Marketing teams are struggling to reach the right audience and convert leads, a study by business analysts Dun & Bradstreet has revealed. As the age of cold calling ends and an era of data-led selling is being ushered in, the study found that still only 38 out of the 229 new leads an average marketing campaign produces turn into realised revenue – a win rate of just 17%.

The research surveyed sales & marketing teams and B2B buyers in the UK and North America, finding a clear sales disconnect – the average sales person spends over two hours (128 minutes) looking into each prospect before contacting them.

Time

According to the salespeople surveyed, the average salesperson spends over two hours (128 minutes) looking into each prospect before contacting them, leaving sales teams with little time to actually reach out to new prospects and sell. Consequently, nearly a quarter (24%) of salespeople said they don’t have enough time to research potential customers and (35%) of sales people admitted they are under more pressure to provide value in a digitally-led business world beyond what buyers can ordinarily find online.

Marketers are also facing tough challenges of their own:
– Nearly 6-in-10 (57%) say the biggest challenge they face is understanding exactly who their target audience is
56% said that ensuring they have relevant and complete data remains a challenge
– 93% said that access to accurate and complete data to understand their audience is key to reaching them

There are many frustrations on the buyers’ side too, the study shows:

– 51% of buyers said they have seen an improvement in the sales and marketing communications in the last few years, despite the proliferation of tools and analytics designed to target effectively
– 29% of buyers also say that the biggest frustrations for them are callers that have failed to do basic research on the company
– 29% also state that they are being called “at the busiest times of the day”

Rishi Dave, CMO at Dun & Bradstreet, said: “As sales and marketing teams converge, it’s critical for them to have accurate and aligned data about their target audiences to help convert any lead into a paying customer more quickly. B2B buying is a longer process that is likely to begin before a salesperson is even involved. Sales acceleration principles will help sales and marketing teams surface actionable insights and connected buying signals, which help convert prospects into customers and increase ROI.”

With nearly half (48%) of all buyers stating the communications they receive are not relevant to their role – and 37% who believe that the communications are not timely – there is a need for companies to be accelerating their sales process by connecting its data with buying signals, and providing it with relevant context.

“If sales teams have more detailed buyer information at their disposal, they can spend more time on revenue-focused activities,” added Dave. “By using data-driven sales acceleration tools that incorporate real-time, accurate data with buying signals, marketing and sales teams will have access to more relevant information that’s connected, insightful and actionable.”

The study was conducted by Censuswide, an independent research consultancy, throughout June 2017. The quantitative study polled two groups: 312 B2B buyers across North America and the UK and 300 B2B sales and marketing professionals across the same regions.