5 Hidden Costs of Misaligned Sales & Marketing Teams

By: Kathy Kent Toney, CEO & Founder of Kent Solutions

​Image by pressfoto on Freepik

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Do you ever feel like your sales and marketing teams are playing a game of tug-of-war? Are they constantly pulling in opposite directions, working against each other instead of joining forces?

I've certainly experienced this in my career. Daily tug-of-war scenarios affected everything, from working relationships to the company's bottom line.

If this sounds all too familiar, you're experiencing one of the most pernicious issues plaguing businesses today— misalignment between your two critical revenue engines. And this is not a problem you want to put off. If left unchecked, it can severely threaten sustainable growth.

So, what are the costs of misaligned teams?

1. Wasted Marketing Budget

From generating low-quality leads that don't convert to blatantly missing your target buyer personas, unaligned teams burn incredible sums of money in pursuit of the wrong prospects. It's a wildly inefficient use of resources.

2. Sluggish Sales Cycles

With conflicting messaging and positioning, a lack of shared pipeline visibility, and botched lead handoffs, some leads can indefinitely linger while engaged leads go cold. A few extra months of delays can slash projected revenue in half!

3. Abysmal Close Rates

Without sales enablement from marketing, your reps will struggle to create an impact even when they manage to engage. Throw in divergent incentives between the two teams, and you've got a recipe for watching deals repeatably die.

4. Resource Drain

The amount of duplicated roles, endless alignment meetings, and toxic silo-building required to keep this dynamic afloat creates immense organizational drag. It's a massive time and money suck.

5. And The Stats Don't Lie...

A recent Forrester study found that a 10% increase in sales and marketing alignment could generate a massive 27% increase in marketing's contribution to revenue. Yet in 2022, only 8% of companies reported having tight operational integration between their sales and marketing teams.

Beyond Just Numbers

The toll goes far beyond just revenue impacts. According to InsideView's 2021 report, 54% of companies suffering from misalignment experienced significantly longer sales cycles. Demand Metric's research revealed that misaligned companies lose 40% of their marketing-generated leads.

However, the intangible costs are even more damaging in the long term. Misalignment erodes workplace culture, customer experiences, and employee morale over time. A 2021 LinkedIn study found that companies with tight sales-marketing alignment achieved 36% higher employee retention rates.


So, how do you stop the endless wars between your sales and marketing teams? The answer is a robust CRM that automates sales and marketing processes to produce a more seamless experience that reduces the need for human intervention. This solution can bring relief and optimism, knowing there is a way to end the constant struggle.

If you're unsure if your CRM can foster team alignment, check out my FREE CRM Strategy Workbook. It's designed to help you evaluate your current CRM system, understand its potential for improving team alignment, and provide practical steps to fine-tune your CRM or deploy a new one.
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Download the CRM Strategy Workbook today to take the first step toward ending the tug-of-war between your sales and marketing teams!

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