When Sales and Marketing Pull Apart

When sales and marketing are not aligned, performance weakens — even when both teams are active.

The problem rarely announces itself clearly. Instead it accumulates. Marketing generates leads that sales considers unworkable. Sales pursues conversations that marketing hasn’t supported. The handover between the two functions is technically defined but practically broken. Each team has a reasonable account of why the other is the problem.

Underneath the friction is usually a shared commercial logic that was never properly established — an agreed definition of what a good customer looks like, how leads are qualified, what the message is at each stage, and who owns what. Without that foundation, activity stays high and results stay inconsistent.

This is the point where the business starts to feel busy but underperforming — and cannot quite explain why.

Typical signs

Sales and marketing disagree on what constitutes a good lead — and have stopped trying to resolve it. Handovers happen on paper but break down in practice. The message a prospect hears from marketing is not the one they hear from sales. Conversion is weaker than the volume of activity should produce. The commercial team is busy but the business can’t explain why the numbers aren’t better.

What I do

The work runs over two to three weeks. It begins with a structured diagnostic — a close reading of how the commercial system actually operates, where the handover breaks down, and what shared logic is missing or contested. That usually produces a more precise picture of the problem than the one the business came in with.

From there, we establish what needs to be true for sales and marketing to operate as a single system — shared definitions, clear ownership, consistent messaging, and a handover process that works in practice rather than just in theory.

The engagement closes with written clarity on all of it — not a report, but a working document the commercial leadership can use immediately to align how the system actually runs.

Fixed fee. Defined scope. No retainer.

What changes

Sales and marketing operate from a shared understanding of what they are trying to achieve and how. Leads are better qualified before they move. The handover holds. Messaging is consistent across the commercial system.

The commercial system stops losing ground between functions.

Conversion improves because the structure now supports the effort being applied.

How we work together

If this is already visible, the next step is simple.

This work is for commercial leaders who recognise something is breaking between the functions — and are ready to address it structurally.