Unacceptable Losses –  Why Sales Enablement and Marketing Synergies Often Fail—and How to Fix It

Unacceptable Losses –  Why Sales Enablement and Marketing Synergies Often Fail—and How to Fix It

"Misalignment between sales and marketing costs businesses $1 trillion annually in lost productivity and wasted marketing spend." (Hubspot)

This staggering (and shocking!) figure highlights the ongoing and urgent need for better collaboration between Sales Enablement and Marketing. It's really hard to wrap my head around the idea of a $1 trillion loss –– ANNUALLY. But, despite shared goals like driving revenue and engaging customers, these teams often fall short of true alignment. The result? Missed opportunities, inefficiencies, and wasted resources. That means missed forecasts, tanking morale, and even potentially losing the best sales enablement and marketing talent.

Here’s why synergies often fail—and how to address the gap while embracing experimentation and learning from failures to foster innovation.


WTH?! Why Synergies Fall Short (far too often)

  1. Conflicting Goals: Marketing prioritizes MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) and brand reach, while sales focuses on closing deals. Without shared metrics, the two teams operate on different wavelengths.
  2. Weak Communication: Sales feels marketing’s content doesn’t resonate with prospects. Marketing struggles to get useful feedback on campaigns. The lack of a feedback loop stifles collaboration.
  3. Siloed Systems: Separate platforms and unshared data create blind spots in the buyer’s journey, making alignment harder.
  4. Cultural Divides: Sales sees marketing as disconnected from day-to-day realities, while marketing views sales as overly focused on short-term wins.


What to Do About It

  1. Align Goals: Define shared metrics like pipeline growth, conversion rates, and customer retention to ensure joint accountability. Encourage experiments to refine what works best. Remember to bake in proven best practices, such as embracing an aggressive AMP (Activities, Meetings, Pipeline) mindset. Put another way, plan with the end in mind and work backwards.
  2. Enable Feedback Loops: Regular meetings and shared tools allow sales to inform marketing strategies. Embrace a culture where failures provide valuable lessons, driving continuous improvement.
  3. Integrate Technology: Use unified platforms like Salesforce and others (Docebo, HighSpot, etc.) to ensure seamless data sharing. Transparent tools make the buyer’s journey visible to both teams, fostering collaboration.
  4. Build Bridges: Invite sales enablement to contribute to marketing campaigns and marketing to join sales calls and select sales enablement activities. Celebrate wins together and create safe spaces for trying new strategies, even if they fail initially.


Getting Our Act Together – Why It Matters

In today’s buyer-centric landscape, 87% of customers expect consistent experiences across sales and marketing. When these teams align, organizations see a 32% boost in revenue growth, according to LinkedIn.

Misalignment, however, remains costly. By embracing innovation and creating room for calculated failures, businesses can transform the $1 trillion loss problem into an opportunity to accelerate growth and innovation.


Get It Done: Don’t let silos hold your company back. Align your sales enablement and marketing efforts today by fostering collaboration, embracing experimentation, and learning from failures. The payoff is worth it. Start with baby steps. Meet. Talk. Brainstorm. Plan. Keep it simple. Get it done and track your synergistic outcomes.

How is your organization tackling sales and marketing alignment? Share your experiences below!

#GoalAlignment, #SalesEnablement, #MarketingROI, #RevenueGrowth

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