The relationship between marketing and sales can often feel like a game of telephone, with critical details lost in translation. However, successful lead management requires aligning sales and marketing teams to operate as a single, cohesive unit. If your sales and marketing teams aren’t on the same page, your pipeline might be suffering from inefficiencies, misaligned goals, and lost opportunities.
In the U.S. alone, an estimated $1 trillion is lost each year due to a lack of alignment between sales and marketing teams, according to a report from Tribal Impact. This staggering figure underscores the importance of ensuring your sales and marketing teams work together seamlessly.
Here are some key questions to evaluate the health of your sales and marketing alignment and identify areas for improvement:
Collaboration & Communication
How often do your sales and marketing teams meet as one team? Regular joint meetings foster alignment, ensuring shared goals and opportunities for aligning sales and marketing teams to address challenges collaboratively.
How often does marketing listen to sales calls? Listening to sales calls helps marketers understand the pain points, objections, and questions prospects raise, enabling them to create more effective content.
How often does the marketing team run through the latest marketing assets with the sales/customer success teams? Regular asset reviews ensure sales teams know what’s available and how to use it effectively.
Is your marketing team invited to your sales kickoffs?Including marketing fosters alignment on strategy and priorities for the year.
Lead Management & Qualification
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Does your sales team communicate with marketing about the leads driven by marketing and their status? Feedback loops are essential for improving lead quality and refining strategies.
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Does your marketing team understand the qualification process your sales team uses? A shared understanding of lead qualification criteria prevents misaligned expectations.
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How often is your marketing team connecting with sales to understand the quality of leads by source? Regular discussions can help pinpoint which channels deliver the most sales-ready leads.
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Do both teams have KPIs that align with a shared goal of revenue? Shared KPIs create accountability and keep both teams focused on outcomes that matter.
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Do your CRM tools give the marketing team a self-serve understanding of why a lead was disqualified? Transparency in the disqualification process allows marketing to adjust targeting and messaging.
The Lead Handoff Process
Do your sales and marketing teams communicate on who will nurture the lead and when? Clearly defining responsibilities ensures no lead is left behind.
Do your teams have a clear handoff process for hot leads and leads that need further nurturing? A seamless handoff process minimizes friction and ensures leads are engaged at the right time.
How often are SDRs and marketing collaborating on outreach sequences? Joint planning ensures messaging is consistent and aligned with campaign goals.
What are both teams’ SLAs around leads? Service Level Agreements establish clear timelines and responsibilities for lead follow-up.
Alignment of Tools, Processes, and Campaigns
When you have a major event, like a trade show, do your teams plan together for pre- and post-show content? Collaborative planning ensures a cohesive experience for prospects.
If your marketing team runs a campaign, does the sales team have a self-serve way of knowing what the campaign is about? Linking campaign summaries and assets in your CRM empowers sales with the context they need.
How often are sales and marketing leaders reviewing tools to ensure no overlap? Regular reviews prevent unnecessary spending and ensure tools align with team needs.
How often are your sales teams listening to webinars or requesting summaries? Familiarity with webinar content helps sales use it effectively during outreach.
Customer Journey and Feedback
How often are your teams reviewing the flow of leads through the system and identifying potential gaps or friction? Frequent reviews ensure the journey is smooth and optimized for conversion.
Do your sales and marketing teams collaborate on refining the customer journey? A unified approach ensures prospects and customers have a seamless experience.
How often are your marketing and sales teams sharing successes and failures on leads? Honest conversations about what works and what doesn’t improve future efforts.
If you talk to a prospect, would they say your sales and marketing teams collaborate as one team? A cohesive approach creates a stronger, more trustworthy brand impression.
Content and Post-Sale Engagement
Does your marketing team understand what constitutes a ‘hot lead’?
Clear criteria help marketing focus on generating leads that sales can act on immediately.Do your teams have rules around what content marketing can send prospects when sales are actively working on conversion? Setting boundaries ensures messaging stays consistent and doesn’t overwhelm prospects.
How does your marketing team support proof-of-concept or proof-of-value initiatives beyond providing decks?
Collaborative efforts can create customized resources that help close deals.How often do sales and marketing teams meet to identify content needs? These meetings can uncover gaps in resources, like case studies or specific campaign materials, that sales teams need to close deals.
Moving Forward Together
If your sales and marketing teams aren’t speaking the same language when it comes to lead handoffs, you’re leaving opportunities on the table. Addressing the questions above can reveal gaps in your current processes and spark discussions to improve collaboration. By aligning sales and marketing teams, you can create a unified strategy that streamlines operations, optimizes lead management, and drives measurable results.
Explore our ‘How Misaligned Sales and Marketing Teams Mirror Zuckerberg’s Approach‘ for further insights on what happens when your sales and marketing teams are misaligned.
At Humanized Growth Marketing, aligning sales and marketing teams to foster stronger communication, streamline lead management, and drive revenue growth.
Ready to transform how your teams work together? Let’s start the conversation. Contact us here.
