Sales and marketing leaders are operating in one of the most demanding environments we’ve seen in years. Budgets are tighter, buying cycles are longer, and nearly every initiative is expected to show a clear connection to revenue.
In this environment, one pattern shows up consistently across high-performing B2B tech organizations: when marketing and sales are fully aligned on revenue metrics and actually work together, pipeline moves faster. When they’re not, even well-funded teams struggle to gain traction.
I recently hosted a webinar, ‘Marketing that keeps sales moving forward’, where we explored this challenge alongside CROs and CMOs working inside fast-growing and scaling B2B tech companies. After hearing the same issues surface again and again – pipeline pressure, misaligned expectations, and unclear handoffs – I wanted to pull together the most practical insights GTM leaders can apply right now to keep pipeline moving (while keeping budgets on track)
1 – Alignment is not a ‘nice to have’
In today’s market, misalignment is no longer just inefficient. It is expensive. When marketing optimizes for lead volume while sales prioritizes deal quality and velocity, the outcome is predictable: poor conversion rates, longer sales cycles, and growing frustration across teams.
The most effective teams align earlier, at the strategy level and around shared pipeline and revenue goals, beyond MQLs. Marketing plans are built around the realities of the sales motion, not just funnel math. That means understanding deal size, buying committees, sales cycle length, and customer lifetime value before defining channels, campaigns, or content.
Alignment isn’t about more MQLs or more meetings. It’s about all teams working together to achieve the same goals: pipeline, revenue, deal velocity and LTV.
2 – Revenue-driven marketing starts with clarity, not activity
One of the biggest mistakes GTM teams make under pressure is equating motion with progress. More campaigns, more leads, more activity – without a clear line back to revenue impact.
High-performing marketing teams start by answering a few hard questions:
- What part of the funnel are we trying to influence?
- What behavior needs to change to move deals forward?
- How will we know this effort worked?
ROI discipline doesn’t mean every initiative must generate immediate pipeline. It does mean there is a clear business case for why the work matters – whether it supports near-term revenue or lays the foundation for future growth.
Data plays a critical role here, but numbers alone are not enough. The strongest strategies combine quantitative insight with qualitative feedback from sales conversations, customers, and lost deals. That combination is what turns reporting into decision-making.
3 – When budgets are tight, the middle of the funnel matters more than ever
When resources are constrained, many teams instinctively push harder at the top of the funnel. In practice, that often creates more noise without improving outcomes.
In B2B tech, the biggest bottlenecks frequently sit in the middle of the funnel. Deals stall because:
- Prospects lack confidence
- Messaging doesn’t clearly articulate value
- Sales teams don’t have the right proof points at the right time
Improving mid-funnel assets i.e. case studies, customer stories, validation content, and sales enablement can have an outsized impact on conversion rates and deal velocity.
The same thinking applies to events. Large conferences may deliver visibility, but smaller, targeted gatherings often drive higher-quality conversations. Intimate breakfasts, roundtables, or executive sessions give sales teams space to build trust and move deals forward more effectively.
Another overlooked lever is social selling. Encouraging founders and senior leaders to be more visible can build credibility faster than paid campaigns, particularly in complex B2B buying environments where trust plays a central role.
4 – Optimize before you ask for more
Before requesting additional budget, leading teams take a hard look at what they already have.
Tech stack sprawl is common, especially in growing organizations. A simple audit often reveals underutilized tools, overlapping capabilities, or unused licenses that can be eliminated. Reallocating that spend into higher-impact GTM activity not only improves efficiency but it signals commercial discipline to executive leadership.
Partnerships are another lever. Co-marketing with complementary vendors allows teams to extend reach, share costs, and access new audiences without significantly increasing spend.
5 – Brand and demand are not opposites
A recurring tension in GTM organizations is the perceived trade-off between brand and demand. In reality, the two exist on a spectrum.
Strong brand activity creates familiarity and trust, which makes demand generation more effective over time. Meanwhile, consistent demand programs reinforce brand visibility in-market.
The challenge arises when expectations are misaligned internally. Brand work rarely delivers immediate leads, which can frustrate sales teams if that context isn’t clearly communicated. The solution is transparency: setting clear objectives, timelines, and success metrics upfront. One of the most effective ways to validate brand impact is simply asking buyers how they heard about you. Self-attribution often surfaces podcasts, content, communities, or conversations that traditional attribution models miss entirely.
6 – SDRs are the bridge between marketing and sales
One of the clearest indicators of strong alignment is how closely SDRs and marketing work together.
When SDRs understand campaign intent and are enabled to lead with education such as content, events, insights rather than jumping straight to pushing demos, engagement improves and sales cycles shorten. Industry data shows that accounts influenced by both marketing and SDRs shorten sales cycles by 36% compared to those driven by either function alone.
Just as important, SDRs are a critical feedback loop. Their exposure to real objections, pain points, and buying behavior should directly inform messaging, positioning, and content strategy.
Final Thoughts: An Alignment Checklist You Can Use Today
Marketing and sales alignment is not a one-time initiative. It is an ongoing leadership decision that directly impacts pipeline velocity and revenue efficiency.
Based on the above, here are actions GTM leaders can put in place immediately:
- Review the funnel to identify where deals stall before increasing lead volume
- Set shared success metrics, such as Pipeline, Revenue and deal velocity
- Ensure SDRs are fully enabled with campaign context, content, and events
- Audit your tech stack and reallocate spend from unused tools into GTM activity
- If budgets are tight, prioritize smaller, targeted events over large, expensive sponsorships
- Encourage leaders and customer-facing teams to be active on social channels like LinkedIn, to amplify your company’s message
- Create regular feedback loops between sales, SDRs, and marketing
If you’d like to go deeper, the on-demand webinar Marketing That Keeps Sales Moving Forward, explores these ideas in more detail.
Because when marketing and sales move together, pipeline doesn’t just grow, it moves faster.
