Most companies say they want marketing and sales to work together — but making it happen is another story. Even in big-name firms, marketing can be focused on getting attention while sales just wants to close the next deal. It’s like running a relay race where teammates aren’t sure which direction to pass the baton.
Let’s look at how marketing and sales can actually get on the same page, share goals, and help each other win. If you’ve ever felt like you and your coworkers speak a different language, you’re not alone.
What Does Marketing and Sales Alignment Even Mean?
Marketing and sales alignment just means both groups are working toward the same business targets instead of operating in separate silos. It’s not about one team taking over the other. It’s making sure that what marketing is doing actually helps sales — and what sales needs is clearly communicated to marketing.
When these teams align, leads move through the pipeline smoothly. Customers get a more consistent experience, and the whole company earns more trust and revenue.
Understanding Each Team’s Goals
Marketing focuses on raising awareness about products, making people interested, and creating demand. Their typical goals might sound like, “Increase website traffic by 20%,” or, “Get more people to sign up for our newsletter.”
Sales is thinking further down the funnel. Their targets are about actual deals — like hitting a revenue number, closing a certain amount of accounts, or shortening the sales cycle.
Problems start when the goals don’t line up. Maybe marketing celebrates because they brought in 200 “leads,” but sales thinks most aren’t ready to buy. This is why setting shared objectives matters. For example, both teams can agree to focus on leads that have a higher chance of buying, not just anyone who downloads a whitepaper.
Simple Ways to Keep Everyone Talking
So how do you actually get marketing and sales to share insights and stop working in a vacuum? Regular meetings help, but it matters what happens in them.
Weekly or bi-weekly catch-ups let both sides discuss which leads are strong and which campaigns are falling flat. It’s also smart to have a shared chat channel or daily stand-ups where anyone can drop ideas or flag issues.
Sharing data is crucial. When sales lets marketing know which leads turned into customers, marketing can adjust their campaigns to find more of those types. And when marketing tells sales about a spike in interest around a new product, sales can shift their pitch more quickly.
Getting the Right Tech in Place
It sounds basic, but a lot of miscommunication comes from messy systems. Having a single CRM system (like Salesforce or HubSpot) means both teams can see all the info about a lead or customer, from first click to closed deal.
When marketing uses automation tools to track engagement, sales can see which prospects are active and ready. If everything is in separate tools, things get lost.
Integrating data between marketing’s ads, the website, and sales calls takes some work upfront, but it pays off. Everyone sees the full story, not just random pieces.
Creating Unified Content (Not Just Brochures)
Sometimes, you’ll see marketing whip up glossy brochures that sales never uses. Or sales pulls together their own pitch decks, and marketing has no clue. That’s not helpful.
Unified content starts with both teams agreeing on the same messages. That means using the same language about what makes products valuable, and backing it up with stories and case studies that connect.
Good content aligns with the customer journey. For example, marketing creates blog posts and guides that help early-stage prospects. As the customer gets closer to buying, sales might use more detailed presentations or case studies — all drawing from the same well.
It also helps for marketing and sales to regularly meet and brainstorm content needs together. Sales reps know which questions prospects ask over and over, and marketing can turn those into helpful resources.
What Makes a ‘Good Lead’ Anyway?
If you ask five people at your company what makes a good lead, you might get five answers. That’s a problem.
One fix is to define together what counts as a qualified lead. How big does the company have to be? What signals mean a person is truly interested?
A lead scoring system ranks prospects based on how likely they are to buy. Maybe points get added for downloading a product sheet or attending a webinar — but not for just opening an email. Marketing can then pass the top-scoring leads to sales.
The key is to have a clear process for handing off leads. Sales should know exactly when and how to follow up — not just get a list of names and hope for the best.
Measuring What Matters (And Then Course-Correcting)
This part’s pretty straightforward: You want to track the things that actually show progress. Key performance indicators (KPIs) should be set together. For example, not just “number of leads,” but “number of qualified leads that turn into revenue.”
Set up a regular time for both teams to look at results. Which campaigns brought in deals? Which ones fizzled? This isn’t about blame — it’s about tweaking the approach to get better.
Both sides should be able to see the data, talk it over, and decide if it’s time for a new strategy or if something’s working. Being flexible and willing to change based on results makes a huge difference.
Getting People to Actually Work Together
You can have all the tools and tactics in the world, but if people don’t want to collaborate, alignment falls flat.
It starts with attitude. Leaders set the example by praising joint wins and not just individual tears. You can recognize success with things as simple as a shoutout in a meeting or bigger rewards for campaigns that result in sales.
Trust builds when sales feels heard and when marketing feels their work is being used. Sometimes the quickest way to build that trust is having people from both teams shadow each other or join a call or campaign together.
Why It’s So Hard: Common Challenges
You’d think getting marketing and sales aligned would be easy with all the tech and tools out there. But there are still common roadblocks.
One is just plain old habits. People stick to what’s comfortable, or they’re wary of sharing information. Sometimes there’s fear that their work won’t be valued.
Other times, the challenge is unclear handoffs — marketing throws leads over the wall, and sales doesn’t know how to act on them. Or confusion pops up around roles, where each team blames the other for missed targets.
Solving these problems is about starting small. Pick one process, like defining what a qualified lead is, and fix that first. Celebrate little wins and gradually work on bigger changes.
What It Looks Like When It All Works: Real Examples
Some companies have pulled this off and seen big results. HubSpot’s teams, for example, hold weekly “smarketing” meetings where both sides talk openly, adjust targets, and learn from each other.
At companies like this lighting business, marketing and sales collaborate on product launches and customer support, so messages to customers are clear at every touchpoint.
Tech giants like Cisco have run joint rewards programs for both teams. When a campaign leads to a closed sale, both marketing and sales get credited — not just one side.
In each case, the daily habits matter more than any flashy software. Having lunch together or letting teams join each other’s meetings help change the culture, not just the process.
Wrapping Up: What Teams Gain By Aligning
In the end, marketing and sales alignment isn’t a nice-to-have — it can make or break how smoothly a company grows. When both sides work together, you’ll notice deals closing faster, less finger-pointing, and happier customers.
Getting there means sharing info, agreeing on what matters, and, maybe most realistically, choosing one thing to improve first. Start small, listen to both sides, and give credit when things go well. That’s usually what gets people motivated to keep going.
Every business has its own version of alignment headaches, but the companies that put in a little effort see healthier relationships — and usually, better numbers, too.
That’s really what alignment means in practice: not a dramatic overhaul, just a steady, realistic commitment to better working together, week by week.