Leads are moving, trust isn't
- Sales says marketing leads aren't sales-ready; marketing says sales isn't following up.
- "Qualified" means something different depending on who you ask.
- Leads disappear after handoff with no visibility into what happened.
- Marketing is measured on volume, sales is measured on revenue, and neither measure moves the other.
- There's no shared, regular forum where both functions review the same pipeline.
Building the shared language both sides will use
01
Why alignment breaks down
Most alignment problems aren't personality problems — they're definition problems. Different teams optimising for different, unreconciled measures of success will always produce friction, regardless of how well people get along.
02
Diagnosing the gap
Where in the funnel trust actually breaks — definition, handoff, follow-up, or reporting — using pipeline data and structured conversations with both functions rather than assumption.
03
A shared definition of qualified
A jointly agreed, documented definition of a qualified lead that both functions had a hand in building, so it survives beyond the meeting where it was agreed.
04
A working service-level agreement
Marketing commits to a volume and quality of qualified leads; sales commits to a response time and follow-up standard; both are reported against the same numbers.
05
A cadence that sustains it
A recurring, joint review forum where both functions look at the same pipeline data — so alignment survives past the initial project, rather than decaying within a quarter.
Proof this is work XL has done
Senior marketing leadership roles working directly alongside sales leadership at Vodacom and Dimension Data/NTT.
Internal-communications and change-alignment work delivered with Dimension Data and Vodacom Business Africa.
B2B marketing leadership at PayU, working across regional sales structures.
Building and running the commercial and marketing functions together at Xplora Luxe.
What you receive
A single set of definitions both teams accept: qualification, stages, ownership. A handover process that preserves the buyer's context rather than transferring a status. Messaging that holds across the join. A measurement framework showing where value is created and where it leaks.
Typically 4–6 weeks.
Questions worth answering directly
What causes marketing and sales misalignment?
Misalignment usually comes from different definitions of a qualified lead, disconnected measures of success, weak handoff processes, and a lack of shared visibility into what happens to a lead after marketing hands it over.
How do you fix a broken lead handoff?
Fixing a handoff starts with a jointly agreed definition of a qualified lead, a documented handoff process, shared visibility into pipeline stages, and a regular forum where both functions review what is and is not converting.
What is a service-level agreement between marketing and sales?
A marketing-to-sales service-level agreement is a documented, mutual commitment — marketing commits to a volume and quality of qualified leads, sales commits to a response time and follow-up standard, and both sides report against it.
Who should own the definition of a qualified lead?
The definition should be owned jointly. A definition set by marketing alone is often rejected by sales in practice; a definition set by sales alone often ignores what marketing can realistically influence.
How long does it take to fix alignment problems?
Structural alignment — shared definitions, an agreed handoff process and a review cadence — can typically be established within a single quarter. Sustaining it requires ongoing joint reporting rather than a one-time fix.
Ready to work through where the handoff is breaking down?
The first conversation is a structured discussion about the decision, the evidence behind it and the next move — not an immediate proposal.