Despite all the talk of collaboration and shared revenue goals, sales and marketing alignment remains one of the most persistent (and expensive) breakdowns in B2B business development.
While both teams ultimately want the same outcome—more qualified leads and closed deals—miscommunication, misaligned KPIs, and lack of visibility often get in the way.
Let’s break down why the disconnect still exists in 2025—and more importantly, what you can actually do to fix it.
Marketing often focuses on volume and engagement, while sales prioritize’s quality and intent. What marketing considers an MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead), sales may see as a dead-end.
Fix: Create a shared definition of a qualified lead with input from both teams. Document it. Refine it regularly based on sales feedback.
📖 Related read: How to Increase Conversations in B2B Outreach
If sales is living in a CRM and marketing is buried in a marketing automation platform, real-time visibility gets lost. No one wants to chase a lead that downloaded a whitepaper three months ago with no follow-up.
Fix: Integrate platforms to enable real-time lead sharing, scoring, and attribution. Make sure both teams see the same data at the same time.
Marketing gets rewarded for campaign engagement, impressions, or downloads. Sales is focused on pipeline velocity and quota. When their scorecards don’t match, their strategies drift apart.
Fix: Set shared goals—like SALs (Sales Accepted Leads), revenue contribution, or cost-per-opportunity—to drive unity.
If your sales and marketing teams only talk at quarterly kickoffs (or worse, not at all), you’re missing critical feedback loops.
Fix: Hold bi-weekly alignment meetings where sales shares feedback on lead quality, and marketing shares campaign insights. Make it a habit, not a handoff.
Here’s what high-performing companies are doing to create real alignment:
Document a shared funnel that includes definitions and responsibilities at every stage—from awareness to closed/won. Ensure both teams know when to pass the baton.
Measure what matters: lead-to-opportunity conversion, sales cycle length, and customer acquisition cost—not just clicks and call volume.
📖 Related read: Why a Multi-Channel Approach to B2B Sales Works
Create systems where sales insights (e.g., common objections, content gaps) get funneled back to marketing regularly to influence messaging and targeting.
Some companies are going beyond alignment to build “Revenue Operations” teams that combine sales, marketing, and customer success under one strategic umbrella.
When internal bandwidth or misalignment becomes too difficult to fix in-house, companies often turn to outsourced sales development partners like Chameleon Group to bridge the gap.
We help marketing teams convert their campaigns into qualified sales conversations and give sales teams ready-to-go opportunities without the legwork.
📖 Explore: How Outsourced SDRs Can Accelerate Sales
👉 Learn more at chameleonsales.com
Sales and marketing alignment isn’t a one-time project—it’s a discipline. The companies that get it right create not only stronger pipelines, but stronger customer experiences.
So if your teams still feel like they’re playing on different sides of the field, it’s time to call a huddle.
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