About this episode
Your sales team just closed a $50K deal. Marketing takes credit because the prospect downloaded three whitepapers. Sales takes credit because they nurtured the relationship for six months. Meanwhile, you're wondering why this kind of success feels so random—and why similar prospects are slipping away. Companies with misaligned sales and marketing teams waste more leads and see annual revenue decline. But businesses that achieve true alignment? They close more deals and grow revenue faster year-over-year. The difference isn't talent, budget, or market conditions. It's whether your marketing and sales teams are pulling in the same direction or accidentally sabotaging each other. Clashing Departments Can Crash Your Bottom Line The consequences of misalignment between sales and marketing are significant. One common side effect is sales teams complaining about the quality of leads generated by marketing, often dismissing them as "bad leads." Another issue is messaging. Marketing can be blind to the value propositions that are working for sales if they do not understand the sellers’ pitches and approach to closing deals. Their messaging is stale and ineffectual, completely disconnected from where sellers are finding success. When marketing and sales have different metrics or goals, it leads to a breakdown in communication and a lack of shared understanding. That misalignment hampers productivity, damaging morale and impacting your bottom line. Start With the Customer Journey The most important aspect that sales and marketing need to align on is the customer journey. This involves mapping out every touchpoint—from initial awareness to final purchase to customer retention. Map the customer journey together—then act on it. This shared blueprint reveals exactly when prospects are ready for direct outreach versus when they need more nurturing. The payoff is immediate: Marketing delivers leads at peak readiness, while sales focuses their time on prospects most likely to convert. When both teams operate from the same customer journey map, handoffs become seamless and conversion rates climb. Tackle Sales Objections Together Every sales professional understands that the path to a closed deal is rarely a straight line. It's often a zig-zag through questions, doubts, and hesitations from prospects. Marketing’s role is to help develop messaging and collateral assets that help the sales team deal with these objections. This includes essential resources like case studies, white papers, product demonstrations, and ROI calculators. With the support of marketing materials, sellers have the resources to back up their pitch, highlight benefits, and keep buyers engaged. Most teams fail to communicate. Marketing creates polished but generic materials that sales doesn’t know exist. Sales knows which objections are the hardest to overcome but doesn’t have specific collateral to counter them. The winning approach: Sales documents the top 5 objections that derail deals, complete with context about when and why they surface. Marketing then builds laser-focused tools to address these concerns. Think comparison sheets for "your competitor is cheaper," implementation timelines for "this seems too complex," or peer testimonials for "we're not sure this works in our industry." Close the loop: Sales reports back on which materials move deals forward and which fall flat. Marketing iterates based on real-world results. This feedback cycle shifts objection-handling from guesswork into a refined system that consistently converts hesitation into confidence. Get Sales and Marketing Aligned Now How can businesses foster a stronger cohesion between sales and marketing? Here are six key strategies: Establish Shared Goals and Metrics Sales and marketing should work together to define common objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs). Action item: Schedule a joint planning session within the next 2 weeks to agree on 3-5 shared KPIs, such as the conversion rate from marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to sales qualified leads (SQLs). Foster Open Communication Regular communication is essential. Sales and marketing teams should meet frequently to share insights, discuss challenges, and provide feedback. Action item: Institute weekly 30-minute alignment calls where sales shares feedback on lead quality and marketing reports on campaign performance. Develop a Unified Customer Journey Map Sales and marketing must collaborate to create a comprehensive map that outlines every touchpoint and identifies opportunities for engagement. Action item: Schedule monthly journey-mapping sessions where both teams review touchpoint data, identify gaps, and agree on lead scoring criteria. Create Consensus On Responsibilities Define the expectations and responsibilities of both sales and marketing. Outline lead qualification criteria, follow-up procedures, and other key processes to ensure clarity and accountability. Action item: Document and get both teams to agree on what constitutes a qualified lead, response timeframes, and follow-up requirements. Embrace a Customer-Centric Approach When sales and marketing think alike, they can work together to deliver a seamless and consistent journey, building trust and loyalty. Action item: Implement a monthly "customer journey audit" where one team member from sales and one from marketing jointly follow up with 3 customers who purchased in the last 90 days to identify friction points, unexpected value drivers, and missed opportunities in their buying experience, then present joint recommendations. Make the Choice to Change Start today with building the roadmap: shared goals, open communication, unified customer journeys, and collaborative objection-handling. The choice is clear. Continue operating with sales and marketing working separately or unite them into a revenue-generating machine. Learn more about uniting sales and marking, tackling objections, and skyrocketing your revenue by taking sales training courses through Sales Gravy University.