Sales and marketing alignment has been a “priority” for years. And yet, for most organizations, this is still more of an aspiration than a reality.
New data from Unbounce’s “The Anatomy of Aligned Marketing Teams” report shows that only 56% of GTM professionals consider their organizations to be highly aligned, meaning shared goals, shared data, and a unified system. 36% say they are only partially aligned, and 8% remain largely siloed.
Even among the “aligned,” maintaining this state requires constant effort. Alignment is not something teams achieve and evolve from, it is something they must actively maintain.
And too often, these efforts fail before achieving meaningful results.
The biggest problem is technology, not people
If you’re looking for the root cause, start with the battery. More than half of GTM teams (53%) say technology is the biggest barrier to alignment, and only 30% believe their stack actually enables it. It’s a disconnect. Because if your systems don’t work together, neither will your teams.
Most organizations feel reasonably confident in their tools: 44% describe their stack as balanced and efficient, and 24% say it is lean and integrated.
But this confidence does not always hold in practice. Fragmentation, redundancy, and legacy constraints are still common, even in “optimized” environments.
Progress is slow
There is movement in the right direction. About 77% of GTM teams report some roster improvement over the past year. But only a quarter saw significant gains. Meanwhile, 22% saw no improvement or even a decline.
This lack of progress quickly manifests itself in daily operations:
- Missed opportunities.
- Delayed or inconsistent lead tracking.
- Duplicate work.
- confusion around ideal customer profiles.
And ultimately, these internal issues translate into a worse customer experience.
Where alignment efforts stall
A common mistake is to stop at coordination. Teams can communicate more, share updates, and align on goals, but it doesn’t matter if the underlying systems don’t change. This is where the friction lies.
More than half of GTM professionals (53%) cite operational obstacles such as disconnected tools and workflows as their top issue. Additionally, 43% cite misaligned goals or incentives, 40% point to cultural issues such as communication gaps and a lack of trust, and 34% point to structural challenges.
Sales and marketing generally agree on what’s not working, but marketers tend to feel it more acutely. They are more likely to point to disparate tools, inconsistent data, and unclear ownership of KPIs as major issues.
Part of the reason is that marketing relies on longer feedback loops and shared systems to measure performance and plan ahead. When these systems are not aligned, visibility breaks down and decision-making becomes more difficult.
So why don’t companies repair the battery?
If technology is the main obstacle, why not eliminate it? Because changing it is risky.
Teams fear disrupting what is already in place, managing complex data migrations or overcoming executive hesitation. They therefore tolerate imperfect systems and try to circumvent them.
Go here to check out Unbounce’s “The Anatomy of Aligned Marketing Teams.” (No registration required)
