From silos to synergy: Aligning sales and marketing

There’s a nice little saying that we use when people just aren’t in-step. You’ve probably heard it before: the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing. And in go-to-market (GTM) organizations, this can often feel like the case. Sales is off doing sales something, product is off doing who knows what, marketing is going on about attribution or google algorithms, and no one is actually working together. 

Organizations often think they’re all working together and that there’s a deep understanding of the roles, goals, and strategies of other teams. But really, ‌unity ends at working on slides in the same deck or having a shared excel sheet for metrics. 

Organizational misalignment drives ineffective strategies, creates a feeling of mistrust between teams (what even is the PMM org doing anyway?), stifles workflow efficiency, and drives lost or siloed data.

So what's the answer here to solving this fracture in go-to-marketing (GTM) organizations? Sales and marketing alignment, and a unified customer funnel.

The current state of sales and marketing

GTM teams all drive the common goals of revenue and growth for the organization. So how'd our teams drift so far apart? Well, there are plenty of reasons for the disconnect:

Different objectives and KPIs:

Sales teams are typically focused on closing deals and meeting short-term revenue targets, while marketing teams generally aim to generate leads and build brand awareness. This difference in focus can lead to conflicting priorities and strategies, and a lack of cooperation and collaboration between the teams.

Communication barriers:

Poor communication between sales and marketing results in misunderstandings and a lack of collaboration. Each team may operate in silos, unaware of the others' activities and insights.

Disjointed processes:

Without integrated processes, sales and marketing efforts can become fragmented. Marketing campaigns may not align with sales tactics, leading to a disconnect in the customer journey.

Data silos:

Sales and marketing often use different tools and platforms, creating data silos that get in the way of sharing ‌valuable customer insights. This lack of shared data can lead to inconsistent messaging and missed opportunities.

Misaligned Messaging:

When sales and marketing don't work together, the messaging used to communicate with potential customers can be inconsistent, leading to confusion and a weakened brand image.

These fractures between departments have a real-world impact on the performance of teams and the business overall. IDC estimates that poorly aligned B2B organizations lose up to 10% of their revenue every year, while Hubspot reports that teams with good alignment saw a 20% increase in revenue. And your customers suffer, too. They receive different messages, scattered materials, and a poor experience with your brand. 

Why organizational alignment matters

Alignment between sales and marketing is crucial for driving revenue growth and earning customer satisfaction. When they work together seamlessly, then you can execute a cohesive strategy which leverages the strengths of both departments. It’s through this synergy that you’ll see more effective marketing campaigns, higher quality leads, and a smoother customer journey. 

Aligned organizations are better equipped to understand and meet customer needs, and when sales and marketing share goals and insights, they can provide consistent messaging and support throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Consistency builds trust and encourages long-term customer relationships—so much so that aligned organizations enjoy a 36% higher customer retention rate.

Benefits of a unified approach

A unified approach to your GTM organization translates to a streamlined internal process and organizational success through better customer insights and streamlined processes.

Better customer insights

A unified sales and marketing approach leads to more comprehensive customer insights. By breaking down data silos and sharing data, as well as collaborating on customer analysis, both teams develop a deeper understanding of customer behaviors, preferences, and pain points. 

• Integrated data: Combining data from both teams provides a holistic view of the customer journey, providing more accurate targeting and more personalized interactions. 

• Customer personas: Jointly developed customer personas makes sure that both teams are aligned in their understanding of the target audience, and that they both can properly tailor their efforts for that specific customer.

• Predictive analysis: Leveraging predictive tools helps identify trends and anticipate your customer needs, allowing for more strategic and proactive planning. 

• Streamlined processes

  Aligned teams can reduce inefficiencies and eliminate redundancies, leading to smoother handoffs, better lead management, and more effective use of resources. There’s no more lost data or fumbled leads.

• Unified lead management

  A shared lead management system makes sure that leads are tracked, nurtured, and followed up consistently. This reduces the risk of leads falling through the cracks. And, by bringing sales and marketing together to build your lead qualification and scoring system, there’s less room for finger-pointing when everyone is on the same page.

• Coordinated campaigns

  Collaborative campaign planning makes for a unified GTM organization. When marketing efforts actually support sales objectives, you get higher conversion rates and more trust between teams.

Key Components of Sales and Marketing Alignment

Okay, so we’ve covered the reality of misaligned teams and the benefits of teams who truly work together, but what are the steps to bringing my organization into sync? Great question. There are a few key indicators of a more aligned team. They are:

1. Shared goals and metrics:

To build trust, communication, and effectiveness, sales and marketing teams should work towards shared goals and metrics. Or at least know what the other teams are responsible for moving the needle on. When objectives (and understanding of objectives) differs, priorities can conflict, leading to inefficiencies and breakdowns in trust.

2. Collaborative planning:

Now, there are plenty of guides and opinions out there on how to get teams to work together, but really, it starts with joint planning sessions and co-created campaigns. Get both teams involved during the planning stage and share insights, address challenges, and develop integrated campaigns. Regular planning sessions keep goals and responsibilities clear. Co-created campaigns can be designed to address the entire customer journey, ensuring a consistent customer experience through each touchpoint.

3. Effective communication:

Piggybacking off the ideas above, effective communication is the cornerstone of a unified GTM function. Regularly get teams on the same calls for strategy alignment, retrospective conversations, and update sharing. This also means using collaborative tools. CRM systems like Hubspot or Asana enable real-time collaboration and ensure that both teams have access to the same information.

4. Integrated technology and data:

Unified tech stack

Does your organization suffer from the ‘iceberg affect’ with its tech? It’s what happens when teams leverage only a small portion of a technology’s capabilities and fill in their other needs with additional software, even when the first tech might actually have the same capabilities you’re introducing new tech to fill. Overlapping capabilities and inconsistent adoption of platforms can dilute the efficacy and implementation of their workflows.

But with proper planning and implementation, teams can share technology and workflows. Harmony happens when insights and data flow seamlessly from sales to marketing, then on to product and customer success. Understanding the needs of your team and ensuring that teams have a clear understanding of how to use different technology will lead your GTM teams to full-team data sharing and reduce technology inefficiencies.

Data sharing

A key component of a unified tech stack is the open and barrier-free sharing of data between teams. By combining views of data, your teams will have a more complete, and shared picture of the customer. Without silos, sales and marketing will finally be looking at the same picture of the same customers.

Cohesive and collaborative sales and marketing teams seem like an obvious requirement for any GTM organization, but teams are rarely as in-sync as we think. By taking a look at internal processes, each team's understanding of the customer journey, and the complexity of their respective tech stacks, we can bring customer-acquiring functions into greater alignment.

Learn more about the misalignment of sales and marketing teams with our ebook.