Why Marketing and Sales Need to Be Looking at the Same Problem
Marketing can hit its goals while the business misses its goals. That’s one reason I’m careful about calling a campaign successful just because the report looks good. More traffic, more form submissions, and a lower cost per lead don’t mean much if the people answering those inquiries can’t turn them into useful business.
But I’m just as careful about accepting “the leads are bad” as a complete explanation. Sometimes they are. Sometimes the offer is unclear, the follow-up is slow, or the business is attracting people it was never equipped to serve.
After more than 20 years working across websites, search, advertising, branding, and marketing leadership, I’ve learned to slow down at that point. Before I recommend another tactic, I want to know whether marketing and sales are even trying to solve the same problem.
Different Scorecards Can Hide the Actual Problem
Marketing usually has plenty of numbers available: search rankings, website visits, ad clicks, calls, and form submissions. Sales has another set: appointments, proposals, closed business, and reasons people didn’t buy.
Neither view is enough by itself.
A campaign might generate inquiries at a reasonable cost while attracting the wrong type of work. A sales team might dismiss a source because its leads take longer to make a decision, even though those prospects are a good fit. Without connecting the two views, either department can reach a conclusion that sounds reasonable but sends the business in the wrong direction.
I don’t think the answer is making everyone responsible for every number. Marketing still needs to understand campaign performance. Sales still needs to manage conversations and follow-through.
The answer is agreeing on the business problem those numbers are supposed to help explain.
“Generate more leads” is a task. “Generate more inquiries for a service the business has capacity to deliver, from customers within its service area” gives people something much more useful to work toward.
Start With What Happens to an Inquiry
One of the first things I look at is the path between someone becoming interested and someone becoming a customer. Not just the website portion. The whole path.
Where did the inquiry come from? What did the person ask for? Did anyone respond? Was there a real opportunity? If it didn’t move forward, what happened?
That sounds basic, but it changes the conversation. “Marketing isn’t working” could mean there aren’t enough inquiries. It could also mean plenty of people are calling about a service the company doesn’t offer. Those are different problems with different fixes.
Consider a home service business in Northeast Mississippi. If ads reach people outside the area its crews can reasonably cover, more calls won’t necessarily help. Marketing needs to look at targeting and website service-area language. Sales or the person answering the phone needs to record where those callers are located.
If those same inquiries are coming from the right area but sitting unanswered, changing ad copy won’t fix the main issue.
I want that distinction made before anyone decides to increase the budget or shut down the campaign.
Define a Good Opportunity Before Asking for More
A marketing strategy gets much easier to evaluate once the business agrees on what it wants to attract.
That definition doesn’t need to be complicated. Start with the type of customer, the work being requested, the location, and whether the company can realistically deliver it. Depending on the business, budget, timing, or technical requirements may matter too.
An industrial company may need inquiries that fit its production capabilities. A professional services firm may need prospects with a particular business problem. An HVAC company may need to distinguish repair requests from replacement opportunities because staffing and follow-up differ.
Those details belong in marketing decisions, not just sales conversations. They influence search terms, website content, advertising, and the questions asked on an inquiry form.
I also think leaders need to separate “not qualified” from “not ready yet.” Someone researching a substantial purchase may be a legitimate future customer. Treating every person who doesn’t buy immediately as a bad lead can push marketing toward short-term activity that misses good opportunities.
Define both the fit and the stage. Otherwise, people will keep using the same word to describe very different situations.
The Website Is Part of the Sales Conversation
My career started in graphic design and art direction, so I care about how a business presents itself. But after launching more than 100 websites, I don’t judge a site only by how it looks.
I want to know what expectations it creates.
If the website describes the company one way and the sales conversation describes it another way, the prospect has to sort out the difference. That can create confusion about price, capabilities, availability, or what happens next.
A site that presents a specialized service as a broad, inexpensive offering may attract people who were never a good fit. A site that leaves out useful capabilities may cause qualified buyers to leave before asking a question.
This is why I want sales input before website copy is considered finished. What do prospects misunderstand? What information do they repeatedly need? What makes a project unsuitable?
The website doesn’t have to answer every possible question. It should answer enough of the right ones that the first conversation starts in a better place.
Look at Actual Inquiries Together
I’d rather review a handful of recent inquiries with useful context than spend an hour admiring a dashboard nobody can connect to business outcomes.
Start with a manageable sample. Include opportunities that moved forward, ones that stalled, and ones that clearly weren’t a fit. Look for the source when it’s known, the request, the follow-up, and the outcome.
Be honest about missing information. If nobody knows why a prospect disappeared, record that as unknown. Don’t turn an unanswered question into proof that an advertising channel failed.
Sales feedback also needs more detail than “bad lead.” Was the request outside the service area? Was the prospect looking for something else? Was pricing the issue? Did the business respond after the person had already hired someone?
Marketing needs to bring the same level of detail. Which search terms triggered the ads? What did the landing page promise? Did the form make it easy to explain the request, or did it leave the person answering it with almost nothing to work from?
A shared spreadsheet can be enough to start. Better software may help later, but it won’t fix vague definitions or missing follow-up notes.
Choose the Next Priority, Not Another Pile of Tasks
This is where leadership matters. Getting marketing and sales into a meeting isn’t the outcome. Making a better decision is.
If the review shows that most unsuitable inquiries concern one service the business doesn’t provide, address the source of that confusion. That might mean changing ad targeting, rewriting a page, or making the offer more specific.
If qualified prospects repeatedly stall because they don’t understand the process, useful next steps might include clearer website content and a better explanation during follow-up.
If good inquiries aren’t receiving timely responses, assign responsibility for responding before buying more traffic.
I prefer to leave that discussion with one main problem, a named person responsible for the next step, and a date to review what happened. Agree on what evidence would show improvement, too.
Not everything will be solved in a month. Some sales cycles take much longer. But the business should still be able to tell whether the agreed change happened and whether early signs support continuing it.
That’s how a marketing strategy becomes a set of choices instead of an expanding list of activities.
Bottom Line
I don’t expect marketing and sales to see everything the same way. Their different perspectives are useful. But they need to agree on which problem deserves attention next.
Before adding another campaign, review what happens to the inquiries already coming in. Define a good opportunity, find where progress breaks down, and give someone responsibility for addressing it. Sometimes the business needs more demand. Sometimes it needs to handle existing demand better. Knowing the difference is a leadership decision.
Brian "JR" Williamson
Founder & Marketing Director
20+ Years in Marketing Strategy • SEO • Websites • Brand & Digital Growth
Florence / The Shoals, Alabama
Jackson, Tennessee
