Aligned to Achieve How to Unite Your Sales and Marketing Teams into a Single Force for 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.

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

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.