Strategy & Growth
Sales & Marketing Alignment
We connect marketing and sales through shared definitions, handoff rules and a feedback rhythm, so the conversation moves from lead quality arguments to pipeline.
The problem
Marketing says leads aren't being followed up, sales says the leads are bad, and each team has numbers to back it up.
This tension usually gets read as a personality or culture issue. More often it's structural: the teams are rewarded for different targets, nobody has agreed what a qualified lead is, and the handoff moment has no written rules.
Adding meetings won't fix it. If sales never records why a lead was rejected, marketing repeats the campaign. If marketing never hears the objections reps face, content drifts away from what buyers ask.
You can tell alignment is working when both teams can look at the same list of opportunities and reach the same reading of it.
You may recognize this
- Monthly reports from marketing and sales show different numbers.
- Inbound requests can wait days for a first call.
- Reps build their own decks because marketing materials don't get used.
- Rejected leads carry no reason code.
How we work
Diagnose the friction
We interview both teams separately, trace a sample of recent leads through every step, and look at which behaviors targets and commission plans actually reward.
Write a shared glossary
MQL, SQL, SAL, opportunity and closed-won get defined jointly, and the agreed ICP criteria are translated into CRM fields.
Two-way SLA
Marketing commits to qualified volume and sales commits to response time and follow-up attempts. Rejections are logged with fixed reason codes.
Closed-loop rhythm
A weekly joint pipeline review, a monthly win-loss session and call listening feed field objections straight into the content and campaign calendar.
What we deliver
- Shared glossary and lead lifecycle
- Two-way SLA document
- Handoff workflow and rejection codes
- Joint pipeline report definition
- Objection library and sales content list
How we measure
- Time to first contact: shows whether the SLA exists in practice.
- MQL to SQL progression and rejection reasons: test the qualification definition against real conversations.
- Marketing-sourced pipeline: the shared figure both teams report from the same records.
Trade show leads at a health tech vendor
Illustrative scenario: A company selling software to clinics sends sales a bulk list after every trade show, and reps treat the names as cold. Together, the teams write a qualification rule and a first-contact rule. Contacts with booth conversation notes get priority, others enter a nurture track, and reason codes are reviewed in the weekly meeting.
Common questions
Do we need a new CRM for this?
Usually not. Definitions and rules come first, then fields and automations go into the CRM you have. A change only comes up if that system can't carry the rules.
Should commission plans change too?
If they pull the teams in opposite directions, the topic belongs on the table. Leadership makes the call. We show which target produces which behavior.
How does this differ from RevOps?
Alignment sets the agreements and working habits between two teams. RevOps builds them into processes, data and systems as a permanent function that also covers post-sale teams.
Before we work together, let's think together.
Requests are answered by the founder.