Real-world cases on marketing and sales alignment in the SaaS industry

It’s a tale as old as time: a SaaS company launches its latest tool, and the marketing team roll out an energetic campaign, flooding the market with engaging ads and thought-provoking content. Leads start rolling in by the thousands (a marketer can dream, right?).

Meanwhile, the sales team are eager to turn these leads into deals but are lost in a maze of unprioritised prospects. Marketing is riding a wave of interest, but Sales is left in confusion. Who are the high-priority prospects ready to convert? And who are the marketing leads that require more nurturing?

With rapid sales cycles in the SaaS industry –if these teams aren’t synced– potential customers can slip through the cracks before you even notice. Subscription models mean you can’t afford to lose customers, so a seamless handoff from marketing to sales is a must. In such a competitive market, disjointed efforts can make your company fade into the background. Plus, all that valuable data goes to waste if your teams aren’t using it together to create killer, personalised experiences. Consequently, scaling efficiently and growing quickly becomes a near-impossible dream.

Having worked as a B2B marketer both in-house and with clients, I’ve seen this story play out many times. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my colleagues in the B2B space share similar experiences. For this blog, I’ve reached out to three of them in the SaaS field to get their expert take.

Lubna Quraishi, Head of Marketing at Teamwork.com, Emkay Khan, Founder at Makula Technology, and Martin Hennig Morrissette, CMO at Sirocco Group share their tried-and-true methods for bridging the gap between marketing and sales.

Now that we all know each other, let’s dive into it!

1. Get on the same page with goals and metrics

Lubna Quraishi tell us how the Marketing team at Teamwork.com aligns its goals and KPIs with other departments to drive revenue outcomes:

Couldn’t agree more with Lubna here! Marketing teams are usually laser-focused on lead generation, brand awareness, and nurturing potential clients through creative content and digital strategies. They measure success by the:

• volume of leads,
• engagement rates, and
• campaign effectiveness.

On the flip side, Sales teams are all about

• sales quotas,
• conversion rates, and
• average deal sizes.

When these goals and metrics don’t align, it’s no wonder there’s a natural divide. Each team ends up chasing its own targets, often at the expense of the bigger picture.

Imagine launching two separate campaigns for the same product – one through marketing’s social media push to raise brand awareness, and another through sales’ direct outreach for immediate sales. Different messaging, same audience, double the cost, and little increase in engagement or sales. Plus, measuring ROI becomes a nightmare. Marketing might celebrate a 50% increase in lead generation, while sales complains about poor lead quality and low conversion rates. It’s frustrating and inefficient!

As Lubna notes, develop shared KPIs that link marketing’s efforts directly to sales outcomes. Continuously evolve your reporting to measure success against unified revenue goals. This way, both teams can focus on common objectives, improving collaboration and overall effectiveness.

2. Continuously and effectively communicate

Here’s how Sirocco Group maintains effective alignment and collaboration between its sales and marketing teams:

The challenges Martin is referring to include issues such as balancing the sales-focused BANT framework with marketing’s broader approach of continuous lead nurturing.

He continues: “We aim to keep Sirocco Group at the forefront of our prospects’ minds through engaging content and relationship building until the ‘stars align’ (BANT). This process can take months in our B2B context, but the consistent effort ensures we are ready when opportunities arise.”

Martin makes a great point here! Marketing and sales often work in silos, speaking different languages and using separate tools. Without regular, structured interactions, misunderstandings are bound to happen. Marketing might think sales isn’t converting their leads effectively, while sales could believe the leads from marketing aren’t qualified. This communication gap can foster competition rather than collaboration, leading to missed opportunities and inefficiencies.

The lack of continuous communication can wreak havoc on customer experience and sales efficiency. Inconsistent messaging, misaligned expectations, and poor interactions can frustrate potential clients, causing lost sales and a damaged brand reputation. If marketing’s idea of a qualified lead doesn’t match sales’ criteria, the funnel fills with unqualified prospects. Sales reps then waste time nurturing leads that aren’t ready to buy, instead of focusing on closing deals. This misalignment slows down the sales process and decreases overall efficiency.

Regular, data-driven discussions help both teams stay aligned, adjust strategies, and improve lead quality continuously. Beta testing new products or features with feedback from both sales and marketing can also refine offerings before full-scale launch, ensuring everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals- Martin and the Sirocco Group seem to be doing a great job with that!

3. Incentivise cross-department collaboration

Here’s how Makula addresses the challenges of a limited marketing budget and blurring lines between sales and marketing:

“For instance“, Emkay continues, “Marketing receives a bonus (akin to a sales commission) when their leads are converted into paying customers by the Sales team. Additionally, Sales is required to actively prospect and source a set number of leads per quarter through their own outreach. This approach fosters interdepartmental appreciation and encourages collaboration, particularly in creating sales enablement materials and executing impactful campaigns.”

In many companies, marketing and sales often feel like they’re on opposite teams. But what if you could blur those lines? By tying rewards to shared successes, both teams become more aligned, leading to more effective campaigns and better results. Makula has found a way to make this happen!

Makula’s incentivisation strategy does more than just align goals—it builds mutual respect and appreciation. When marketing sees a direct reward from sales success, they’re more invested in the quality of leads they pass on. Conversely, when sales is tasked with generating leads, they gain a better understanding of the challenges marketing faces. This mutual involvement breaks down silos and fosters a culture of teamwork.

Without such a strategy, companies often see wasted efforts and a blame game. Marketing might feel under-appreciated if their leads aren’t converted, and sales might dismiss marketing’s efforts if leads are perceived as low quality. This not only affects morale but also impacts overall performance!

4. Use tools for alignment

Consolidating everything into one CRM and Marketing Automation platform (HubSpot) has transformed Teamwork.com’s operations. “This has been a complete game changer for us“, Lubna explains. “Not only are our Sales and Marketing teams more aligned, but it’s also fostered stronger collaboration between our Onboarding and Customer Success teams too.“

When each team uses different platforms, it’s tough to share information and collaborate effectively. This lack of integration leads to inefficiencies and reporting inaccuracies, making it difficult to measure the true impact of marketing and sales efforts. Without a unified system, teams spend excessive time verifying data and resolving discrepancies instead of focusing on strategic activities.

Inability to measure ROI accurately and decreased sales efficiency are just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine a scenario where marketing and sales have separate CRMs. Marketing might see high engagement and lead generation, while sales struggles to follow up because the data is not synced. This leads to missed opportunities and hinders growth. The lack of a single source of truth can also cause miscommunications, resulting in inconsistent customer experiences and lost trust – but Teamwork.com seems to have solid systems in place to mitigate that!

Key takeaways

The bottomline: develop shared KPIs so everyone’s playing the same game, not wasting resources.

• Throw in some juicy incentives for marketing when sales seals the deal – because nothing says “teamwork” like a bonus, and make sales do some lead-hunting too.
• Keep the lines of communication open with regular sync-ups to avoid the “I thought you knew” fiasco.
• Finally, ditch the data silos and use unified tools, because guessing games are for parties, not business.