A smart, practical guide to rocket-powered business growth Aligned to Achieve puts sales and marketing on the same page, creating a revenue 'dream team' that will drive your organization to new heights. Smart, practical explanations, case studies, and tips guide you toward action over theory, and dozens of examples illustrate the tangible effects of these changes in action at business-to-business companies. Written by sales and marketing executives who have made alignment work, this book is directed toward practitioners and leaders seeking to crack the code of sales and marketing alignment. Contributions by industry thought leaders and B2B executives provide fresh perspective and nuanced direction, while thoughtful, strategic, and well-supported guidance throughout helps you remove the obstacles standing in the way of your organization's financial and strategic goals.
Misalignment between sales and marketing is an age-old problem—frequently lamented, but seldom addressed. As this schism grows amidst the evolving marketplace, its effects on top and bottom line performance are being felt more than ever before. This book shows you how to bring sales and marketing together effectively once and for all, leveraging their strengths to build an unstoppable force for growth.
- Understand the cost of misalignment and the driving forces behind it
- Learn strategies for improving your culture, process, leadership, and technology to initiate and support alignment
- Identify the best places to modify your sales and marketing programs to kickstart collaboration and cooperation between your teams
- Discover how other companies are uniting their sales and marketing teams into a single force for growth
- Walk away with practical advice on how to apply recommendation in the real world
Misalignment is frustrating for everyone in sales, marketing, and leadership. It's also detrimental to your organization's performance—but the problem is not insurmountable. In fact, most of the obstacles it creates are self-inflicted, and entirely within control of leadership. Aligned to Achieve helps you identify and remove those obstacles, and build a culture of sustainable growth.
Table of Contents:
Foreword xi
Chapter 1 Why Align? 1
Misalignment Stalls Your Path to Growth 2
Misalignment Leads to Mistrust and Hostility 3
Here’s What We’ve Seen—and Why We’re Devoted to Changing It 5
Misalignment Is Getting Worse and Here’s Why 13
What It Takes to Align 15
What to Expect from This Book 18
Chapter 2 Get Those Cultural Obstacles out of Your Way 19
Alignment Must Be a CEO-Driven Initiative 20
Recognize Your Differences as You Build Your Alignment Strategy 25
Get Ready for These Common Objections to Alignment 34
Translating Culture into Growth-Driving Behaviors 42
If You Do Nothing Else About Culture, Do These Things 45
Chapter 3 Build Alignment into Every Process 47
Process Is Where Your Culture Hits the Road (It’s a Bumpy One) 48
Creating Your Customer Engagement Strategy 48
Alignment Process Fundamentals 52
Don’t Just Change Processes, Rebuild Them to Support Alignment 54
If You Do Nothing Else About Process, Do These Things 71
Chapter 4 An Aligned Organization Requires a Different Kind of Leader 73
Is Alignment Obvious or Is It a Stretch Goal? 74
Attributes of an Aligned Leader 75
What Makes a Good Leader in an Aligned Organization? 87
If You Do Nothing Else About Leadership, Do These Things 92
Chapter 5 Data Is the Great Equalizer of Alignment 93
More Data from More Sources 94
Data Is the Currency of Growth 99
Determining Data’s Value 102
Maintaining Your Data’s Health 106
Establish Your Starting Point 107
Data’s Role across the Customer Journey 112
Data Is the Great Equalizer 117
If You Do Nothing Else About Data, Do These Things 118
Chapter 6 Push Alignment Beyond Sales and Marketing and into the CIO’s Office 119
Technology Is Shifting Faster than You 120
View Technology as a Tool, Not a Silver Bullet 123
Technology Should Support Your Data Strategy 123
Keep Your Eye on Alignment 125
Building an Alignment-Optimized Tech Stack 130
Getting Your Budget In Order 135
Remember That Technology Should Enable, Not Detract 135
Where IT Fits in an Aligned Organization 136
Collusion Is Such a Dirty Word, but It Works 140
If You Do Nothing Else About Technology, Do These Things 141
Chapter 7 Cracking the Code of Alignment 143
Uncovering the Roots of Misalignment 144
Challenges to Alignment 146
What Separates Alignment Leaders and Laggards 147
At Least We Can All Be Friends 153
If You Do Nothing Else About Understanding Your Misalignment, Do These Things 155
Chapter 8 Leading-Edge Concepts for Reaching Complete Alignment 157
Prepare for What’s Next 158
Prediction #1—The Rise of the Consultative Seller 159
Prediction #2—Millennials Have a Major Impact 161
Prediction #3—Cross-Training Becomes Imperative 162
Prediction #4—Academia Catches Up 166
Prediction #5—Marketing Compensation Gets Tied to Pipeline 166
Prediction #6—Account-Based Everything Becomes a Top Priority 167
Prediction #7—Customer Data Strategy Rises in Importance 170
Expect Alignment to Continue Its Expansion 172
Prepare Your Team for Tomorrow, but Start Cheering Them on Today 173
If You Do Nothing Else About Alignment, Do These Things 174
Acknowledgments 177
Index 179
About the Author :
TRACY EILER has been driving marketing strategy at technology companies for 25 years. She is the chief marketing officer at InsideView, where she leads the company’s end-to-end marketing strategy to help sales and marketing leaders grow revenue. Tracy was recently named a B2B Demand Marketing Game Changer, and included in the Top 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management, and Top 30 Most Influential Women in B2B Marketing Technology.
ANDREA AUSTIN has been building high-performance, customer-focused teams that capture sustainable growth for over 20 years.She is the vice president of enterprise sales at InsideView, where her passion for collaboration fosters a climate that inspires sales and customer success teams to challenge the status-quo. Andrea has been named a leading sales mentor by Women in Sales North America.
