Aligning Sales and Marketing for Strategic Success
In today's B2B landscape, achieving harmony between sales and marketing is increasingly essential, especially as more organisations move from sales-led to marketing-led growth models. In a recent conversation a panel of industry leaders shared insights into the importance of alignment between sales and marketing teams, the role of shared data and metrics, and the practical strategies that have propelled their success.
Hosts
Joaquin Dominguez and Tom Gatten were joined by five marketing experts to discuss the topic.
Guests
Adam Kite, Head of Brand, Content & Marketing Operations, Relex Solutions
Daisy Tottman, Growth Marketing Manager, Snowflake
Katrien Tans, Digital Marketing Leader
Kelly Medio, Senior Director, Strategic Ventures, Alteryx
Lyndsay Close, Marketing Manager, Sigma7
Key Challenges in Sales and Marketing Alignment
The conversation opened with a consensus on the difficulties of aligning sales and marketing, stemming largely from the complexities of data integration, metric discrepancies, and evolving business structures. Katrien Tans highlighted the importance of a unified data source across departments, emphasising that alignment becomes elusive when marketing and sales teams rely on different data sources. This view was reinforced by Kelly Medio, who discussed the challenge of balancing sales and marketing goals to foster a “culture of unified objectives” across departments, without prioritising one over the other.
In organisations with recent structural changes, such as acquisitions, the challenge expands to include managing an increased number of stakeholders. Lyndsay Close elaborated on the importance of basic communication and relationship building as foundations for achieving effective alignment.
"True alignment starts with a single source of truth. When sales and marketing teams share the same data and KPIs, conversations become more productive, and collaboration becomes seamless." - Katrien Tans
Shifting from Sales-Led to Marketing-Led Growth
A pivotal theme was the shift from traditional sales-led to marketing-led growth strategies. Daisy Tottman noted that at Snowflake, the integration of the SDR team within marketing has allowed for a more connected customer journey, from early engagement to deal closure. This integration enables marketing to take greater responsibility for funnel performance, with a clear link between top-of-funnel investments and final outcomes.
In contrast, organisations like Relex Solutions, as shared by Adam Kite, maintain a separation between sales and marketing, requiring extra operational effort to synchronise these teams’ strategies and outcomes. Adam emphasised that defining clear roles and shared metrics between departments is critical for sustaining cohesive efforts in such structures.
Tom Gatten offered a perspective on why organisations are transitioning towards marketing-led models, suggesting that it often stems from a broader shift towards data-driven decision-making rather than the organisational function itself. He argued that marketing’s access to comprehensive top-of-funnel data makes it well-suited to lead demand generation strategies, especially in outbound marketing where data insights are indispensable for targeting.
"By bringing SDRs into marketing, we’ve been able to connect the full customer journey. This integration gives us better visibility from lead to conversion, allowing us to optimise each touchpoint along the funnel." - Daisy Tottman, Snowflake
Operational Tactics for Ensuring Alignment
The panel shared practical steps for achieving alignment, focusing on both tools and strategies. Project management platforms, such as Monday.com, were mentioned by Lyndsay as valuable for providing transparency across teams and for visualising campaign timelines and collaborative efforts. For more granular campaign management, tools like Snowflake’s custom dashboards enable self-serve data access, allowing sales teams to track account engagement and campaign performance autonomously. These tools not only empower sales but also help ensure that marketing and sales efforts are aligned on priorities and target outcomes.
Adam Kite and Kelly Medio underscored the importance of using reporting tools and dashboards to maintain visibility into campaign progress, while also advocating for regular strategy sessions to foster alignment across departments. However, the challenge of capturing qualitative feedback from sales remains unsolved for many. In response, Lyndsay described the effectiveness of in-person SDR offsites and short surveys for capturing valuable, actionable insights directly from sales representatives.
"Defining handoffs and setting shared expectations between sales and marketing has been a game-changer. It’s about having a clear, unified approach so both teams can work towards a common goal without friction." - Adam Kite
The team also highlighted LinkedIn as a critical channel for targeted engagement in B2B, emphasising the platform’s robust data and reporting features. Access to LinkedIn’s insights allows marketing teams to further refine their campaigns, using real-time data on account and industry engagement to make informed decisions about content targeting and messaging.
"Consistency and agility are equally essential in sales and marketing. It’s a tough balance, but when teams align on metrics and foster a culture of partnership, we’re all set up for success.", Kelly Medio
Advice for Organisations Struggling with Alignment
The panel concluded with advice for organisations seeking to enhance sales and marketing alignment. Both Kelly and Daisy advocated for building a partnership culture based on curiosity and shared goals, with regular interdepartmental meetings and shared ownership of objectives. Kelly noted that establishing business partners within marketing for sales leaders creates meaningful relationships, which helps foster a collaborative rather than competitive atmosphere.
From a strategic perspective, Daisy Tottman shared that true alignment must start from the top. She cited the close partnership between Snowflake’s CMO and CRO as a foundational element for the alignment seen within their teams. Katrien added that for distributed teams, building relationships over virtual platforms can be effective if there is mutual accountability and a willingness to accept feedback and adapt.
"After our acquisition, it was all about getting back to the basics of communication. Building relationships and integrating our data sources have been essential to aligning sales and marketing in our newly expanded organisation." - Lyndsay Close
Conclusion
The insights shared in this discussion reveal the complexity of aligning sales and marketing in today’s B2B environment. While each organisation’s path to alignment varies, shared data, aligned metrics, and cross-departmental transparency emerged as key pillars for success. By fostering a culture of collaboration, leveraging the right tools, and building relationships across departments, organisations can turn alignment challenges into strategic advantages, ultimately enhancing their ability to convert leads and drive revenue.
As the landscape of B2B marketing continues to evolve, the strategies and tools discussed by these industry leaders serve as a reminder that successful alignment is within reach for any organisation willing to invest in the right people, processes, and technologies.
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