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About Andy Culligan
Andy Culligan has spent over a decade in the SaaS tech industry, where his understanding of marketing has evolved significantly. Early in his career, Andy worked in a traditional multinational environment, where marketing was viewed primarily as a support function. Although he was involved in efforts such as lead generation and modern marketing methodologies, the industry’s old-school approach limited the perceived impact of marketing on revenue.
Everything changed when Andy transitioned into the dynamic world of SaaS, where he witnessed firsthand how strategic marketing could drive business growth. This experience reshaped his perspective, showing him that—with the right approach—marketing could unlock powerful opportunities that directly support and accelerate company success.
How Marketing Sales Alignment Drives 208% Higher Revenue Growth
The statistics are staggering: 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, 73% of marketing qualified leads are never contacted by sales teams, and companies with misaligned teams achieve 208% less revenue compared to organizations with connected marketing and sales functions. Yet despite these alarming numbers, most B2B companies continue to operate with siloed revenue teams that work against each other rather than in harmony.
Marketing sales alignment isn’t just a nice-to-have operational improvement—it’s the fundamental differentiator between companies that struggle to hit their revenue targets and those that consistently exceed them. When marketing and sales teams work in perfect synchronization, they create what Andy Culligan, fractional CMO and revenue growth expert, calls a “revenue machine.”
The 208% revenue gap between aligned and misaligned organizations represents one of the most significant untapped opportunities in B2B growth. This comprehensive guide reveals the exact strategies, frameworks, and implementation tactics that transform fragmented revenue teams into unified growth engines.
The Hidden Cost of Marketing Sales Misalignment
Before diving into solutions, it’s crucial to understand the true scope of the impact of misalignment on B2B organizations. The revenue gap isn’t just about missed opportunities—it represents systemic inefficiencies that compound over time.
The Attribution Problem That’s Killing Growth
“Marketing teams are put under massive pressure to try to prove their worth,” explains Culligan. “CFOs want to know, okay, you spent a euro on LinkedIn, I need to know the exact outcome of that euro or a dollar. And that’s not how it works.”
This obsession with direct attribution creates a fundamental disconnect between how marketing drives revenue and how it’s measured. While sales teams focus on immediate conversions, marketing’s role in building brand awareness, nurturing prospects, and creating the conditions for sales success is often overlooked.
The result? Marketing activities that could drive significant long-term revenue growth get eliminated because they can’t be directly tied to immediate sales outcomes. Meanwhile, sales teams struggle without the brand recognition and lead nurturing that marketing provides.
The Consistency Crisis
Misalignment doesn’t just affect measurement—it destroys consistency. “People say, oh, let’s start a podcast. And then they’re like, okay, three episodes in, oh, we don’t have that much time anymore. Let’s just let that fizzle out,” Culligan notes. “The CFO’s going to say, how much revenue has that two podcast episodes doing? You’re like, I can’t directly tie it back to revenue. Okay, stop it then.”
This start-stop approach to marketing initiatives prevents the compounding effects that drive real growth. Effective marketing sales alignment requires sustained effort across multiple touchpoints, but misaligned organizations abandon strategies before they have time to mature.
The Message Fragmentation Problem
Perhaps the most immediately damaging aspect of misalignment is message inconsistency. “If I’m buying something as a consumer and I click on an ad and I want to go buy a new pair of shoes, a new pair of Nikes and I click on that new pair of Nikes in an ad and I land on a landing page and a product page which has a new pair of Adidas there, I’m going to be like, what’s going on here?” Culligan illustrates.
The same confusion occurs in B2B sales when marketing creates one message about a product or service, but SDRs and sales teams communicate something completely different. This creates confused prospects who lose trust in the organization’s competence and consistency.
The Revenue Machine: What Perfect Alignment Looks Like
Companies that achieve marketing sales alignment don’t just eliminate inefficiencies—they create synergistic effects that multiply their revenue generation capabilities. Understanding what perfect alignment looks like provides a blueprint for transformation.
The Integrated Revenue Flow
In aligned organizations, marketing and sales operate as a single revenue generation system with clearly defined handoff points and feedback loops. “Marketing can only do so much. But the SDR unlocks this next door to be able to create a relationship with a prospect,” Culligan explains. “SDRs are like the human version of the digital marketing.”
This integration creates a seamless prospect experience where digital marketing generates awareness and interest, SDRs convert that interest into qualified conversations, and sales teams close deals with prospects who are already educated and engaged.
Account-Based Marketing Integration
Alignment becomes most powerful when focused on specific target accounts through account-based marketing (ABM) strategies. “If you say okay Vinny, you’re the seller, which accounts are you trying to win? Give me your account list. Okay, let’s create some plays together in terms of how marketing can support,” Culligan outlines.
This approach transforms marketing from a volume-based lead generation function into a precision instrument that supports sales efforts with specific accounts. Marketing activities become directly aligned with sales priorities, creating immediate relevance and value.
Real-Time Feedback Loops
Perfect alignment requires continuous communication between teams. “There needs to be a feedback loop between sales back to SDRs to say okay, this is either something that’s good or bad. Then it’s that information should then also be put back into the marketing motion as well,” explains Culligan.
These feedback loops ensure that marketing efforts continuously improve based on sales results, while sales teams benefit from marketing insights about prospect behavior and preferences.
The First 90 Days: A Proven Alignment Framework
Achieving marketing sales alignment requires a systematic approach that addresses people, processes, and technology. The first 90 days are critical for establishing new patterns and breaking down existing silos.
Week 1-2: Discovery and Foundation Setting
The alignment process begins with comprehensive discovery to understand current state challenges and opportunities. This involves auditing existing processes, identifying communication gaps, and establishing baseline metrics.
“Get everyone talking to one another. Mix it up. People hate it. Oh, Jesus. People hate it because I come in and kick over tables,” Culligan admits. “I’m like, you need to go to talk to that person. You need to go talk to that person.”
This initial disruption is necessary because established silos create comfortable but ineffective patterns. Breaking these patterns requires forcing interactions that wouldn’t naturally occur.
Week 3-8: Process Implementation and Testing
Once communication channels are established, the focus shifts to implementing new processes and testing their effectiveness. This includes creating shared definitions for lead qualification, establishing handoff procedures, and implementing feedback mechanisms.
The key during this phase is maintaining momentum while allowing teams to adjust to new ways of working. Regular check-ins and adjustments ensure that new processes actually improve outcomes rather than just creating additional work.
Week 9-12: Optimization and Scaling
The final phase focuses on optimizing successful processes and scaling them across the organization. This involves documenting what works, training team members on best practices, and establishing ongoing governance structures.
“I’ll get your team up to the point where they’re being autonomous. They know what they’re doing, they know what the plan is, they’ve got focused. The CEO doesn’t need to step in anymore,” Culligan explains.
SDR Teams: The Bridge Between Marketing and Sales
Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) play a crucial role in marketing sales alignment, serving as the human interface between digital marketing activities and sales conversations. However, most organizations fail to leverage SDRs effectively.
Why SDR Teams Fail Without Proper Alignment
“The SDR is the kindergarten of the organization, and nobody wants to give them the time to hold their hand,” Culligan observes. “The issue is that SDRs typically report into the sales function… And that person just doesn’t have the time to make sure that they’re doing all the right behavior.”
This structural problem creates a gap where SDRs receive neither the marketing context they need to be effective nor the sales training required for success. The result is poor performance that gets blamed on individual SDRs rather than systemic misalignment.
The Marketing-Owned SDR Model
Culligan advocates for SDRs reporting to marketing rather than sales. “I typically, I prefer as a marketing leader to own the SDR team as well… They are the human version of the digital marketing.”
This structure ensures that SDRs use consistent messaging with marketing campaigns, understand the context behind leads they’re contacting, and can provide feedback to marketing about prospect responses and concerns.
Daily SDR Management for Alignment
Effective SDR management requires daily involvement and structured processes. “Typically, what I do with SDRs is from day one, I’m sitting down with them being like, okay, guys, this is how we create an account list. Here’s we’ve got a hundred accounts. We need to go now find 6 to 10 people for every single one of these accounts.”
This hands-on approach includes:
- Creating targeted account lists aligned with sales priorities
- Developing messaging consistent with marketing campaigns
- Role-playing calls and email outreach
- Analyzing prospect responses and adjusting approaches
- Tracking metrics that matter for both marketing and sales
Scaling Marketing Sales Alignment Through Growth Stages
Marketing sales alignment requirements evolve as companies grow from startup to enterprise. Understanding these evolution patterns helps organizations prepare for scaling challenges.
Early Stage (0-10M ARR): Foundation Building
During the early growth stage, alignment focuses on establishing basic processes and communication structures. “When you’re scrapping all the way to 10 million, you’re probably doing a lot of hacky type of things which will drive some leads through the door,” Culligan notes.
At this stage, the focus should be on:
- Creating shared definitions and processes
- Establishing regular communication rhythms
- Implementing basic CRM hygiene
- Developing initial content and messaging frameworks
Growth Stage (10-30M ARR): Brand Development
As companies scale beyond 10 million in revenue, brand building becomes increasingly important. “You get into another arena where you’re, especially in the tech space if you’re starting to compete against some of the bigger players in your industry,” explains Culligan.
This stage requires:
- Investing in brand awareness campaigns
- Developing thought leadership content
- Creating more sophisticated ABM programs
- Building analyst relations capabilities
Expansion Stage (30M+ ARR): Sophistication and Specialization
Larger organizations require more sophisticated alignment strategies that account for multiple markets, products, and customer segments. The focus shifts to specialized teams and advanced attribution models.
Technology Stack for Marketing Sales Alignment
Achieving sustainable marketing sales alignment requires technology that enables rather than hinders collaboration. The right tools create visibility, automate handoffs, and provide shared metrics.
CRM as the Source of Truth
“CRM should always be the source of truth. If it’s not in the CRM, it doesn’t exist,” Culligan emphasizes. This principle extends beyond just contact information to include all prospect interactions, preferences, and historical context.
A properly implemented CRM system provides:
- Shared visibility into prospect interactions
- Automated lead scoring and routing
- Performance metrics for both teams
- Historical context for sales conversations
Marketing Automation Integration
Marketing automation platforms must integrate seamlessly with sales processes to maintain alignment. This includes lead nurturing sequences that prepare prospects for sales conversations and automated follow-up that continues marketing engagement after sales interactions.
Communication and Collaboration Tools
Simple communication tools often provide the most value for maintaining alignment. “One of the plays that I would use in the past would be whenever something went into opportunity phase, the sales team would simply put into a slack channel, hey, this opportunity needs to be targeted heavily,” Culligan shares.
These informal communication channels enable real-time coordination that formal processes often miss.
Measuring Marketing Sales Alignment Success
Traditional marketing and sales metrics often mask alignment problems. Effective measurement requires metrics that reflect collaborative success rather than individual team performance.
Revenue-Focused Metrics
The ultimate measure of marketing sales alignment is revenue growth, but leading indicators provide earlier signals of success or failure. Key metrics include:
- Pipeline velocity (how quickly prospects move through stages)
- Deal size growth (aligned teams typically close larger deals)
- Customer acquisition cost efficiency
- Marketing qualified lead to sales qualified lead conversion rates
Collaboration Metrics
Measuring collaboration itself provides insights into alignment health:
- Frequency of marketing and sales team interactions
- Sales utilization of marketing content and materials
- Joint planning and strategy sessions
- Shared goal achievement rates
Customer Experience Indicators
Aligned teams create better customer experiences, which can be measured through:
- Shorter sales cycles
- Higher close rates
- Improved customer satisfaction scores
- Reduced customer acquisition costs
Content Strategy for Educational Email Courses and Alignment
Educational email courses represent a powerful tool for maintaining marketing sales alignment while nurturing prospects through complex B2B buying journeys. When properly executed, these courses bridge the gap between marketing education and sales conversations.
Aligning Course Content with Sales Conversations
The most effective educational email courses prepare prospects for productive sales conversations by addressing common questions and concerns before they arise. This requires close collaboration between marketing content creators and sales teams to identify the most valuable educational topics.
“Marketing need to come to them and be like, hey, I’m here to help. Let’s get me more involved with you and let’s get me more helping you to hit your goals,” Culligan explains. This collaborative approach ensures that educational content directly supports sales objectives.
Creating Sales-Ready Prospects
Educational email courses can transform cold prospects into warm, educated buyers who understand the value proposition and are ready for substantive sales conversations. This reduces the sales team’s education burden while improving conversion rates.
Feedback Loops for Course Optimization
Sales teams provide valuable feedback about which educational topics most effectively prepare prospects for sales conversations. This feedback should directly influence course content development and refinement.
Overcoming Common Alignment Obstacles
Even organizations committed to marketing sales alignment face predictable obstacles. Understanding these challenges and preparing solutions accelerates the alignment process.
The Attribution Obsession
Many organizations get stuck trying to create perfect attribution models that track every marketing touch to revenue outcomes. “Use your common sense if it makes sense. If your buyers, if your prospect base is on a specific channel and you’re creating content that’s going to be interesting to your prospect base and your prospect base are putting eyeballs on that content, why would you want to dig any deeper?” Culligan advises.
The solution is focusing on directional accuracy rather than perfect precision. If marketing activities are reaching the right audiences with relevant messages, and sales results are improving, the activities are working regardless of attribution complexity.
Organizational Politics and Turf Wars
Marketing and sales teams often compete for budget, recognition, and organizational influence. These political dynamics can undermine even well-intentioned alignment efforts.
Success requires strong leadership that rewards collaboration over individual team achievement. “You need to have strong headed marketers to be able to have that argument with a CFO,” Culligan notes, referring to the need for marketing leaders who can advocate for integrated approaches.
Technology Integration Challenges
Many organizations have marketing and sales technologies that don’t integrate well, creating data silos and process gaps. Solving these integration challenges often requires dedicated resources and potentially replacing legacy systems.
Cultural Resistance to Change
“People absolutely hate it. Absolutely hate it. But it’s change,” Culligan acknowledges about the initial resistance to alignment initiatives. Overcoming this resistance requires persistent leadership and clear communication about the benefits of change.
Advanced Alignment Strategies for Enterprise Organizations
Large organizations face unique alignment challenges that require sophisticated approaches beyond basic process improvements.
Multi-Product Alignment
Companies with multiple products or services must develop alignment strategies that take into account the varying buyer journeys, sales processes, and market dynamics. This often requires specialized marketing and sales teams that still maintain overall coordination.
Geographic Market Alignment
Global organizations must align their marketing and sales efforts across different geographic markets, while also accounting for local market conditions, cultural differences, and regulatory requirements.
Channel Partner Alignment
Organizations that sell through channel partners must extend alignment principles to include partner marketing and sales activities. This requires additional communication layers and coordination mechanisms.
The Future of Marketing Sales Alignment
Marketing sales alignment continues evolving as new technologies, buyer behaviors, and business models emerge. Organizations that stay ahead of these trends maintain competitive advantages.
AI and Automation Impact
Artificial intelligence and marketing automation are changing how marketing and sales teams work together. These technologies can improve alignment by providing better data insights, automating routine tasks, and enabling more personalized customer experiences.
Buyer Journey Evolution
B2B buyers increasingly conduct research independently before engaging with sales teams. This trend requires marketing and sales alignment that accounts for self-service buyer journeys while maintaining human touchpoints where they add value.
Revenue Operations Integration
Many organizations are creating dedicated revenue operations teams that manage the intersection between marketing, sales, and customer success. These teams focus specifically on alignment and optimization across the entire customer lifecycle.
Implementation Action Plan
Achieving marketing sales alignment requires systematic implementation with clear milestones and accountability measures. This action plan provides a roadmap for organizations beginning their alignment journey.
Immediate Actions (Week 1-2)
- Conduct alignment assessment to identify current state gaps
- Establish regular communication rhythms between teams
- Create shared definitions for lead qualification and handoff processes
- Implement basic CRM hygiene and data sharing protocols
Short-Term Goals (Month 1-3)
- Develop integrated go-to-market strategies for key accounts
- Create content and messaging frameworks that support both teams
- Implement feedback loops and performance measurement systems
- Begin regular joint planning and strategy sessions
Long-Term Objectives (Month 3-12)
- Scale successful alignment practices across the entire organization
- Develop advanced attribution and performance measurement capabilities
- Create specialized roles and teams focused on alignment coordination
- Build predictable, scalable revenue generation processes
Conclusion: The Transformation Promise
Marketing sales alignment isn’t just about improving coordination between two teams—it’s about fundamentally transforming how organizations approach revenue generation. The 208% revenue gap between aligned and misaligned companies represents one of the largest opportunities for B2B growth acceleration.
“Marketing at the end of the day is still a support function to help sellers sell better,” Culligan emphasizes. “We’re there to make it easier for when people are picking up the phone that they know who we are.”
Organizations that embrace this collaborative approach, implement systematic alignment processes, and maintain focus on shared revenue objectives will find themselves with sustainable competitive advantages that compound over time.
The path to alignment requires disrupting comfortable silos, implementing new processes, and maintaining persistent focus on collaboration. But for organizations willing to make this investment, the results speak for themselves: predictable growth, improved efficiency, and the kind of revenue machine that turns marketing and sales from cost centers into profit drivers.
The choice is clear: continue operating with misaligned teams and accept 208% less revenue growth, or implement proven alignment strategies that transform marketing and sales into an integrated revenue generation engine. The companies that choose alignment will define the next generation of B2B success.
Some areas we explore in this episode include:
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Related links and resources
- Check out Andy’s website
- Learn from Mike LaRusso – The Alliance Process: Sales Prospecting Techniques That Drives 60X Results
- Learn from Dayna Williams – Blueprint For Stress-free B2B Sales Teams—Yours, Today (From a Sales Leader With 20+ Years of Experience.)
- Learn from Jason Shafton – B2B Growth Marketing: Building High-Performing Tech Brands
- Learn from Chase Friedman – Build a Purpose-Driven Brand Without Breaking Your Marketing Budget (Without Costly Rebrands or Guesswork)
- Learn from Pete Steege – Small Tests, Big Wins: Iterative Agile Marketing Secrets Revealed
- Check out the article – Sales Flywheel: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Approach that Works Best for Your Business
- Check out the article – 7 Simple Steps to Generate High-Quality B2B Sales Leads
- Check out the article – The Complete Guide to Sales and Marketing Alignment: Proven Strategies That Drive Growth
Connect with Andy Culligan
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The Alliance Process: Sales Prospecting Techniques That Drives 60X Results
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