How to align your commercial functions as a sales leader 

Misaligned commercial functions can lead to inefficient and ineffective customer engagement – here are five to strategies to realign things

Gartner surveyed over 200 sales leaders in November and December 2022 in order to understand how sales teams align their go-to-market approach with changing customer needs; 62% of respondents said that their sales and marketing functions qualified leads differently. This often create inefficient and ineffective customer engagement.

For sales leaders, one of the key responsibilities is to ensure that all of your commercial functions are aligned and working towards a common goal, otherwise, inefficient and ineffective customer engagement may follow. The different functions include:

• marketing;
• customer service;
• product development;
• the sales team itself.

Strategies for aligning your commercial functions include the following:

• Define your sales strategy: your sales strategy should be the foundation of your commercial functions’ alignment.
• Encourage communication: communication is key when it comes to aligning your commercial functions. Encourage your team to communicate regularly and openly with each other, whether that’s through regular meetings, email updates, or other channels.
• Set shared goals: in addition to your sales goals, set shared goals across all of your commercial functions.
• Foster collaboration: collaboration between different functions is essential for alignment. Encourage your teams to work together and share knowledge and ideas.
• Use data to drive decision-making: data should be at the heart of all of your commercial functions.

When all these functions are aligned, your organisation can work more efficiently and effectively, leading to increased sales and profitability.