How marketing and sales in B2B can achieve better structural alignment.

In the manufacturing industry, the cooperation between marketing and sales is traditionally often fragmented and based on an outdated “island structure”.
Although this is the most common method, it often leads to inefficiency in a modern B2B environment with complex decision-making.

The modern sales cycle

An average B2B deal today is complex, non-linear and driven by digital interactions and multiple decision makers.
While traditional marketing models often suggested 5-8 contact points, the current trend confirms that there are complex
routes 27 to 60+ contact moments are required to reach a deal.
In addition, 70% - 80% of the DMU has already largely determined their purchase decision before they speak to a seller.

Why are so many contact moments necessary?

The increase in the number of touchpoints is driven by three main factors:

• Larger purchasing teams: By 2025, an average B2B purchasing team (Decision Making Unit) will consist of nearly 12 people, more than doubling compared to 5.4 people in 2020.
  Each member needs their own information and touchpoints.
  
• Self-assessment: Buyers complete an average of 80% of their trip independently before contacting a seller directly.
  To do this, they consume product pages, webinars, reviews and videos.
  
• Complex decision making: According to Gartner, a leading global research and consulting firm, purchasing commissions redefine their problem on average
  three times during the process, leading to a non-linear funnel with many additional contact points.

Due to these changes in the B2B marketing purchasing landscape, the traditional separation between sales and marketing is simply no longer sustainable.
Working in “islands” leads to a fragmented experience that repels modern buyers.

Collaboration between marketing and sales

The conclusion is simple: Sales and marketing should serve as one integrated team.
This is often referred to as Smarketing or the broader Revenue Operations (RevOps).
Such a change in cooperation is tough, requires a strong commitment from the entire team and managers and a shared goal to make the company stronger.

To achieve that goal, the following steps are necessary:

1. Shared Accountability

Instead of holdingmarketing accountable only for the number of leads (quantity) and sales on the number of deals, both teams are now working with a shared dashboard.
In addition, it is important that the following points are clearly aligned:

• Joint KPIs: Focus on total pipeline value and final turnover, instead of just “Marketing Qualified Leads” (MQLs).
  
• Unified ICP: Both teams jointly establish one Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Marketing attracts these companies, and sales chases them.

2. Demand generation strategy

Instead of just waiting for interactions, marketing acts as the engine that educates the market and creates buying intent even before a prospect speaks to a salesperson.
In a landscape where 80% of the customer journey is completed independently, the focus is shifting from “catching leads” to claiming authority.
Demand Generation and promoting a strong brand/branding that potential customers' emotional preference is already decided before looking at USPs and products.

Marketing builds a strategy that is not only focused on collecting email addresses, but at structurally influencing the DMU.
By sharing valuable insights that reveal pain points and validate solutions, marketing is warming up the market. This ensures that when sales step in,
the prospect no longer needs to be convinced of the need, but only of the specific solution.

3. Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Account-Based Marketing coan be seen as a reversal of the traditional marketing funnel. Where you normally cast a wide net in the hope that the right fish will swim in,
start with ABM by determining exactly which specific 'fish' you want to bring in.
It is an extremely personal strategy where you no longer treat an individual company as a separate lead, but as an entire market in its own right.

In practice, this means that marketing and sales join forces to create a customized experience for the 10 to 13 decision-makers within that specific target account.
While the salesperson builds a relationship with the IT manager, marketing ensures that the CFO and CEO receive exactly that information through hyper-targeted ads and personalized content
get to see that is relevant to their role. This way, the company is surrounded with relevant value from all sides, which increases the chances of a deal enormously because you no longer “shoot with hail”, but work like a sniper.

concretely:

• Marketing provides targeted ads and content for the 10-13 decision makers within that one company.
  
• At the same time, Sales opens its doors with highly personalized outreach that matches that content.

4. Using Intent Data & AI

The smart use of data through AI enables marketing and sales teams to recognize patterns in the click and search behavior of entire organizations.
Here, AI or GTM (Go-To-Market) software acts as the intelligent engine that drives this huge amount of signals, such as website visits, downloads, Google searches and social media activities.

As a result, a sales team no longer has to call blindly in the hope that someone is interested, but they receive a notification when a specific company opens a “gateway”. With the help of smart GTM tools,
like Stairoids, based on historical behavior and activities, you can determine which accounts have the highest chance of conversion, so that marketing can serve just the right ads and sales can get in with a relevant proposal at exactly the right time.

In fact, the combination of data and algorithms ensures that, as a company, you no longer wait reactively for a request, but proactively respond to the customer's latent needs before they contact you themselves.

Concretely:

• Intent Signals: Marketing sees which companies repeatedly view specific in-depth content and reports this directly to sales for timely follow-up.
  
• AI support: Use lead scoring and automation tools to only push through the most promising leads, so sales waste less time on cold acquisition.

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Conclusion

Structural alignment between marketing and sales is not an organizational project, but a strategic choice. In a B2B environment where buying groups are getting bigger,
sales cycles take longer and digital touchpoints dominate the process, growth only occurs when both teams operate from one shared framework.
With joint KPIs, a sharply defined ICP, targeted enablement and smart use of data, the focus is shifting from separate activities to predictable pipeline building.
Organizations that organize this seriously create peace internally and consistency externally. This immediately translates into stronger conversations, higher conversion and more control over commercial growth.

In a sector where every detail counts, the sales funnel should not have blind spots.

Together, let's optimize your customer journey and turn those 60+ contact moments into a measurable growth machine.