Bridge the gap between marketing and sales

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Companies that align marketing and sales grow their revenue faster, are more profitable, and are a lot better at closing deals.

The fact that marketing and sales are siloed functions, especially in knowledge-heavy B2B organizations, is costing you dearly.

So, let’s talk about bridging that gap. 

But first, a bit of history…

To understand where the gap is coming from, you need to appreciate that marketing was in fact born out of abundance.

The Second Industrial Revolution (from the late 19th century until the early 20th century) was a phase of scientific discoveries, standardisation and mass production. 

If you had a good and affordable product back then, it would literally sell itself. Simply because demand exceeded supply.

But then, mass production became widespread. Supply began to exceed demand. And competition increased. Companies had to shift their focus from manufacturing enough to selling what they had made.

This then evolved into something else: understanding (potential) clients’ needs and wants before developing a solution.

From the mid-1950s on, creating, delivering, and communicating superior client value became the key to organizational success.

So, the marketing function evolved. Separate from sales, which evolved as well.

And here we are, a full century after the industrial revolution… 

In an era, where standing out from the crowd is almost impossible and closing a deal requires you to be a seasoned subject matter expert. No wonder there’s a gap between marketing and sales.

Okay, so how do we bridge the gap?

Step 1 – Establish shared goals

Marketing and sales may have evolved into separate, specialized functions. Their ultimate goal however, has always been the same: generate revenue.

The first step in bridging the gap between marketing and sales is defining common, revenue-based Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

For example:

If you want to double your revenue in 2026, make it explicit: By the end of 2026, we’ve generated € 10 million in revenue.

Then, determine how many times you need to sell your solution in order to achieve that revenue goal.

And from there, reverse-engineer a ‘funnel’ to get an idea of the amount of prospects, leads, and deals you need.

This brings us to step 2.

Step 2 – Structured processes and tools

Although the concept of a ‘marketing & sales funnel’ is widely adopted, I believe the value for knowledge-heavy B2B organizations is limited.

I prefer the idea of a ‘buyer journey’, as it takes a (potential) client’s perspective.

During the awareness phase, a person at a potential client becomes aware of an imminent challenge. In the consideration phase, they consider using your solution (and others) to overcome this challenge. And, in the decision phase, they convince their organization to buy your solution. And become a client.

In order to guide potential clients through the buyer journey, you need different marketing and selling efforts, such as…

• Spotting business opportunities
• Creating awareness for challenge
• Generating demand for solution
• Removing barriers to buy
• Cultivating relationships and trust

In order to bridge the gap between marketing and sales, it’s important to agree on the efforts required to guide prospective clients through their buyer journey.

Agree on… 

• Stages – What does the buyer journey for your clients look like?
• Efforts + responsibilities – In each phase, who in your organization is doing what?
• Labels – What will you call prospective clients in the different phases?
• System – Which single source of truth will you use to log efforts and develop the insights you need to improve your marketing and business development efforts?

Next up? Actually working together!

Step 3 – Cross-functional teams for accounts or solutions

Instead of rallying around an expertise (whether it’s generating demand, removing barriers to buy, or ensuring client success), work together on expanding your portfolio with a key client. Or, focus your combined efforts on bringing a new solution to market.

Build a marketing and business development culture within your organization. By holding recurring commercial meetings to track your progress and celebrate success. By making sure commercial activities are considered equally important as the work you do for clients. And reward these activities in a similar way.

Keep stakeholders engaged, by providing them with regular updates.

Commit to the long term and make sure activities are in line with your organization’s strategy and your desired position in the market.

Let me know what you think!

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Thank you for reading MBD Spark #96, sent on November 27, 2025.