Most marketers and salespeople say their departments generally get along well but that there are a few key areas of the relationship that could be improved, according to recent research from InsideView and Demand Gen Report.

The report was based on data from a survey of 995 sales and marketing professionals based in the United States, most of whom work for B2B companies.

Some 77% of marketers surveyed say they have a good relationship with their sales team, and 58% of salespeople surveyed say they have a good relationship with their marketing team.

However, some pockets of conflict and misunderstanding continue to exist between Marketing and Sales.

For example, nearly two-thirds (65%) of salespeople think marketers spend most of their time on branding/events rather than directly increasing the lead pipeline, and 26% of marketers think salespeople are a bunch of mavericks.

Nearly half (49%) of respondents say a lack of communication is one of the biggest issues that prevents marketing and sales teams from fully aligning; 42% say their company's processes for encouraging the teams to work together are broken/flawed.

Salespeople say the top things they want from their marketing team are better-quality leads (55% cite) and more leads (44%); marketers say they top things they want from their sales team are better lead follow-up (34%) and more consistent use of systems such as CRMs (32%).

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 995 sales and marketing professionals based in the United States who work in a wide range of different industries.