Achieving Cross-Functional Alignment for Revenue Growth

Shownotes

In this episode of OnBase, Kyle Lacy discusses strategies for achieving cross-functional alignment between sales, marketing, and other teams. He identifies the main B2B marketing challenge as aligning these groups around common metrics and goals, emphasizing the need for documented processes and a shared revenue model. Kyle stresses the importance of marketing demonstrating its contribution to sales outcomes, not just brand-building. He also shares insights on leveraging AI tools while cautioning against replacing human sales roles. Overall, Kyle provides practical advice for B2B marketers seeking to improve cross-functional alignment and drive business growth.

Best Moments

• 05:39
  Kyle explains how misalignment between sales and marketing usually stems from teams not looking at the same metrics or having a clear process for measurement.
• 06:45
  Kyle emphasizes the importance of aligning sales and marketing teams around common, measurable goals like pipeline and bookings.
• 08:01
  Kyle discusses the challenge of balancing brand-building efforts with the immediate need to hit pipeline and revenue targets.
• 13:34
  Kyle highlights the value of having a revenue handbook that defines key metrics and serves as a guide for alignment across teams.
• 17:51
  Kyle shares his views on AI in marketing, stressing that it should be viewed as an assistant to human tasks, not a replacement.
• 20:39
  Kyle provides insights on how to create effective case studies and white papers by focusing on clear, tangible ROI.

About the guest

Kyle has spent the last 17 years building, scaling, failing, and winning in high-growth software. He’s currently serving the Jellyfish team as their CMO, and before joining the Jellyfish “bloom,” he had the pleasure of building a company called Lessonly. He has also been fortunate to lead teams at Seismic, OpenView, Salesforce, and ExactTarget. But most importantly, he is the father to two wonderful boys, an energetic dog, and one too many books on World War II.

Connect with Kyle Lacy

Key takeaways

• Cross-functional alignment: Success in sales and marketing hinges on aligning around shared performance metrics e.g., pipeline, revenue) and fostering collaboration across teams.
• Focus on key numbers: Misalignment often occurs when sales and marketing teams aren’t tracking the same metrics. Agreement on crucial numbers is vital for achieving alignment.
• Sales and marketing collaboration: Understanding the sales model, including pipeline coverage and quota attainment, is critical for marketers to contribute effectively to revenue.
• Importance of brand: While brand building is essential, it must always tie back to measurable business results like pipeline and bookings.
• AI in marketing: AI is useful as an assistant for research, content creation, and data analysis, but it’s not yet capable of fully replacing human tasks, especially in prospecting.
• Engaging content: Effective case studies and white papers should focus on clear ROI data rather than just promotional content, making them more engaging and useful for prospects.
• Documentation and process: Having a well-documented process and alignment on definitions like MQLs) helps prevent confusion and misalignment between teams.
• Marketing’s goal: The ultimate purpose of marketing is to help sales close deals, and success is determined by contributions to pipeline and quota.

Quotes

“Nobody cares about your brand campaign if your sales team hits 40% quota attainment.”

“If you’re not aligned with the sales leader and not looking at the same numbers, eventually it’s going to break.”

Highlights from this episode

What is the biggest problem with achieving cross-functional alignment?

The biggest problem is that teams—specifically sales, marketing, and customer success—often aren’t aligned on the same metrics. They may each be working towards different goals or measuring success differently, which creates miscommunication and inefficiencies. Kyle emphasized that without a clear agreement on what success looks like (whether it’s pipeline, quota attainment, or revenue), it’s impossible to create alignment. This lack of process, documentation, and measurement can lead to disjointed efforts, where marketing might think they’re performing well by generating leads, but sales might be struggling to convert those leads because they’re not properly qualified. Consistent alignment on key numbers is crucial to avoid these kinds of breakdowns.

How important is team alignment for a CMO’s success?

According to Kyle, team alignment is absolutely essential for a CMO’s success. He shared that marketing can produce the best brand campaigns or content strategies, but if sales isn’t hitting their quotas or revenue targets, no one will care about the marketing successes. Ultimately, success in marketing is measured by how well marketing contributes to the business’s key numbers, like pipeline and bookings. The CMO must ensure that marketing and sales are aligned on these numbers and working together toward common goals. If the sales leader walks into a board meeting with poor quota attainment, any marketing wins become irrelevant. Therefore, building a strong relationship with sales and aligning on shared targets is the most important thing a CMO can do.

How do you balance brand investment when the numbers aren’t hitting targets?

Kyle acknowledged that balancing brand investment with hitting short-term revenue goals is a tricky challenge. While brand building is essential for long-term growth, it can be hard to measure its immediate impact on revenue. In situations where the company isn’t hitting its pipeline or revenue numbers, it can be tempting to reduce investment in brand initiatives. However, Kyle argues that brand is the “rising tide that lifts all ships” and, over time, it drives pipeline and revenue. The key is recognizing when the numbers are lagging and having a clear, realistic plan to fix them. While brand efforts may take time to show measurable results, the focus must remain on numbers like quota attainment and pipeline because that’s what stakeholders care about the most.

How can marketers benefit from understanding the sales model?

Kyle stressed the importance of marketers understanding how the sales model works, particularly in terms of pipeline coverage and quota attainment. Marketers need to know what level of pipeline coverage (e.g., 4x or 5x) is needed to hit revenue targets and understand the headcount capacity in the sales team to close deals. This knowledge allows marketers to backtrack and determine how much pipeline they need to generate through inbound and outbound efforts. When marketers speak the same language as sales, they can align their strategies with sales goals and contribute meaningfully to closing deals. Kyle mentioned that in his past experience, understanding the sales model helped him ensure that marketing was contributing significantly to inbound pipeline, which in turn helped sales meet its targets.

What strategies have worked for aligning sales and marketing teams?

Kyle highlighted the importance of creating a pipeline model that both sales and marketing agree on. One successful strategy he mentioned is creating a “revenue handbook” that defines key metrics and processes for the team. This handbook should outline definitions for important terms like MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) or pipeline coverage so that there is no confusion between sales and marketing about what they mean. The handbook serves as a reference point if disputes arise, ensuring that both teams have agreed upon and documented the metrics they’re working towards. Kyle also stressed the importance of setting up this process, even if the company lacks significant historical data. He recommends using whatever data is available to create a basic model, which can always be adjusted later as more data becomes available. The worst thing a marketing team can do is to let the CEO or the board set the numbers without input from marketing and sales.

How are you using AI in marketing, and what do you think of its role in sales prospecting?

Kyle sees AI as a valuable tool in marketing but emphasized that it should be seen as an assistant rather than a replacement for human efforts. In his daily workflow, he uses AI (specifically, tools like ChatGPT) for tasks like research, content production, and data analysis. For example, he uses AI to break down large research reports and extract the most relevant data for his team. However, he’s skeptical about AI fully replacing human roles, especially in areas like prospecting and BDR/SDR functions. Kyle believes that while AI can assist in research and maybe even support some initial outreach, it’s not advanced enough to handle nuanced tasks like relationship building and complex decision-making, which are crucial in sales. For now, he believes humans are still needed to manage the more complex aspects of prospecting and sales.

Resource recommendations

Books

“Elon Musk” by Walter Isaacson: Kyle recommends this biography for its insights into the mindset of innovators with extreme urgency and ambition. 

Newsletters

Ultra Successful by Dr. Julie Gurner: A paid newsletter Kyle highly recommends. He praises Dr. Gurner for her brilliant insights, noting that it’s one of the few newsletters he subscribes to.

People to Follow:

Tech recommendations

ChatGPT: Kyle uses this AI tool daily for research, data analysis, and content production. He finds it helpful for breaking down large reports into digestible snippets.

Navattic: A product tour technology tool that Kyle uses, which helps showcase products and drive engagement.

Tropic: A procurement software that Kyle recently started using, which he finds helpful for simplifying procurement processes.

Shout-outs

Dr. Julie Gurner: A great follow on LinkedIn and X, Kyle praises her for providing valuable content around success and high performance.

Gaetano Nino DiNardi: An expert in organic search, Kyle recommends following him for insights and expertise, especially in SEO and search-related topics.

Margaret Kelsey: A great LinkedIn follow and someone to watch in B2B marketing, Kyle also mentions her podcast Don’t Say Content with Devin Bramhall.

Chris Savage: CEO of Wistia, Kyle enjoys following him for his leadership insights and great content.