Author: Jennifer Hanford / Source: Marketing Insider Group When it comes to obtaining qualified B2B marketing leads, many B2Bs face an al
When it comes to obtaining qualified B2B marketing leads, many B2Bs face an all-too-common challenge: their sales and marketing teams fail to jive.
One major area of discord between the two groups stems from their disagreement about who (or what) makes the “ideal” B2B marketing lead. Sales teams often blame marketing for providing them with “lousy” leads lists, while marketing blames the sales teams for not providing them with the right information they need for accurate sourcing.
All too often, sales teams become disenchanted with their marketing department. In fact, some may choose to purchase third-party B2B marketing leads lists or databases over dealing with their counterparts. Making this choice is risky though. In many cases, these purchased lists and databases are full of discrepancies or extremely outdated. The sales team often ends up spending more time chasing down leads than not. What a waste of money, right?
Of course, there are better ways to obtain B2B marketing leads. And the best ways involve not breaking the bank while increasing your organization’s sales revenue.
Can’t sales and marketing just get along?
Here we are, well into the 21st century…and sales and marketing professionals are still battling it out like cats and dogs. Wouldn’t you agree this is completely unnecessary?
For one thing, the internet has dramatically changed the way businesses conduct their sales and marketing activities. If you think about it, the lines between the two groups are much blurrier now, thanks to online marketing and social sales.
And, when it comes to lead generation and conversion, sales and marketing teams have fairly identical goals, regardless of how they accomplish them. The main difference now lies in the ways sales teams receive their B2B marketing leads.
The rise of online marketing
On the flip side, the internet has empowered key decision-makers with the ability to research and choose the companies they want to do business with. This serves to blur those sales and marketing lines even more as the competition to attract and “sell” to potential clients heats up through various online marketing techniques. This includes social media marketing.
The dozens of surveys and studies regarding B2B social media marketing and whether it affects the purchasing behavior of company buyers show mixed results. For example, only three short years ago, B2B social media marketing efforts weren’t quite as effective as many companies thought:
It appeared…
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