Sales and Marketing Alignment: The Revenue Multiplier You Can’t Ignore

Sales and marketing leaders often fantasize about replacing their counterparts. But deep down, they know the truth: they need each other to win.

Mutiny’s State of Sales and Marketing Alignment Report surveyed 500 GTM leaders and found a paradox. While 70% of sales and marketing professionals say they’re “mostly or completely aligned,” day-to-day execution tells a different story. Misaligned teams are 2x more likely to miss revenue targets, while aligned teams are 2.3x more likely to exceed them.

Completely aligned sales and marketing teams are more than twice as likely to exceed revenue targets compared to others.

In other words: alignment isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between hitting pipeline goals and missing the mark.

In this post, we’ll break down the findings of Mutiny’s report, explore the emotional and operational challenges that keep teams apart, and share four proven strategies to close the gap and unlock revenue growth.

Why Alignment Matters More Than Ever

The lines between sales and marketing have blurred. With AI, new GTM tools, and evolving buyer expectations, both teams increasingly overlap in account research, customer engagement, and pipeline generation.

Yet, despite working toward the same accounts, alignment still fails. Misaligned teams don’t just create frustration—they cost companies real money. According to Mutiny’s research:

• 42% of fully aligned teams exceeded revenue forecasts, compared to just 18% of all other teams.

• Misaligned teams were 2x more likely to miss their targets compared to aligned ones.

• 97% of leaders believe stronger collaboration would boost revenue, with 78% expecting a game-changing impact.

Nearly all GTM leaders agree: stronger sales–marketing collaboration directly boosts revenue.

The data is clear: revenue grows when sales and marketing collaborate. But knowing that doesn’t make it easy.

The Emotional Gap: Why Teams Distrust Each Other

The emotional layer of alignment is often overlooked. But Mutiny’s study uncovered a sobering truth:

• 81% of sales and marketing professionals have thought about replacing their counterparts.

The trust gap: 81% of sales and marketing professionals have thought about replacing their counterparts

66% leave meetings feeling negative after collaborating with the other team.

This dissatisfaction points to a deeper issue: trust. Sales often feels marketing isn’t driving enough enterprise opportunities. Marketing feels sales fails to follow up on leads. Both think the other doesn’t “get it.”

Yet despite the friction, 72% of respondents are actively working to improve their relationship. The will is there. What’s missing are the right frameworks, processes, and tools to bridge the divide.

The Operational Gap: Where Alignment Breaks Down

When asked whether they were aligned on goals, 70% of teams said yes. But when Mutiny dug deeper into executional alignment, cracks appeared:

Lead handoffs lack clarity. Sales wants better lead quality. Marketing wants better lead follow-up.

Targeting enterprise accounts is inconsistent. 82% say closing enterprise accounts is crucial, yet only 15% of sellers believe marketing is highly effective at generating opportunities there.

Communication and shared data lag. Sellers cite unrealistic expectations and poor communication as top challenges.

In short: strategy alignment exists on paper, but executional misalignment kills results.

Four Proven Tactics to Drive Alignment

Based on our research, here are four tactics every GTM team can implement to drive alignment and revenue impact.

1. Nail Your Target Accounts

If sales and marketing can’t agree on target accounts, nothing else matters.

What to do: Build a shared, tiered account list based on clear criteria that both teams agree on.

Example: Score accounts by fit (ICP), intent signals, and revenue potential. Create shared dashboards so both teams track progress in real time.

Playbook: See Mutiny’s ABM Playmaker on building target lists.

2. Communicate More Effectively

Miscommunication is the fastest way to kill deals.

What to do: Establish a single source of truth for account intelligence. Both teams should see the same engagement data, buyer needs, and conversion signals.

Tip: Shared dashboards in Salesforce or a dedicated ABM platform like Mutiny can eliminate “he said, she said” moments and keep teams aligned.

3. Work Together on the Buying Experience

Enterprise buyers expect seamless experiences across every touchpoint. If sales and marketing aren’t aligned, the buying journey feels fragmented.

What to do: Host joint account planning sessions. Build campaign strategies and personalized landing pages together.

Example: In our customer playbook, Redis Enterprise broke into new accounts by running coordinated ABM plays with marketing-led campaigns and sales-led outreach working in tandem.

👉 See the Redis playbook: Enterprise account expansion.

4. Improve Lead Handoffs

Poor lead handoffs are one of the most common—and costly—sources of misalignment.

What to do: Create transparent rules for lead scoring, qualification, and follow-up. Document and share these across both teams.

Tip: Use automated alerts when high-intent accounts engage (e.g., visiting a pricing page) so sales can jump in with context.

Mutiny’s Role: Turning Alignment Into Pipeline

Alignment isn’t achieved with another meeting. It requires systems that both marketing and sales trust.

That’s where Mutiny comes in. With Mutiny, revenue teams can:

Give every account a 1:1 personalized experience across landing pages, ads, and sales outreach.

Share real-time account insights so sales knows exactly when and how to follow up.

Customers who adopt Mutiny’s platform see stronger enterprise penetration, faster pipeline acceleration, and a cultural shift from finger-pointing to collaborating.

External Perspectives

Mutiny’s findings echo what other B2B leaders are seeing in the market:

McKinsey notes that companies with tightly aligned GTM teams see up to 15% faster revenue growth than peers (source).

Forrester reports that aligned sales and marketing teams achieve 36% higher customer retention (source).

Salesforce highlights that organizations with strong sales-marketing alignment achieve 38% higher win rates (source).

Clearly, the path to stronger growth is paved with alignment.

Conclusion: From One-to-Won

Sales and marketing may not always love each other—but they need each other. And when they work in unison, the results are undeniable.

The data says it all: alignment drives pipeline. Misalignment kills it.

So the question isn’t whether you can afford to invest in sales and marketing alignment. It’s whether you can afford not to.

👉 Ready to see how aligned teams unlock revenue? Book a Mutiny demo.