How collaboration transforms teams, enhances customer experiences, and drives results.
Over the past two years, I’ve been on a transformative journey to reshape how marketing operates within my company. The inspiration for this newsletter came from the recent Sales vs Marketing event in Milan organized by DELIVERA a few weeks ago, which made me realize I’m not alone in my quest to bridge the traditional divide between these critical business functions. (If you’ll be in Veneto in January, here you can find details about their next event at a truly unique location: H-FARM in Treviso.)
Even though most business leaders recognize the importance of sales and marketing alignment, it remains one of the most persistent challenges in modern organizations. The symptoms are familiar to anyone who’s worked in these teams: miscommunication, conflicting priorities, and a fundamental disconnect that undermines our collective potential.
A recent Gartner report illuminates the core issues: “The most selected reason for sales and marketing team misalignment is having separate funnels (47%). The second and third most selected misalignments were budget disputes (36%), and reporting to different leaders (33%)”. In my experience, the root goes deeper. Think about the differences in goals and priorities: while sales teams focus on quarterly revenue targets, marketing teams work on long-term strategies and branding. Add in communication breakdowns and a lack of shared data or technology, and the picture becomes quite clear.
I know the feeling all too well. Marketing teams pour their heart into generating quality leads, only to see them fall through the cracks when handed to sales. Sales teams request materials but rarely share the nuanced insights we desperately need about what clients truly want. It’s exhausting, frustrating, and ultimately counterproductive.
But here’s the exciting part: when sales and marketing truly align, the results are transformative. Gartner’s research shows that sales organizations prioritizing marketing alignment are nearly three times more likely to exceed new customer acquisition targets. In a 2024 survey, the data revealed a critical insight: “B2B buyers are completing purchases through different channels, underscoring the need for a less siloed approach. In fact, 72% of B2B buyers complete a transaction via a sales rep-led channel, while 28% of B2B buyers complete a transaction via a digital-led channel”.
The old siloed approach simply doesn’t work anymore. Customers engage with brands across multiple touchpoints, expecting a seamless, integrated experience. Marketing tells compelling stories, while sales transforms those narratives into tangible relationships and measurable results.
How Marketing Enhances Sales Performance
Marketing is far more than just creating campaigns—it’s a strategic powerhouse that drives business growth. Key contributions include:
- Conducting market research to understand customer needs and trends
- Generating and nurturing high-quality leads
- Developing brand narratives that differentiate the company
- Creating valuable content to establish thought leadership
- Managing the company’s online presence to expand digital reach and engagement
How Sales Supports Marketing
Sales teams directly engage with customers, providing invaluable insights that elevate marketing strategies. Their contributions include:
- Sharing real-world customer feedback to refine messaging
- Identifying high-quality leads to optimize marketing efforts
- Validating and improving marketing materials based on interactions
- Offering insights into customer behavior, preferences, and competitive intelligence
Actionable strategies for integration
The path to alignment isn’t without challenges. Different objectives, communication barriers, and technological disparities can create significant friction. No interaction and alignment are possible without starting from a shared culture. In the vision I aim to convey with this newsletter, marketing becomes a pervasive culture rather than just a company function. This must be clear and embraced by everyone, including sales.
For me, the first step is to promote an understanding of marketing, as well as the value of each role within the customer experience and in creating value for the client.
Next, it’s essential to break down silos and foster collaboration by developing cross-functional skills, establishing shared goals, and creating continuous communication channels. Imagine marketing team members shadowing sales calls, or sales representatives providing direct input into marketing messaging.
Here are a few more ideas:
- Promote shared knowledge: Encourage teams to understand each other’s roles and contributions to the customer experience.
- Set common goals: Establish objectives and KPIs that both teams work toward collaboratively.
- Foster continuous communication: Schedule regular meetings to share updates, insights, and feedback. Create a group chat to ensure information, ideas and follow up is shared among the two teams.
- Encourage shadowing: Allow marketing to join sales calls and vice versa to build empathy and collaboration.
- Attend sales weekly meetings: This provides marketers with valuable insights into sales progress, allowing them to track how the team is performing against quotas and goals. These meetings offer a crucial opportunity to offer support to the sales team whenever needed.
- Define lead qualification together: Develop a mutual understanding of what constitutes a qualified lead.
- Leverage shared tools: Use CRM systems and other platforms that both teams can access to streamline data sharing and coordination.
- Share the upcoming campaigns and content: Keep the sales up-to-date with messaging and content and gather feedback. Also ask for content ideas and recommendations for your future offers and blog posts.
- Celebrate joint wins: Recognize and reward achievements that result from collaboration.
- Have fun together! I mean, try to get to know each other as people.
Technology: the bridge to alignment
I’ve already included this on the ideas list: leveraging a centralized platform to share customer data and insights. CRMs are just tools, their effectiveness depends on a shared commitment to alignment. However, they can also act as bridges, connecting teams, facilitating insight sharing, and creating a unified view of the customer journey. Additionally, marketing automation tools help streamline repetitive tasks, freeing teams to focus on more strategic, high-value activities.
The Bigger Picture
Sales and marketing alignment is not just about efficiency; it’s about resilience. Together, these teams can unlock growth, enhance brand reputation, and facilitate better decision-making. When aligned, they present a cohesive brand image, building trust and loyalty among customers, stakeholders, and industry peers. Most importantly, they drive sustainable success in an increasingly complex B2B landscape.
For those who have not yet started this journey: break down silos, foster understanding, and create a shared vision that places customer value at the center of everything you do.