When marketing produces leads but sales don't convert

And the two teams blame each other

Do you recognize this situation?

• Marketing says: "We give you 100 leads a month!"
• Sales says: "But they're all shit leads!"
• Marketing budget increasing, conversion rate declining
• Continuous tension between the two teams
• No one takes responsibility for results

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The conflict between marketing and sales

Marketing produces numbers.

Leads, impressions, clicks, downloads.
Positive metrics, enthusiastic reports.

But when sales try to call those leads, reality is different:

• "I don't know who you are"
• "I just downloaded a guide"
• "I have no budget"
• "Call me back in 6 months"

And the war begins: marketing accuses sales of not knowing how to sell.
Sales accuses marketing of bringing garbage.

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What happens when marketing and sales are misaligned

On the economic front:

• Marketing budget spent on leads that don't convert
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC) explodes
• Marketing ROI impossible to measure
• Continuous investments without proportional results

On the operational front:

• Sales wastes time on cold leads
• Marketing optimizes wrong metrics
• No functioning feedback loop
• Separate processes, not integrated

On the cultural front:

• Two teams fighting instead of collaborating
• Continuous finger pointing
• Widespread demotivation
• The best leave tired of the chaos

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Why it happens

The problem is neither marketing nor sales.
It's the absence of alignment on what "qualified lead" means.

Marketing measures quantity.
Sales wants quality.
But no one has clearly defined what a lead worth following is.

And without shared definition, everyone pulls for themselves:

• Marketing wants numbers to put in reports
• Sales wants prospects ready to buy immediately
• Both disappointed, no one responsible for final result

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The (wrong) path many try

Apparent solution: Increase marketing budget to "make more volume"

But more volume of wrong leads = more time wasted.
The problem isn't solved with scale, but with alignment.

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The 5-step method:

1. Shared definition of qualified lead
   → Not "downloaded ebook", but "has budget, authority, need, timeline" (BANT)
   → Marketing and sales decide TOGETHER
2. Transparent lead scoring
   → Objective scoring system
   → Sales follows only leads above threshold
   → Marketing optimizes for lead score, not volume
3. Structured feedback loop
   → Sales communicates to marketing what happens to leads
   → Marketing adjusts targeting based on real data
   → Continuous optimization cycle
4. Shared metrics
   → Not "leads generated" vs "deals closed"
   → But "SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)" and "revenue generated"
   → Both responsible for same result
5. Integrated processes, not silos
   → Marketing accompanies lead to sales (lead nurturing)
   → Sales gives feedback to marketing to refine messages
   → One funnel, not two separate phases

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What changes after

Marketing and sales become one machine.

Leads are few but good.
Sales converts more because they work on qualified prospects.
Marketing is measured on business results, not vanity metrics.

And above all, internal wars end.
One team, one goal: growth.