Sales Vs Marketing

Growth doesn’t come from winning internal arguments -Alex has advice on building ONE revenue team.

In the race to grow a B2B SaaS business, few internal dynamics are as damaging, or as misunderstood, as the relationship between sales and marketing. Too often, I have seen these teams operate in silos, quietly (sometimes loudly) blaming each other when growth stalls.

Marketing says sales doesn’t follow up on leads. Sales says marketing delivers low-quality prospects. This “sales vs. marketing” mindset is sadly common, but it’s fundamentally incompatible with sustainable SaaS growth.

The companies that I have seen and worked with that scale successfully make a clear shift: from competition to collaboration, from handoffs to shared ownership, and from functional metrics to revenue outcomes. In short, they embrace sales and marketing as a single, aligned Go-To-Market Engine.

The Modern B2B Buyer Demands Alignment

The traditional funnel, where marketing generates awareness and sales closes deals, is no longer a viable reality.

Today’s B2B SaaS buyers are informed, independent, and, dare I say it, sceptical. By the time they talk to sales, they’ve often researched competitors, read reviews, consumed thought leadership, and formed strong opinions.

Marketing influences this entire pre-sales journey, shaping perception, trust, and intent. Sales then enters to validate value, understand nuanced pain points, and guide the buying decision. When these two teams are misaligned, the buyer experience breaks, messaging changes mid-journey, expectations don’t match reality, and credibility erodes.

Aligned teams, on the other hand, create continuity. The story marketing tells in content and campaigns is reinforced in sales conversations. Value propositions feel consistent. Objections are anticipated. Buyers feel understood. In a crowded SaaS market, that consistency is a must-have competitive advantage.

Siloed Teams Create Costly Inefficiencies

I have witnessed firsthand that efficiency has a significant impact on B2B SaaS growth. Customer acquisition costs (CAC), sales cycle length, and conversion rates can make or break a business. When sales and marketing operate independently, inefficiencies will compound quickly.

Marketing may optimise for lead volume rather than pipeline quality. Sales may chase inbound leads that aren’t ready or aligned with the ideal customer profile (ICP). Follow-up may be slow or misinformed. The result is wasted spend, frustrated teams, and missed revenue.

Alignment changes the equation. Sales helps define what “qualified” truly means based on real conversations. Marketing uses that insight to attract and nurture the right buyers. Together, they prioritise accounts, channels, and campaigns that move the needle. Every pound spent on demand generation has a clearer path to revenue.

Shared Goals Drive Better Behavior

In my experience, one of the biggest reasons sales and marketing clash is misaligned incentives. The marketing team is measured on leads, impressions, or traffic. The sales team is measured on closed deals and revenue. When teams are rewarded for different outcomes, friction is inevitable.

High-growth SaaS companies fix this by aligning goals around shared revenue metrics: pipeline, conversion rates, deal velocity, and customer lifetime value. Marketing doesn’t just “throw leads over the fence”, and sales can’t operate in a vacuum. Both teams are accountable for the same outcomes, even if they contribute in different ways.

This shared accountability changes behaviour. Marketing becomes more focused on buyer intent and downstream impact. Sales becomes more engaged earlier in the funnel, offering feedback and insight. Collaboration replaces blame.

Better Alignment Creates a Stronger Feedback Loop

SaaS growth is an iterative, challenging beast. Pricing, positioning, messaging, and even product features evolve based on market feedback. Sales and marketing each see different sides of the customer, but only together do they see the full picture.

Sales uncovers objections, competitive insights, and real-world use cases in live conversations. Marketing sees trends in content engagement, campaign performance, and market demand. When these insights are shared and acted on jointly, the company learns faster, adapts better, and moves faster.

This feedback loop improves not only go-to-market execution but also product strategy and customer retention, which are two pillars of long-term SaaS success.

Sales and Marketing Are One Revenue Team

The fastest-growing B2B SaaS companies no longer treat sales and marketing as separate functions with a handoff between them. They operate as a unified revenue organisation, aligned around the Go-To-Market Engine, the customer journey, and accountable to the same growth goals.

They invest in shared data, shared messaging, shared planning, and shared success. They recognise that growth doesn’t come from winning internal arguments - it comes from winning customers.

If you’re looking to scale a B2B SaaS business, the choice is clear. It’s not sales vs. marketing. It’s sales and marketing, working together to create a consistent buyer experience, drive efficient growth, and build a durable competitive advantage.