age Old Battle, where you’ll get your hands on tonnes more fascinating statistics, and a clearer idea of how you can work smarter with smarketing.