Are Your Sales and Marketing Teams At War?
Sales and marketing are often treated as separate disciplines—divided by workflows, KPIs, and even office walls. Not good, we think.
When these two functions operate in sync, leads are more qualified, conversions rise, and the customer experience becomes seamless from first touch to final sale. At Mandel Marketing, we’ve seen firsthand how powerful true integration can be. As a full-service agency offering both sales development solutions and marketing strategy, we work with companies to eliminate silos and build unified revenue operations that actually deliver.
In this article, we asked founders, directors, and hands-on practitioners to share their most effective strategies for bridging the gap between sales and marketing—from co-location and shared KPIs to cross-functional journey mapping. Their responses offer a playbook for any team looking to boost alignment, close deals faster, and get more from their go-to-market efforts. Let’s dive into what works.
Journey Mapping Aligns Sales And Marketing
We align sales and marketing with one tool: journey mapping from the buyer’s shoes. We print it big. From first click to move-in day. Sales and marketing teams walk it weekly and mark every friction point. Sometimes that’s a confusing brochure. Sometimes it’s a lack of follow-up emails post-visit.
That process exposed one thing: mis-timed messaging. We used to send offers two days after viewings. That was too late. People were already deciding. Now we trigger messages within 45 minutes. Sales gets a window. Marketing delivers the right bait. It’s rhythm, not roles.
Toni Norman, Senior Marketing Manager, Tingdene Residential Parks
Interested in journey mapping? Read more about defining the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Co-Location Boosts Sales-Marketing Alignment
As VP of Land O’ Radios and with my background in both entertainment and two-way radio communications, I’ve found that physical co-location works wonders for alignment. When we moved our sales and marketing teams to the same office space, our response time to market trends improved dramatically and customer acquisition costs dropped by 18%.
Creating a shared language between teams is crucial. We developed a standardized communication protocol similar to radio etiquette – clear, concise messaging with specific channel assignments. This eliminated the traditional marketing-to-sales handoff friction and reduced our lead qualification time from 3 days to less than 24 hours.
Cross-training has been our secret weapon. Our marketing team members spend one day monthly shadowing sales calls, while sales reps participate in content creation. This mutual understanding transformed our product messaging from feature-focused to solution-oriented, resulting in a 22% increase in conversion rates for our two-way radio systems.
The most powerful alignment tactic we’ve implenented is our “frequency check” meetings – quick 15-minute daily standups where both teams review real-time customer feedback and adjust messaging accordingly. This agility allowed us to pivot quickly during supply chain disruptions and maintain revenue targets despite industry-wide challenges.
Rene Fornaris, Vice President, Land O’ Radios
Interested in customer acquisition cost? Read more in our guide to performance marketing.
Shared Goals Drive Byrna Team Alignment
We align sales and marketing by keeping everyone laser-focused on the “why.” Why does Byrna matter? Why does it work? When everyone from the marketing team to the sales reps understands that Byrna’s purpose is to save lives without taking them, the strategies and tactics start lining up naturally.
I’m on the ground with both teams, so I make sure marketing doesn’t just create materials–they create tools that the sales team can actually use. And sales isn’t just about numbers–they’re feeding real-time feedback to marketing so we can adjust fast. We don’t silo anything. If we’re launching a new product or training method, we all get in the room, hash it out, and make sure the messaging, the timing, and the mission are all synced. It’s not complicated–it’s just disciplined communication and shared goals. That’s what keeps us effective, whether we’re saving lives or closing deals.
Joshua Schirard, Director, Byrna
Sales Calls Transform Marketing Campaigns
You want alignment? Make marketing sit in on three sales calls a week. No cameras. No pressure. Just listen and take notes. That changed everything for us. Before that, our ads were focused on finishes and colours. But the calls? All the questions were about delivery lead times and return policy.
Now, we don’t write campaigns without quote data. We don’t publish ads unless sales signs off. And every landing page gets A/B tested based on close rates, not click-throughs. Alignment means marketing knows exactly what closes. Not what sounds good.
Dimitri Zobnin, Managing Director, House of Enki
Shared KPIs Sync Sales And Marketing
Running both sides means you can’t let sales and marketing drift into two separate worlds. You’ve got to tie them together from the start–same goals, same language, and clear feedback loops. One of the easiest ways to sync teams is building campaigns together. That means marketing doesn’t just hand off leads; they sit in on sales calls, see what actually closes, and adjust messaging fast.
We also set shared KPIs. Not fluffy ones like “brand awareness,” but things like qualified leads, booked demos, and closed deals. If marketing hits their numbers but sales doesn’t, we all miss. Weekly check-ins help too. It’s not some long meeting–just a quick sync to look at pipeline, drop-off points, and what content or ads are working. When everyone’s in the loop, the handoff from marketing to sales feels natural, not forced.
Natalia Lavrenenko, UGC manager/Marketing manager, Rathly
Mutual Accountability Bridges Sales-Marketing Gap
To be real, the fastest way I’ve aligned sales and marketing teams is by sitting them in the same room and forcing them to co-own the same metrics. Shared KPIs–same revenue goals, same lead quality benchmarks–cut the “us vs. them” mindset in half. I had both teams sign off on a mutual 3-stage funnel breakdown: how many MQLs needed per week, conversion expectations by stage, and sales velocity benchmarks. We tracked it weekly, no excuses. The moment everyone saw their name tied to the same number, the collaboration flipped from reactive to proactive.
In execution, I scrapped the traditional lead handoff and replaced it with a real-time Slack pipeline channel. Marketing drops in new leads as they hit the MQL criteria, and sales gives instant feedback on quality. No forms, no silence, no lag. We once caught a targeting issue that saved us roughly $1,200 in ad spend within 48 hours. Better yet, when sales shared verbatim objections they heard on calls, marketing turned those into retargeting copy. That boosted our retargeting CTR from 0.8% to 2.1%–nearly tripling efficiency just from tighter alignment.
I don’t think the trick is in tactics, tools, or weekly meetings. It’s in building mutual accountability around revenue, not vanity. The goal is shared upside and shared pressure. When sales feels the quality of every lead and marketing feels the fate of every deal, the gap disappears fast.
Patrick Beltran, Marketing Director, Ardoz Digital
Unified Goals Turn Leads Into Deals
Back when I was running a team in Columbus, sales and marketing barely talked to each other. Sales said the leads were useless, and marketing blamed sales for not following up. I pulled them into the same room every Tuesday and cut the noise. We shared what customers were saying and which ads were working. Once they started hearing each other out, the leads started turning into actual deals.
If the goals don’t match, the strategies fall apart. I set one target both teams cared about, like leads that actually had a closing shot. Once everyone tracked the same number, they stopped working in their own corners. We planned campaigns together so sales knew what was coming and marketing knew what support sales needed. It helped both sides move faster without stepping on each other.
Doug Crawford, President and Founder, Best Trade Schools
Client Feedback Refines Sales And Marketing
We stay aligned using Build Day Debriefs. After every pond install, sales, marketing, and ops sit down. We pull out what the client said they expected versus what they actually loved. Marketing turns that into new lead hooks. Sales tightens their close scripts. Real pond. Real feedback. No fluff.
For example, one client loved that we used no chemicals. But that line never made our ads. It does now. You want alignment? Go back to the last five clients and ask what actually made them say yes. Then sell that. Everything else is vanity.
Gavin Bent, Marketing Executive, Ponds By Michael Wheat
Ready to Align Your Sales and Marketing?
True alignment drives real revenue. If you’re ready to close the gap between your sales and marketing teams, Mandel Marketing can help. From strategy to execution, we build systems that convert–it’s one of our core Fractional CMO services, in fact. Contact us to get started.