Why Sales and Marketing Alignment Fails in PE-Backed Firms
Sales and marketing alignment is one of the most common talking points in boardrooms. In PE-backed firms, it’s also one of the most common failure points. Despite new tools, bigger budgets, and leadership pressure, many portfolio companies still miss growth targets because sales and marketing can’t get on the same page. Here’s why it happens — and how to fix it.
1. Pressure to Grow Fast, Not Right
PE ownership creates urgency. The mandate is often “hit double-digit growth in 90 days.” That pressure drives marketing to generate volume at all costs, while sales pushes for quick wins. The result: lots of leads, little quality, and frustrated sellers.
Stat to know: 61% of B2B marketers send “all leads” to sales, but only 27% are actually qualified. (MarketingSherpa)
Fixes:
Redefine success around pipeline contribution, not just leads.
Tie both teams’ bonuses to revenue outcomes, not activity volume.
Use conversion rates and CAC payback as shared metrics across the GTM team.
2. No Shared View of the Customer
Marketing builds campaigns around personas. Sales talks about pain points from live calls. But in many portfolio companies, those views never connect. Marketing hands over MQLs that don’t match what sales can close, and sales ignores campaigns they don’t believe in.
Stat to know: Misaligned teams waste $1 trillion annually in lost productivity and missed sales opportunities. (HubSpot)
Fixes:
Build a joint ICP (ideal customer profile) owned by both sales and marketing.
Refresh ICPs quarterly using win/loss data and retention insights.
Use customer voice (calls, interviews, surveys) to validate messaging before launching campaigns.
Make ICP alignment a board-level KPI in portfolio reviews.
3. Leadership Turnover and Silos
In PE roll-ups or restructuring, marketing and sales leaders often churn. New leaders arrive with their own playbooks, and silos form fast. By the time systems are synced, it’s another quarter missed.
Stat to know: The average CMO tenure is 40 months, while CROs average 19 months—shorter than the typical PE hold period.
(Spencer Stuart / LinkedIn)
Fixes:
Implement a 90-day alignment playbook every time new GTM leaders are hired.
Standardize dashboards, pipeline stages, and definitions across all portfolio companies.
Create an integration checklist for GTM leadership transitions.
Require joint participation in quarterly board reporting.
4. Incentives That Work Against Each Other
Sales is paid on bookings. Marketing is measured on leads or impressions. The teams optimize in opposite directions. In a PE-backed context, this gap widens under pressure.
Stat to know: 79% of marketing leads never convert to sales, often because they were never qualified in the first place. (MarketingSherpa)
Fixes:
Redesign comp plans so both teams share ownership of pipeline health.
Link marketing goals directly to closed revenue and CAC payback, not MQLs.
Create joint OKRs that cascade down into both sales and marketing scorecards.
Publish a shared dashboard visible to both teams and the board.
5. Failure to Modernize the GTM Engine
Many portfolio companies run the same campaigns and playbooks they used before PE investment. But scaling to the next level requires systematic, repeatable motions. Founder-led heroics and spray-andpray campaigns won’t hold up under investor scrutiny.
Stat to know: 67% of lost deals are due to poor qualification or process breakdown, not product gaps. (CSO Insights)
Fixes:
Run a diagnostic audit on GTM to identify bottlenecks in pipeline, conversion, and retention.
Deploy proven playbooks that scale across regions and acquisitions.
Invest in sales enablement and training, not just new tech.
Use AI and automation to reduce wasted spend and accelerate qualification.
The Bottom Line
In PE-backed firms, misalignment isn’t just frustrating — it’s costly. A misfiring GTM engine slows growth, burns runway, and drags down valuation. The good news: alignment is fixable. When portfolio companies build shared ICPs, unified metrics, and repeatable GTM systems, they turn alignment from a buzzword into a competitive edge.
