How to get the sand out of the gearbox?

In a multimethodical investigation comprising literature analysis, focus groups, analysis of job postings, and a comprehensive quantitative survey, students sought and found answers that are intended to contribute to the efficient and effective integration of marketing and sales in technical companies. The core questions of the student project were: Will B2B marketing and technical sales operate separately from each other, even drift apart, or will a very close collaboration, even integration of the areas, emerge? To what extent will digitalization play a role here?

"Discussions about the different roles, goals, and tasks of marketing and sales departments in technical companies are ongoing. COVID-19, increasing digitalization, globalization, education, and new generations of workers (Gen Z) have changed the working world, including marketing and sales in technical companies," says FH-Prof. Mag. Dr. Andreas Zehetner, Professor of B2B Marketing and Sales at the Campus Steyr.

Marketing and sales are growing closer through digitalization

In summary, according to Zehetner, the results of the project indicate the following development: "While some tasks, such as price negotiations (sales) and promotional materials as well as the website (marketing), are clearly assigned to individual areas, some topics (lead generation, acquiring new customers, personalization of the customer experience) have shifted more towards the responsibility of marketing departments."

However, the question of how advanced the integration of marketing and sales is in the individual surveyed companies is sobering. On average, among the 115 surveyed company representatives, integration of marketing and sales is seen at around 60%. This means that there are approaches to shared processes, an exchange of information, but not yet complete integration of the two areas. According to literature recommendations, complete integration would be characterized by marketing departments developing sales tools that help sales employees qualify leads, while simultaneously using feedback from sales to offer existing proposals to new market segments. Performance evaluation of both teams would be based on common indicators and sales goals, which are also binding for the marketing departments.

What recommendations can B2B companies derive from the student project?

Good collaboration with continuous communication is seen as inevitable for a good output. The working areas of marketing and sales are less clearly delineated than before, mainly due to digitalization.

Marketing departments have access to individual customers and customer preferences and can react accordingly on an individual level. Sales departments can use social media to stay in contact with customers. Especially marketing departments increasingly use digitalization for lead generation, gathering individual customer preferences, or specifying offers. Marketing departments in the B2B sector will experience an expansion of their areas of responsibility and will work primarily more customer-oriented than product-oriented. Tasks that were traditionally associated with sales, such as acquiring new customers, customer management, or budget planning, have already been integrated into marketing in many cases. Joint planning of sales goals and the integration of marketing departments into innovation and product development are also desired, especially by the management level. Price negotiations and key account management are still located in sales departments.

More technical knowledge required for employees

Regarding the expected knowledge of new marketing and sales employees, technical knowledge and knowledge of marketing digitalization (SEO, SEA, AR, AI, VR) are especially important. Andreas Zehetner adds: "A profound education, ideally in the combined sales and marketing area, will be crucial. Changes will occur in the corporate cultures and the organizational and procedural structures of the marketing and sales departments of technical companies in Austria."