As someone who attends many Marketing Operations events, I’ve noticed a concerning pattern among marketing operations professionals. Whenever the conversation turns toward sales, more often than not, the response is immediate: “Sales is the worst.” Sales and marketing alignment is one of the most troubling trends for B2B organizations. With market uncertainty, having unified departments is crucial for business growth. Companies are expecting continued growth from the same headcount with the same budgets. This is not achievable if you have misalignment among teams.
When Marketing and Sales are unaligned, the impact on business is critical. Money invested to reach new ideal customers is wasted if those leads do not convert into paid customers. According to Forrester, highly aligned companies grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable. Unfortunately, this is not a new topic; you can find articles from Harvard Business Review dating back to 2021 and an in-depth report from Forrester in 2024.
While this problem is well-documented, many proposed solutions have been put forward to create alignment. I believe that Marketing and Sales are inherently different functions. Companies have tried to give financial incentives to drive business for both teams. However, giving financial credit creates more turf wars between marketing and sales, siloing these teams when companies need them to work seamlessly together. You need each group to work quickly with their strengths aligned.
Sales teams need to have conversations and close business. Marketing teams need to get the right people to sales so they can close business. Because of these very different objectives, each group develops a siloed vision of how well they’re performing. The challenge is that the customer doesn’t care about your siloed department goals. What customers want is to be seen and supported from the moment they raise their hand until they purchase.
So if financial incentives don’t work and siloed goals don’t work, what should we do? I believe greater transparency is needed across all teams. If there are quarterly business reviews (QBRs) or OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), share these not only across the leadership team but down to the execution teams. Your junior team members are problem solvers who can contribute to solutions.
Quick Wins
As a leader, here’s what you need to do to make this happen:
1. Create transparency – Share all reports across teams
2. Support team knowledge and curiosity – Encourage questions about other departments’ work
3. Offer shadowing opportunities – Let team members observe each other’s work
4. Facilitate cross-department connections – Organize offsite lunches or coffee meetings
Building the Sales and Marketing Alignment Foundation
First, if you don’t understand other departments’ metrics, have a conversation with those metric owners to learn more. Approach this with curiosity and support, as your department’s actions might have a downstream impact on their numbers.
Second, create reference materials for your team to understand what the metrics mean. Having this ready will give your team a centralized reference point to answer questions. Additionally, if you’re using AI tools, this will provide agents with necessary context.
Third, walk your team through the metrics. This should happen at all-hands meetings, where all team members should feel free to ask questions. You need to make the space safe so anyone can ask questions without worrying about being singled out for not hitting a goal or being criticized. Approach these discussions as problem-solving time. Encourage all team members to share potential solutions, regardless of their role.
Breaking Down Sales and Marketing Alignment Silos
Now that everyone is aligned with company metrics, it’s important that everyone also aligns with colleagues. No department is “the worst,” and it’s time to break down silos.
Suggest having marketing team members join sales pipeline meetings. If you can allow the marketing team to hear sales calls (recordings work too) to hear firsthand what customers are saying, this will level the playing field between the two groups. Conversely, is there a way for the sales team to provide feedback on potential marketing opportunities? Do they see places where their customers are that the brand is not?
Another way to break silos is to lead by example. Show your team how well you’re working with your peers in sales. Make sure your junior team members understand that it is not acceptable to dismiss the sales team as “the worst.” Have junior team members work on those relationships and create more human connections.
The shadowing exercise is a great first step. Consider encouraging sales and marketing team lunches where they go offsite to have a meal and don’t talk about work. Maybe they discuss the ending of Stranger Things and whether it lived up to expectations. Make your peers more human. We are all working towards the same goal, and it’s easier to achieve when the person working with you is relatable.
The Bottom Line
Success means having the business grow. For the business to grow, all departments and groups must work together. Customers must feel they are seamlessly engaging with your organization. Internal politics might help an individual, but they don’t help the customer. If you want to see revenues grow, work together.
Alignment doesn’t mean everyone needs to be best friends; there should be natural friction. Healthy tension drives better outcomes. But everyone needs the same goal in mind: for all metrics to be met and for customers to have a great experience. That’s where your leadership coaching becomes critical. Model the collaboration you want to see, address dismissive attitudes directly, and create the structures that make alignment the path of least resistance.
The question isn’t whether marketing and sales can align. It’s whether you, as a leader, will do the hard work of coaching your team to make it happen.