PERFORMANCE MARKETING REPORT - SEP 2013

Structuring Sales and Marketing: one team or two?

The relationship between the sales and marketing teams isn’t always cordial. There are historic divisions and squabbles that sometimes sound like siblings in the back seat on a long car trip. The complaints often involve leads, with sales complaining that there aren’t enough or that they are poor quality, while marketing complains that the sales team is not a good steward of the leads that marketing generates. Sometimes the bantering is good-natured, but at other times the dialogue is downright caustic. Can’t we all just get along?

What’s not disputed is that these two teams need each other and must find a way to work together. One way many organizations try to create peace is through structuring the teams as a single entity, led by a single manager. On the surface, this idea seems to have merit. Logic says that unity is the likely outcome when everyone is part of the same team. Having a single manager referee and administer all disputes, and holding everyone accountable to the same performance goals & standards. In theory, the one-team structure for sales and marketing seems wise. In practice, however, it simply doesn’t perform as well.

The recent Demand Metric study on Sales & Marketing Alignment researched a number of alignment issues, including the structure of the sales and marketing team. There are three, basic options for structuring these teams: a combined team led by a single manager, separate teams reporting to the same manager, or separate teams reporting to separate managers. The study revealed that the distribution of these three structures is virtually equal. In other words, none of these three structures dominates the corporate organization chart. However, the study also revealed how they perform, which in the end, is far more important. 

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