Highest level of sales and marketing collaboration in India: Linkedin survey

Indian sales and marketing are strengthening their relationship to drive business success. A new research commissioned by LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network on the internet, revealed that 89% of employees surveyed strongly believe that the current relationship between sales and marketing is highly collaborative. India has a higher level of collaboration (85%) as compared to South East Asia (84%), Australia (74%), the United States (76%), and the United Kingdom (73%). Some of the reasons for this higher collaboration level in India include, encouragement by company leadership (81%) and both teams aligning on the same strategy and objectives (77%).

Collaboration positively impacts business growth and customer experience

Majority of employees surveyed believe that a common goal and high-level of collaboration between sales and marketing has a positive impact on businesses. Seventy percent (70%) employees stated that collaboration positively impacted customer experience, 49% said it impacted financial performance and 65% believe it improved customer retention. Interestingly, 65% believe that poor collaboration leads to missed business opportunities.

Smaller businesses lead the way in promoting a culture of collaboration

In India, 77% small businesses see collaboration of sales and marketing as a top priority, compared to 70% large businesses. Seventy-six percent (76%) involve their sales teams early in the marketing process as against 68% in large businesses. Further, 79% of the small business marketers involve their sales teams in content creation and planning.

Measuring the impact of collaboration is key to improving it

Ninety-three percent (93%) of respondents believe that businesses measuring collaboration are more likely to collaborate well. Top three key performance indicators used by businesses, to measure impact of collaboration between the two departments include, revenue growth (75%), pipeline growth (57%) and net promoter score (57%).

Businesses attributed the gains in improved sales and marketing collaboration to three key factors: frequent meetings to share ideas (57%), coordination in planning and outreach (52%) and agreement on shared objectives and measurements (49%).

“Traditionally seen as separate functions, sales and marketing within a company are now much better aligned; with India leading the world in promoting collaboration between the two. This survey has established that businesses that promote this dialogue are likely to see accelerated financial growth, with better performance in sales productivity and marketing ROI. Sales and marketing have to work more closely, as brands and customers interact more. It is thus crucial for businesses to measure how well their sales and marketing teams are collaborating, to further strengthen their relationship with buyers,” said Virginia Sharma, Director Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn India.