There’s no “I” in team, as they say. That mindset shows up fast when you look at how sales and marketing shape the flow of a business. When those two groups aim in different directions, momentum slips. Goals feel out of sync. The path to new revenue gets harder than it needs to be.
A focus on sales and marketing alignment brings the work back into rhythm. It smooths the funnel and gives both sides a clearer way to move work forward. And as you’ll see, the numbers make a strong case for why that alignment counts in 2026.
Sales and marketing alignment is simply the act of the sales and marketing teams working together toward a common goal.
Sales and marketing goal alignment helps a B2B business thrive. It helps improve collaboration, communication, efficiency, and transparency. The ultimate goal for this alignment is to improve the number of sales and highly qualified leads being generated.
Having these two teams aligned is a huge advantage for companies, especially for those investing heavily in marketing.
Want to know more about the benefit of sales and marketing alignment? Check out these 10 stats to help persuade you:
These sales and marketing alignment stats highlight how alignment shapes performance across the entire revenue process:
With a better understanding of the importance of sales and marketing alignment, you’re probably wondering where to start.
Luckily, there are some B2B sales and marketing alignment best practices that you can follow to immediately begin improving your team’s coordination:
Your alignment is certain to fail if both teams don’t have the same target audience in mind. To make this simple, have your sales and marketing team work together to create a buyer persona.
A buyer persona is one of the best sales and marketing alignment tools available to you, and creates an easy-to-navigate roadmap for the rest of your campaign.
Once your marketing and sales teams are aligned, a win for one is a win for both. Therefore, set some KPIs that are relevant and measurable for both teams.
These KPIs don’t all have to be the same for both teams, but should all work toward a common goal. For example, “deals closed” could be a KPI for the sales team, while “lead quality” could be a KPI for the marketing team. The two KPIs are different, but work together to reach the same goal.
Content marketing is one of the most effective B2B marketing strategies. The majority of marketers nowadays use content marketing for every stage of the buyer’s journey and sales funnel.
One of the biggest perks of content marketing is it allows you to provide your readers with valuable assets in exchange for contact information. With proper coordination, the sales and marketing team can work together to decide what those assets will be, and what the goal is for each asset.
Shared tools give both teams a stable way to work from the same information. When data lives in one place and updates stay consistent, alignment is easier to maintain as deals move forward.
HubSpot acts as the central source of truth. Contacts, notes, emails, meetings, and deal activity land in the same system, which keeps both teams aware of ongoing work.
AskElephant helps capture meeting details without relying on memory. Reps can record conversations, and the tool organizes what was discussed so important information stays available.
Supered reinforces the steps teams follow in the CRM. Process prompts, documentation, and in-app guidance show up where people need them and support consistent habits.
These sales and marketing alignment stats show how much clarity you gain when both teams move with the same intent. Alignment steadies communication and removes a lot of the friction that slows progress.
As you plan for 2026, keep alignment at the front of your process. A shared path gives your teams a stronger pace and a clearer way to guide prospects forward.
A structured audit helps you see where your marketing supports alignment and where it needs attention. This free guide walks you through the process step by step:
This article was originally published in April of 2021 and was recently updated to reflect current industry trends.