Marketing Sales Alignment
A Guide for Sales and Marketing Departments
Two teams, one revenue figure. Yet in most large corporations, sales and marketing pursue separate goals, track different metrics, and pass the buck when it comes to the sales pipeline. Here’s what this disconnect costs, how to measure it, and how to fix it.
What is sales and marketing alignment?
Sales and marketing alignment involves having the sales and marketing teams work toward a common revenue goal, using shared metrics and a single definition of a qualified lead. In B2B, where sales cycles are long, this is a measurable driver of growth rather than merely an organizational issue.
This is also referred to as “smarketing” or sales-and-marketing alignment. The idea is the same: to break down the silos between two teams that are, in reality, working toward the same revenue goal.
Sales and Marketing Alignment by the Numbers
In short, for a management team
Sales and marketing alignment is not a topic on which the teams see eye to eye. It’s a measurable driver of growth: shared goals, a common definition of a qualified lead, metrics tracked together, and a well-structured handoff process. When managed effectively, the pipeline converts better and the sales cycle shortens. When left to informal processes, value is lost between the two departments without anyone taking responsibility for it.
The Cost of Sales and Marketing Misalignment
In a large corporation, the marketing department generates leads and measures its success based on volume and engagement. Sales signs contracts and measures its success by quota achievement. As long as these two definitions of success diverge, every step downstream gets stuck. Marketing passes on leads that sales deems lukewarm; sales doesn’t follow up on them; and both teams conclude that the other isn’t doing its job. This is the mechanism we previously described in our article on the reasons for aligning sales and marketing.
The problem isn’t apparent from the executive committee’s perspective. Executives greatly overestimate the level of alignment within their own teams: while most of management believes that sales and marketing are working in tandem, a large portion of the front-line teams describe, on the contrary, a siloed way of operating. This discrepancy in perception is the first warning sign, because an executive who believes the problem has been solved has no reason to invest in addressing it.
Conversely, companies that truly align their sales functions around the customer show significantly higher growth. This is the key point to keep in mind when making decisions: sales and marketing alignment isn’t just a nice-to-have for the organization—it’s a revenue multiplier.
How to Measure Your Teams' Alignment
A manager can only manage what he or she measures. Before launching an alignment initiative, four questions can help provide an honest assessment:
- Shared Goals. Are sales and marketing held accountable for the same metric, or does each have its own? If marketing is evaluated based on lead volume and sales based on closed revenue, there is no alignment—it’s like two races running parallel to each other.
- A common definition of a qualified lead. Do sales and marketing agree, in writing, on what makes a lead ready to be handled? Without this definition, every handoff becomes a point of friction.
- Indicators viewed as a whole. Is there a common dashboard based on shared KPIs, or are there two reporting systems that never overlap?
- Coordination process. Do the leaders of the two teams meet regularly to resolve disputes, or only when an issue gets out of hand?
An “no” to just two of these questions is enough to account for a significant portion of the leads lost between the two departments.
How to Successfully Align Sales and Marketing
Alignment isn't something that can be decreed in a seminar. It develops through simple mechanisms that are sustained over time.
1. Align both teams around a shared revenue goal
The starting point is a goal that both departments share—typically, generating qualified leads. As long as the success of marketing does not depend, at least in part, on what the sales team manages to convert, the incentive to collaborate remains low.
2. Formalize the handoff
This is where most of the value leakage occurs. A written agreement on qualification criteria, follow-up deadlines, and feedback from sales to marketing transforms a point of friction into a measurable process.
3. Facilitate the flow of information
A shared CRM, sales reps content sales reps at the right time, and a shared view of account engagement enable both teams to work from the same set of facts. This is precisely the role of a sales enablement approach, which we detail in our article on the benefits of sales enablement for marketing.
4. Establish a management routine
Regular check-ins among leaders, based on shared metrics, keep everyone on the same page. Without these meetings, the organization naturally reverts to its silos.
Common Mistakes in Large Corporations
Confusing alignment with meetings
Increasing the number of commonalities without shared goals or metrics results in superficial coordination, not true alignment.
Leave the classification to the informal sector
Without a written definition of a qualified lead, each team applies its own definition, and disagreements arise with every case.
Managing Based on Vanity Metrics
Impressions, call volume, or the number of raw leads are reassuring but say nothing about their contribution to revenue.
Believing the problem has been solved since the summit
The gap in perception between management and the front lines leads to a costly misalignment being mistaken for a healthy situation.
Where Sales Enablement Comes Into Play
Sales and marketing alignment hinges largely on one thing: the sales team must have access to the content produced by marketing at the right time, and marketing must know which pieces of content actually help close deals. That’s the role of a sales enablement platform like Salesapps, which centralizes content sales reps, tracks its usage in the field, and provides the marketing team with insights into what works during meetings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should lead the sales and marketing alignment effort?
In successful organizations, alignment is driven at the executive level, not delegated solely to operational teams. More and more large corporations are formalizing this coordination at the intersection of the two functions, often through a Sales Enablement Manager, who is responsible for aligning objectives, data, and processes between sales and marketing.
Where should I start first?
Through a shared definition of a qualified lead and a common revenue goal. Once these two building blocks are in place, the rest (tools, processes, metrics) falls into place more easily, because both teams are finally working toward the same goal. Our article on bringing sales reps marketing together details the first steps.
What is the difference between sales and marketing alignment and smarketing?
None in terms of substance. “Smarketing” is a portmanteau of “sales” and “marketing”: it’s the name given to the same alignment strategy, popularized to emphasize the merger of the two teams around common goals.
How can we tell if our teams are out of sync?
There are a few telltale signs: Sales considers the leads generated by Marketing to be of poor quality; Marketing feels that its leads aren’t being followed up on; the two teams use different dashboards; and the handoff relies on habits rather than written criteria.
How long does it take to see results?
The initial effects on pipeline quality generally become apparent within a few weeks once the definition of a qualified lead and the management process are in place. The impact on revenue growth, however, is measured over several quarters.
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