Marketing and sales are at odds on execution strategy. How do you bridge the communication gap?

I engage our Sales leads up front when developing a strategy or marketing plan, who are customer-facing and have a good sense of what will resonate. By getting their input early and asking clarifying questions, I can get sharper on messaging and strategy. If we're not agreeing when it comes time to execute, understanding why we're misaligned can build trust and confidence - important for long term working relationships.

Frequent job rotation across these functions to promote empathy, joint face time with customers, co-owned targets / goals and adoption of design think principles by both functions can greatly bridge the chasm. Periodic brain-storming sessions throughout the year, where the Marketing Plan (and underlying assumptions) proposed at the beginning of the financial year can be reviewed, challenged, modified and course corrected with inputs from Sales and market insights they bring can also bridge communication gap.

O alinhamento entre marketing e vendas é essencial para integrar esfor?os e evitar conflitos. Estabelecer uma vis?o e objetivos compartilhados promove colabora??o e entendimento mútuo. Sess?es conjuntas fortalecem essa conex?o, ajudando as equipes a trabalhar com mais eficiência. A defini??o de KPIs comuns cria uma métrica unificada para medir o progresso, garantindo ajustes rápidos e estratégicos. Essa sinergia resulta em estratégias mais coesas e no fortalecimento da atua??o conjunta, impulsionando o sucesso da empresa e consequentemente os resultados.

Effective communication between sales and marketing is vital for creating a unified strategy, maintaining consistent messaging, improving lead quality, and optimizing resource allocation. But it becomes contentious due to conflicting metrics and timelines, disputes over lead quality and attribution, and competition for resources. Sales typically focuses on short-term results and immediate opportunities, while marketing often prioritizes long-term brand building and lead nurturing. These differences can lead to misunderstandings and friction. To overcome this, orgs should foster a culture of collaboration, establish clear communication channels, align goals/metrics, and create opportunities for cross-functional learning and appreciation.

Open dialogue has to be set by leadership as collaborative and not one to air complains and grievances. Then you need to show positive benefits to both sales and marketing and not undermine any party. This is all assuming you yet to have an open and collaborative culture. Find common ground for dialogue with simple gains and proceed to harder topics for change and improvement.

Dialogue between sales and marketing is critical. Create feedback loops: Establish channels for sales to provide feedback on lead quality and marketing materials. Similarly, marketing should share insights on customer behavior and market trends with sales. Collaborate on content creation: Involve sales teams in the development of marketing collateral. Their front-line experience with customers can inform more effective marketing materials.

Open dialogue is like a potter-shaping clay, where the friction between marketing and sales is not a flaw but an opportunity to mould something unique. Invite both sides to the wheel, where their differences can be smoothed out and their strengths blended into a cohesive strategy. Embrace the cracks in their communication, for in those imperfections lies the potential for growth and innovation. With an open mindset, create a space where ideas can flow freely, shaping a strategy that honours both perspectives and finds beauty in their collaboration.

Teamwork with the sales team to understand their needs, the types of tools they are using and why they are or aren't working, competitive edge situations. You can become allies with each other. Learning the point of view of sales and the point of view of marketing is key. Marketing is key for strategy, messaging, and brand equity, and sales is key for customer knowledge. Also learning to involve other team members as needed is key as well.

Shared tools are key in aligning marketing and sales efforts. For shared tools to be fully effective, they must align with both teams' goals and initiatives. In addition, it's essential that both marketing and sales fully understand what each metric signifies and why it matters to the other team. Understanding the full context of these metrics and how they work together streamlines processes and leads to more effective collaboration. By leveraging shared tools effectively, these teams can drive better overall results for the organization.

In my experience as a Senior Technical Product Manager, bridging the gap between marketing and sales requires more than just tools; it’s about fostering alignment on shared goals. At a previous company, marketing was pushing campaigns that sales didn’t feel connected to, leading to friction. I initiated a joint workshop where both teams collaborated on defining the customer journey and key objectives. We integrated a CRM system as a shared platform, but the real shift came when both teams began seeing their roles in a unified pipeline. Once they understood how each department's success fed into the other, execution became smoother, and communication more open. This approach not only improved strategy but fostered a sense of partnership

It is incredible all the tools available these days from CRM platforms, tools like sales force, HubSpot and other planning tools and forecasting tools can make the powerful combination of sales and marketing. One time I had a great job, and it was because a person in the sales team asked for a marketer, I still feel very grateful for this person who saw the need for a marketer in the team. There are so many tools that can generate great data to see what is working and not in time.

Utilizing shared tools like a CRM can greatly enhance collaboration between marketing and sales. A shared system provides visibility into customer interactions, sales pipelines, and marketing campaigns, ensuring a coordinated approach. This transparency helps identify overlaps, gaps, and streamlines information flow, making it easier to track progress and analyze results effectively.

Tandis que des outils standardisés et partagés sont très efficaces et nécessaires, il faut aussi promouvoir des échanges verbales informels.

Put them both in front of customers in joint exercises ...regularly It is impossible to deny the individual and cumulative needs, opinions, and perceptions of the customers When approached together, the should become clear and aligned The customer has a way of obfuscating personal biases The customer has a way of defining your reality The customer has a way of paving the roadmap The customer has a way of crushing your misconceived notions The customer is not always right But, they surely are enlightening Dream BIG!

Joint training sessions are the best, especially ones that become joint solutions such as CRM training and customer-centricity tools. Too many people are focused on the tactical part of marketing and sales. However, for management purposes tactics don't take you far, unless you have very incredible strategies behind what you are doing. I took an incredible training for CRM at a time with the sales team and it helped me see the goals to increase customer loyalty and conversion and for them it helped them see the importance of differentiation, brand awareness and recognition and teamwork.

Os melhores resultados que obtive sempre foram através de treinamento das pessoas envolvidas sobre todo o processo e a como é importante entender o caminho a ser seguido, pois assim, todos far?o da forma correta e n?o impositiva que sempre gera resistência.

I feel that feedback loops are crucial to the ongoing success of campaigns. With a changing buyer landscape, initial goals and strategy become stale and ineffective (and possibly tone deaf). The changes can be economic, legislative, or sway by influencers. With sales and marketing working together for consistent feedback, tweaks can be made to keep campaigns effective.

Strategy on marketing product should be flexible based on sales actual feedback. Since the marketing based on past data, most of company are push to agile by starts to change the structural of organization focusing on each market target while business is keep changing.

Pour moi le plus important est l’évaluation conjointe des actions communes menées ensemble. Cette évaluation à posteriori doit être à la fois quantitative et qualitative. C’est évaluation permettra de faire les ajustements nécessaires à tous les niveaux par les deux équipes.

The way to align sales and marketing is to agree on a set of data and goals that you track against that data. Attach your marketing strategy to that data such that progress is a logical progression from your strategy. If you still have disagreement after that, it's likely that your have more work to do on your strategy. Revisit your data regularly and adapt as needed if you aren't seeing results.

Marketing and sales should be speaking the same language and work towards the same goal. If not, there's a problem. Marketers and sellers should strive to understand each others' challenges and re-focus the conversation on the true problem at hand - whether that's more pipeline, higher ACVs, or shorter sales cycles. When you understand how each team works to achieve their goals, how those ladder up to the company's overall goal, and how you can work together to reach those goals - that's when you break down silos and rely on each other.

This situation often happens when sales and marketing goals are not synced. It`s quite common when marketing and sales exist independently within the same company. Some basic recommendations to align on the strategy: 1. Synchronize goals, tasks, and KPIs. 2. Clearly describe the sales funnel, map lead generation process, and identify who is responsible for each stage. 3. Agree on regular sales/marketing status meetings to track the progress. 4. Involve marketing in customer meetings to make sure they are on the same field with sales in understanding customer needs .