10 Signs Your Sales and Marketing Teams Are Misaligned

A seamless alignment between B2B sales and marketing teams is the cornerstone of top-line revenue growth and sustained business success.

When these teams are not in harmony, it can result in costly inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and significant revenue losses. Keep reading for the ten telltale signs that typically indicate your sales and marketing teams are out of sync, and learn how to steer them back on track.

1. Conflicting Goals

When sales and marketing teams have different objectives, it can create tension and reduce overall effectiveness.

For instance, if marketing is focused on generating a high volume of leads while sales prioritizes closing high-value deals, the efforts may not complement each other. This leads to frustration and inefficiency.

At the heart of this conflict is the differing definition of "lead." To avoid this confusion, sales should be involved in establishing the criteria of an MQL (marketing-generated lead), and marketing should include revenue growth as part of their goals.  

2. Poor Communication

Effective communication is the backbone of any collaborative effort. Consequently, a clear sign of misalignment is when Sales and Marketing teams don’t regularly meet or communicate.

Basic communication should include Marketing sharing their upcoming messaging and campaign plans. Sales should be providing feedback on the status of MQLs as well as the questions/objections they’re hearing from prospects. Tactics to improve communication include regularly scheduled meetings (at least monthly), mutually agreed upon reporting requirements, and shared usage of a CRM.

3. Inconsistent Messaging

Inconsistent messaging can confuse potential clients and weaken your brand's credibility. If your marketing team is promoting one value proposition while the sales team is highlighting another, prospects may receive mixed messages, leading to distrust and disengagement.

Sales and marketing teams should strive to deliver an integrated omnichannel message strategy. This means the message delivered in ads, marketing emails, event signage, and blog posts should be the same as the message delivered in one-to-one prospecting emails, voice mail messages, and LinkedIn posts.

Once the general messaging guidelines are agreed upon, it can be helpful to jointly design sales plays that map out how the messaging can be delivered and integrated for various sales scenarios.

4. Disjointed Customer Journey

A seamless customer journey is crucial for converting leads into clients. If marketing’s lead generation strategies do not align with the sales team's approach to nurturing and closing deals, potential clients may fall through the cracks, resulting in lost opportunities.

This often occurs with “not-ready-to-buy-yet” leads. They can fall into a “black hole” when Sales doesn’t specify their next course of action in the CRM and Marketing doesn’t enroll the prospect into an workflow for long-term nurturing.

5. Ineffective Lead Handoff

The process of passing leads from marketing to sales should be smooth and efficient. If leads are not being followed up promptly or are being passed to sales without sufficient qualification, it can result in missed opportunities and wasted efforts.

• Marketing should set clear expectations for lead follow-up that includes the timing, number and frequency of touches, as well as messaging guidelines (sales plays are great for mapping out the specifics).

• Sales should provide clear indications in the CRM that they are following the sales play and provide feedback on the lead's movement through the sales process.

However, sales should also feel free to pass leads back to sales—rejecting leads as not ready for their involvement and requiring more nurturing by Marketing.

6. Lack of Feedback Loop

A robust feedback loop between sales and marketing teams ensures continuous improvement. If the sales team does not provide feedback on the quality of leads or marketing doesn’t share insights on campaign performance, both teams miss valuable information that could enhance their strategies.

A shared CRM platform is the best mechanism to facilitate this information flow.

7. Different Metrics and KPIs

Using different metrics and KPIs can create a disconnect between sales and marketing teams.

For instance, marketing might focus on website traffic and social media engagement, while sales tracks conversion rates and deal closures. Aligning metrics ensures both teams work towards common goals.

8. Finger-Pointing Culture

When things go wrong, a blame culture can emerge, further widening the gap between sales and marketing. If marketing blames sales for not converting leads and sales blames marketing for poor-quality leads, it creates a toxic environment that hampers collaboration.

Executive management needs to bust these two groups out of their silos to foster communication and teamwork.

9. Misaligned Content Strategy

Content is critical in the sales process, from attracting leads to nurturing prospects. If marketing creates content that doesn’t address the needs identified by sales or if sales don’t use the content provided, it indicates a lack of alignment.

Often, the best ideas for content topics and formats come from sales. Marketing should be proactively asking sales when and why deals get stuck in the funnel, what messaging resonates with the market, and what questions/objectives they are hearing from their prospects.

10. No Shared Success Metrics

Celebrating joint successes fosters a sense of unity and purpose. If sales and marketing teams do not celebrate shared achievements, such as hitting a combined revenue target or successfully launching a new campaign, it can lead to a fragmented team dynamic. One way to foster this environment is to share new deal stories.

After a deal is closed, go back and document the  journey the prospect took from the initial lead to the new customer. What marketing campaigns were they a part of? What content did they download? What web pages and social media posts did they react to? Then, share this story and recognize everyone’s contribution.

Conclusion 

By recognizing and addressing these signs of misalignment, organizations can foster a collaborative environment where both teams work together seamlessly, ultimately leading to better results and consistent revenue growth.