Marketing vs. Sales – A Never-Ending Story
(And no, it’s not about who’s to blame.)
“Inga, you’re the marketing guru, explain to me why they always push these totally unrealistic campaigns. They just stuff our CRM with nonsense.”
That’s what a friend – let’s call her Marie – said to me recently during a meeting.
She was frustrated. Again.
It was about yet another global campaign, based on the assumption that from 100 leads, 10 would turn into deals.
Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?
Well, if you’ve never worked in actual sales.
If you’ve never met your customers.
If your understanding of your audience ends at PowerPoint personas.
Because yes – customers are real people. With real problems. Real timelines. And real budgets.
It’s a story I’ve seen play out too many times.
Everyone says sales and marketing need to align.
But once quarterly targets come knocking, and management wants numbers, all those good intentions are quickly forgotten.
Here’s the thing:
Campaigns built for volume often.
You end up with a CRM full of names and no real conversations. And a sales team that stops trusting you.
And yes – the idea behind the campaign might have been good. The logic might be sound. But was the strategy right?
Was it the right moment?
Or just a desperate attempt to show “results” at the end of the quarter?
You might want to fill the funnel with cold leads when launching a new product.
But would you use the same strategy after three years on the market? Probably not.
Now imagine this instead:
You generate 20 qualified leads – people with a real use case, budget, and timeline.
Sales follows up.
10 deals close.
That’s a 50% conversion rate.
Less Noise.
More Trust.
Better use of everyone’s time.
And how do you get there?
No big secret.
You Talk.
You Align.
You Work Together.
Five steps that already make a difference:
- Align your plans
Make sure your marketing plans are built with sales strategy in mind.
Marketing and sales don’t need identical KPIs, but they should aim for the same outcomes.
Talk early. Plan together. Make it realistic.
Get local input. Adapt where needed.
And if local adaptation isn’t possible, ask why.
Lack of local support? Poor structure? Wrong channel?
There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all. - Get real buy-in
Just sending out a deck doesn’t mean a campaign is “aligned.”
If your sales team doesn’t believe in it, they won’t follow up.
Get agreement. Or at least honest feedback.
If you skip this step, the campaign won’t fly. - Communicate regularly
Keep your internal stakeholders in the loop – not just once at kickoff.
Share what’s happening, what’s working, what’s changing.
Silence leads to disengagement.
And nobody likes campaign surprises, especially in the field. - Use sales feedback
Probably the most important point and yes, it takes time!
If sales says it doesn’t resonate, listen.
You don’t have to scrap everything. But you do need to adjust.
Don’t defend. Adapt.
The market won’t wait for your internal logic to make sense. - Support sales practically
Make materials easy to find. Easy to use. Up to date.
Be a real resource.
The less time sales spends digging through folders, the more time they spend talking to customers.
None of this is rocket science.
But it doesn’t happen automatically.
Especially not when marketing or sales is under pressure.
It’s always tempting to shift the blame. To say “sales didn’t follow up” or “the leads were bad.”
But real teamwork needs real alignment.
And that takes time, trust, and the willingness to leave your own silo.
It takes a shared view of the big picture.
Not “marketing versus sales.”
But marketing with sales.
Even if internal competition can be a nice motivator – “salesperson of the month,” etc. – that’s another story.
In my opinion, it’s like salt in the soup: too little is bland, too much ruins everything.
And if you want your next campaign to truly support your sales team – not just look good in a dashboard –
that’s exactly what I do.