This is what I see far too often in B2B companies looking to scale…
The pipeline looks healthy on paper.
Marketing’s done its job, right?
Leads are coming in.
Sales should be smiling.
But instead, often it’s…
“They’re not the right kind of leads” or “They ghost us after the first call”.
So, you might not have a lead volume problem, but you do have a lead quality problem.
And in my experience, it pretty much always comes down to this…
Your messaging isn’t landing with the right people because your sales and marketing teams aren’t talking to each other enough (maybe not at all).
When sales and marketing don’t talk, growth pays the price
The real cost of sales and marketing not talking… It hurts the bottom line.
According to Forrester, 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process.
That’s not because your product’s wrong.
It’s because your message doesn’t hit the mark.
When sales and marketing don’t work together, you get content and messaging built on guesswork.
Marketing writes based on what they think customers care about.
Sales hear what customers actually say.
That gap? That’s where deals die.
- You attract people who aren’t ready
- You speak to problems they don’t have
- You sound like every other supplier in your space
And it shows up in your messaging, the content which your prospective customers see.
And that’s a problem.
You’re losing leads before you even speak to them.
Red flags you’ve got a messaging problem masquerading as a lead generation issue
- High lead volume, but low conversion ratesLeads stall or disappear halfway through the funnel
- Feedback from sales is vague or negative
- Leads don’t match your ideal customer profile
- Your website gets traffic, but enquiries are crickets
- Sales are out there finding their own leads because they don’t trust what marketing sends
- You’ve rebranded three times this year trying to “fix the message”
Are you facing similar challenges? Tell me in the comments.
The fix isn’t more leads, it’s better alignment
McKinsey’s ninth global B2B Pulse survey reveals a paradigm shift in buyer behaviour that necessitates better alignment. “Today’s B2B decision-makers use an average of 10.2 channels in their buying journey – more than double the five channels used in 2016.”
This is something we’re working on right now with one of our clients.
They’re growing fast and about to turn on the taps for more demand.
But they already know the risk, volume without quality means more wasted time and a sales team buried in noise.
Mark Ritson nails it, “When you work for a business, you cease to be the customer.”
So what did we do?
We brought their business development lead into the conversation.
He’s on the front line. He knows what customers are actually asking.
We also lined up direct calls with a few of their customers to hear it for ourselves.
That’s where the gold is.
These real conversations with real customers highlight the actual pains and gains that matter to buyers, not the ones we assumed.
And now, we’re baking that insight into the messaging, campaigns, and content.
That’s how you stop your marketing from sounding like a brochure and start making it sound like a conversation your customer actually wants to have.
These aren’t abstract ideas, they’re simple truths.
And they all point to the same thing… Alignment is everything.
As Dave Gerhardt from Exit Five puts it, “Get your cross-functional alignment sorted BEFORE you build your marketing plan.”
Here’s how to align teams and fix the growth problem
This is what we recommend to clients when they hit the growth wall:
1. Bring sales and marketing into the same room
Literally.
Not for an away day. Not for a brainstorm.
Just sit down and talk. Weekly. Honestly.
2. Listen to your sales team
They’re the ones hearing it daily.
Ask them:
- What’s stopping people from buying?
- What do great-fit leads have in common?
- What language do buyers actually use?
3. Talk to customers
Not surveys. Not feedback forms.
Real calls. Real insight.
What they say will often surprise you, and shape how you sell.
4. Update your messaging
Based on what you learn.
Your website, emails, ads and social posts. Everything should reflect what real customers care about.
5. Make your lead generation work smarter
Don’t just chase more clicks or MQLs.
Use buyer intent signals. Refine targeting. And track quality, not just quantity.
6. Create shared goals
Don’t let sales and marketing work to different scoreboards.
If everyone’s chasing different outcomes, no one wins.
My final thoughts
B2B companies that have strong leadership and create a real partnership between sales and marketing go further, faster.
The first step? Drop the egos. Get in the same room. Listen.
Sales have the gold – marketing needs to shape the story around it.
That’s how you stop guessing and start growing.
Aligned messaging. Better-fit customers. Repeatable growth.
Tell me, how often do your sales and marketing department heads get in the same room to share insights? Drop it in the comments.
Ready to fix the growth problem?
If you’ve been pushing for more leads and still not seeing better results, maybe it’s time to ask a better question…
“Do we really know what our best customers actually care about?”
If the answer is “I think so”… Let’s sort that out, properly.
Book a Strategy Workshop Day with me now.
Let’s spend a day together aligning your sales and marketing, uncovering real customer insights, and building messaging that lands.
