Remember the last time your marketing team praised the quality of sales leads, or your sales team commended marketing’s efforts? If this sounds familiar, count yourself among the fortunate few. According to the “State of Marketing 2024” HubSpot report, over 60% of companies still grapple with this departmental disconnect.
“The biggest misconception is treating marketing and sales as separate entities – one responsible for leads, the other for closing deals. In reality, both departments drive business growth, albeit through different means,” says Leonid Malysh, Director of Data and Analytics at Xsolla, a leading payment platform in the gaming industry. With over a decade of experience in scaling technology companies, Malysh has demonstrated the power of this approach. At Xsolla, his team achieved substantial improvements, including a reduction in lead costs and lead processing time, underscoring the tangible benefits of effective marketing-sales collaboration.
When departments operate in isolation, it’s not just company morale that suffers. Money leaks through countless cracks: marketing generates expensive leads that sales deem “cold”, whilst sales teams waste time pursuing prospects that marketing could have attracted more cost-effectively. Meanwhile, customers receive inconsistent messaging and lose their way through the purchase journey.
Data clearly demonstrates that companies with effective marketing-sales alignment experience growth rates surpassing those of their competitors by approximately 20%. They spend 30% less on customer acquisition and boast 36% better retention rates. Some organisations even manage to double their revenue simply by fostering effective interdepartmental collaboration.
But how does one achieve this in practice? Which tools prove most effective? And where should one begin?
Building bridges between marketing and sales is no small feat, especially when departments have operated under separate rules and metrics for years. However, the foundation for change can start with something quite straightforward.
“A practical starting point is to adopt unified success metrics across both departments,” Malysh explains. “If marketing pursues lead volume whilst sales focuses solely on closed deals, conflict is inevitable. We need shared metrics that reflect each team’s genuine contribution to business growth.”
Successful integration hinges on a unified performance measurement system. Customer acquisition cost becomes a shared metric for both departments. Conversion time from first touch to closed deal demonstrates collaborative effectiveness. Lead quality and customer lifetime value guide strategic decisions about channel development.
“When we shifted from evaluating marketing by lead quantity to lead quality and final deal value, everything changed dramatically,” says the expert. “We discovered that seemingly expensive leads from certain channels actually delivered faster returns than cheaper alternatives. This completely transformed our budget allocation approach.”
The second cornerstone of success lies in creating a unified customer journey process. The path from initial contact to deal closure must be transparent to both departments. Here, a well-structured lead qualification system plays a crucial role. “Good lead” criteria are established collaboratively, with the evaluation system regularly reviewed based on actual results.
“One of our most effective tools has been joint deal reviews,” notes Malysh. “When marketers see how their leads convert into customers, and sales teams understand where the highest-quality enquiries originate, we achieve that often-elusive mutual understanding.”
Regular data exchange between departments is essential. Weekly team meetings, shared analytics access, and collaborative sales funnel analysis create a foundation for informed decision-making. This enables swift adjustments to both departments’ strategies and tactics.
“Our biggest challenge wasn’t implementing new metrics or processes, but changing team mindsets,” the director admits. “However, once people witness how shared goals drive better results, resistance transforms into enthusiasm. The key is starting small – choose one or two key indicators, focus on them, and build upon initial successes.”
In practice, this approach works remarkably well: Xsolla’s Opener Programme not only accelerated marketing decision-making from three days to one but also established a transparent motivation system for both departments. As team members align around the same figures and understand how their work impacts overall results, conflicts naturally dissolve.
In today’s business landscape, data is invaluable, but only if properly harvested and refined. “Most companies don’t lack data – they lack the ability to use it effectively,” Malysh observes. “Often, marketing and sales operate with separate datasets that never intersect.”
The technological stack for effective departmental collaboration needn’t be complex. A basic setup includes a robust CRM system and business analytics tools. The crucial factor is integration – these systems must work in concert to provide a comprehensive view of the customer journey.
“An effective analytical system should answer fundamental questions: where did the customer come from, what was the acquisition cost, how long did the decision-making take, and what value did they bring to the company?” Malysh explains. “At Xsolla, we developed a regional product analysis model – essentially a map showing the effectiveness of our solutions across different territories. This system reveals which products resonate in specific regions and which fail to gain traction. For instance, what sells brilliantly in Asia might fall flat in Latin America. With this detailed insight, we stopped investing in promoting products in unreceptive markets and focused on promising opportunities.”
The result? The company saved over a million dollars in marketing expenditure. It’s a prime example of how well-structured analytics drives precise business decisions and efficient budget allocation.
In the wake of iOS 14’s privacy changes and the decline of third-party cookies, technology’s role has shifted dramatically. ‘We had to completely rethink our approach,’ Leonid explains, pulling up a dashboard on his screen. ‘The tools that worked in 2022 – like broad-based pixel tracking – simply don’t cut it anymore. Now we’re focusing on first-party data and intent signals”.
“However, be wary of automating for automation’s sake,” the expert cautions. “Technology should solve real business problems, not create new ones. Start with tracking basic metrics and gradually increase complexity as needed.”
Even the most sophisticated technology proves worthless without proper implementation. How does one translate theory into tangible business results?
“Business success is measured in pounds and pence, not fancy dashboards,” states Malysh. “When discussing marketing-sales synergy, the crucial question is how it impacts revenue.”
But what does success actually look like? During a recent team meeting at Xsolla’s KL office, a junior marketing analyst raised this exact question. Malysh’s response was illuminating: he pulled up three years of acquisition data, pointing to a sharp downward trend in customer acquisition costs. ‘This,’ he said, tapping the screen, ‘this is what happens when teams truly work together.’
The second indicator is accelerated sales cycles. “We’ve seen time-to-close halve in some cases,” Leonid shares. “This happens because marketing begins laying the groundwork for sales early on, providing potential customers with exactly the information they need at each stage.”
Monitoring qualified lead-to-sale conversion rates proves particularly crucial. Growth in this metric directly demonstrates that departments have learned to speak the same language. For instance, implementing the unified Xsolla Funnel system led to a year-on-year growth exceeding 30%. When every stage of the customer journey remains transparent to all departments, efficiency naturally improves.
Understanding technology and processes only tells half the story. “Any organisational change is fundamentally about people,” Malysh reflects. “You can implement the most advanced tools, but if teams resist changing their established ways of working, you won’t achieve results.”
The key to successful integration lies in fostering a culture of shared success. When each employee understands how their work contributes to overall outcomes, attitudes naturally shift. Marketing teams become invested in what happens to their leads post-handover, whilst sales teams more readily share customer insight.
“We observed an interesting pattern,” Malysh notes. “When teams begin meeting regularly not to assign blame for poor performance, but to collaboratively seek solutions – results improve organically.”
The incentive structure plays a crucial role. Traditional approaches of rewarding marketing for lead volume and sales for closed deals only widen the departmental gap. A system of shared KPIs, where part of the compensation depends on collective achievements, proves far more effective.
“Above all, creating an atmosphere of trust and openness is paramount,” the expert emphasises. “When people feel safe sharing challenges, when they can openly discuss mistakes and learn from them – that creates the foundation for genuine collaboration. In such an environment, even complex changes become more manageable.”
Real progress demands measurable results. In an era where every marketing action and sales step can be tracked and analysed, choosing the right metrics becomes critical.
“Paradoxically, most companies drown in data whilst measuring the wrong things,” Malysh observes. “We tend to track dozens of indicators when three or four key metrics usually suffice for decision-making.”
The first crucial metric is customer acquisition cost across the entire sales funnel. This extends beyond simple advertising spend divided by lead numbers. It encompasses all costs: from first touch to deal closure, including sales and marketing team time.
“The second critical metric is conversion time,” Leonid continues. “Companies often fixate on conversion rates alone, forgetting that a quick sale might prove more profitable than a high conversion rate with a lengthy sales cycle. Time is money, after all.”
The third indicator of successful integration is the ratio of qualified to unqualified leads. Quality here isn’t determined by sales team gut feelings but by concrete parameters: target profile match, purchase readiness, and budget alignment.
“Finally, the most crucial metric is return on investment by acquisition channel,” Malysh emphasises. “When you see the complete picture from first click to revenue, it becomes clear which channels truly perform and which merely create an illusion of effectiveness.”
As we discuss the future of marketing-sales alignment, the impact of generative AI and privacy regulations casts a long shadow. ‘The landscape is shifting faster than ever,’ Malysh notes, referencing the recent changes in EU data protection laws and their impact on B2B marketing strategies. ‘What worked in Southeast Asia last quarter might need complete renovation for European markets today.
“The cardinal sin is resting on one’s laurels,” Malysh warns. “The moment you decide everything’s perfectly optimised, stagnation begins. Continuous improvement isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a business imperative.”
Sustainable growth demands a systematic approach to analysis and process enhancement. Regular sales funnel audits, testing new acquisition channels, and experimenting with content formats should become part of both teams’ daily routines.
“It’s fascinating to observe how interdepartmental dialogue evolves,” Malysh reflects. “What once consisted of mutual grievances now resembles a brainstorming session: How can we improve our results further? What are we missing? What new market opportunities have emerged?”
Maintaining a culture of continuous feedback is fundamental. This extends beyond regular team meetings – it’s about fostering an environment where criticism is welcomed and teams can acknowledge mistakes and swiftly adjust course.
“The future belongs to companies that can adapt quickly,” Malysh concludes. “Technologies will evolve, acquisition channels will come and go, but one principle remains constant: success favours those who work as a unified team, focused on shared objectives.”
In today’s digital era, the traditional boundary between marketing and sales continues to blur. And that’s a positive development.
“The future isn’t about functional separation, but rather intelligent integration,” Malysh summarises. “Artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, automation – these are all tools that enhance our efficiency. However, the critical factor remains people and their ability to leverage these tools intelligently.”
“Ultimately, it boils down to one simple truth,” he concludes. “Your departmental affiliation – whether marketing or sales – matters less than your contribution to business growth. When this mindset becomes embedded in corporate culture, results naturally follow.”
Those organisations that embrace this philosophy sooner rather than later will reap the greatest benefits from the transformative changes ahead.
