How to align sales and marketing
The classic sales-marketing conflict is marketing complaining sales does not work its leads and sales complaining marketing's leads are junk. Both are symptoms of misalignment.
Alignment comes from shared definitions, shared goals, and a feedback loop, not from a truce.
Short answer
Align sales and marketing by agreeing on a shared definition of a qualified lead, establishing a two-way SLA (marketing delivers quality leads, sales works them promptly), setting shared revenue goals rather than separate metrics, and building a feedback loop on lead quality. Misalignment shows up as finger-pointing over lead quality and follow-up, and shared definitions and goals are the fix.
Step by step
Agree on lead definitions
Define what an MQL and an SQL actually mean, together. Most conflict comes from marketing and sales meaning different things by a qualified lead.
Set a two-way SLA
Marketing commits to delivering a volume of quality leads; sales commits to working them within a set time. Both sides own a measurable promise.
Share revenue goals
Tie both teams to shared pipeline and revenue targets, not separate metrics. When marketing is measured on pipeline and sales on the same, incentives align.
Build a feedback loop
Sales tells marketing which leads and sources convert, and marketing adjusts. Without the loop, lead quality never improves and the blame continues.
Why alignment matters
Sales and marketing misalignment leaks pipeline at the handoff, wastes marketing spend on leads sales ignores, and creates a culture of blame. Alignment through shared definitions, a two-way SLA, shared goals, and a feedback loop converts that friction into a compounding engine where each team makes the other more effective.
How Ardovo runs this
Ardovo turns this from a slide no one opens into how the work actually happens. The stages, exit criteria, and plays live in the deal object, and Rook flags any deal that skips a step, drafts the next artifact, and keeps the data honest, so sales and marketing share definitions and goals gets followed instead of forgotten.
Frequently asked questions
How do I align sales and marketing?
Agree on shared definitions of a qualified lead, establish a two-way SLA where marketing delivers quality leads and sales works them promptly, tie both teams to shared revenue goals rather than separate metrics, and build a feedback loop on lead quality. Shared definitions and goals fix the finger-pointing that misalignment causes.
Why do sales and marketing conflict?
Usually because they mean different things by a qualified lead and are measured on separate metrics, so marketing complains sales ignores its leads while sales complains the leads are junk. Both are symptoms of misalignment, fixed by agreeing on shared definitions, a two-way SLA, and shared revenue goals rather than assigning blame.
What is a sales and marketing SLA?
A two-way service level agreement where marketing commits to delivering an agreed volume of quality leads and sales commits to following up within a set time. It makes both sides own a measurable promise, which replaces vague expectations and blame with clear, trackable commitments that each team is accountable for.