Hot off the press, Revenue Marketing Report 2022 sheds light on the state of sales and marketing alignment in SMBs amid rapid changes in the workplace.
Released by Outfunnel and Copper, the key findings of the report include:
- 58% of sales and marketing professionals don’t feel well aligned, a significant increase from 46% last year.
- SMBs are embracing the work-from-anywhere era, but those who have switched to a fully remote structure struggle more with sales and marketing alignment and are less likely to exceed revenue goals.
- 60% of sales and marketing leaders report exceeding revenue goals in 2021, and 62% believe they will exceed goals in 2022.
- SMBs that struggle with disjointed marketing and sales teams are twice as likely to miss revenue goals, while those with great alignment more commonly exceed them.
- Reliable and accurate data is considered key for alignment, but one-third of salespeople and marketers still move data between tools manually.
Read on for a short read on the key findings or download the report now.
More than half of sales and marketing professionals do not feel well-aligned
Fifty-eight percent of respondents report their sales and marketing alignment is “Poor,” “Fair” or “Good,” a notable increase compared to the previous year (46%, up 12%).
This decline in alignment is noted by SMBs of all sizes but is especially prominent in larger companies. 66% of respondents from businesses with between 101 and 150 employees currently report misalignment, up from 34% in 2021.
What are the main challenges to alignment? How do well-aligned sales and marketing teams drive revenues in practice? Download the report to find out.
Fully remote teams report worst alignment and revenues
Last year, businesses had the chance to look back at the procedures and policies they’d put in place for remote work, assess the results, and decide how to move forward.
43% of SMBs have set up a hybrid structure, while 20% have gone completely remote. Slightly more than one-third are fully back in the office.
How have these changes impacted sales and marketing alignment? The data shows that those who have gone fully remote report the worst congruence between sales and marketing.
What’s more, those that have gone fully remote are least likely to exceed revenue goals, when compared to those who are back in the office or now in a hybrid structure. Find out more in the full report.
As all companies question and change their workplace models, they need to find what works best for them rather than following the pack.
On top of that, leaders need to ensure that marketing and sales teams communicate well and have access to the right software tools to get aligned, work better together and provide a better experience to their customers.
Optimism amid uncertain times: sales and marketing leaders believe they’ll exceed revenue goals in 2022
Sales and marketing leaders are optimistic about exceeding their revenue goals in 2022.
And with good reason: Nearly 60% of respondents reported that their companies exceeded revenue goals in 2021.
However, not all industries were equal in their wins. In 2021, respondents in Manufacturing reported the best results: A whopping 72% said they exceeded revenue goals, while only 14% reported falling short of their targets.
Compare those numbers to Professional Services, who performed worst: 46% reported exceeding, 33% achieving, and 21% missing revenue goals in 2021. Still, nearly half of respondents exceeding revenue goals isn’t exactly poor performance.
Despite a global environment that remains nearly as uncertain as it was two years ago, those responsible for driving business growth at small and medium businesses have reported an overwhelmingly strong revenue year for 2021 and maintain a positive outlook into 2022.
But sales and marketing teams continue to struggle with alignment, and we’ve seen that spontaneity can only go so far. The key to sustainable future business growth lies in control and visibility, especially in uncertain times. Predictability comes through better data and information sharing among teams.
Aligning sales and marketing efforts increases odds of exceeding revenue goals
Once again, the correlation between sales and marketing alignment and revenue is real. Companies that report great sales and marketing alignment are more likely to exceed revenue goals, while those struggling with alignment are twice as likely to miss revenue goals.
Among those that reported poor or fair alignment, 16.3% said they would miss revenue goals in 2021. Compare that to companies that had very good or excellent sales and marketing alignment, out of whom only 8.7% reported they would miss revenue goals.
Data is key to alignment, but one-third still move data between tools manually
There’s no arguing that accurate and timely data is key to sales and marketing alignment.
In fact, 29% of respondents selected unreliable data as one of the three main challenges to alignment, while 25% selected fragmented prospect and customer data as such.
And yet, a whopping one-third of the respondents move data across sales and marketing tools manually.
To prepare the report, Outfunnel and Copper surveyed 300 sales and marketing leaders from SMBs across industries in November-December of 2021. One-quarter of respondents (24%) worked at companies with 1-10 employees, 34% worked at companies with 11-50 employees, 28% at companies with 51-100 employees and 14% at companies with 101-150 employees.
Get the free 26-page report with dozens of fresh findings on the state of revenue marketing at the start of 2022: Revenue Marketing Report 2022.
