Why Sales and Marketing Teams Need To Start Collaborating to Increase Revenue

Is your company running two different races with the same finish line? Sales and marketing teams are supposed to be working toward one goal—revenue growth—but all too often, they operate in silos. Misaligned goals, disconnected strategies, and poor communication keep your business from reaching its full potential.

In this episode of Strategy Talks, I sat down with A. Lee Judge, author of the book CASH, to talk about how businesses can finally get their sales and marketing teams on the same page. If your growth has stalled or you feel like your marketing efforts aren’t driving results, this conversation is for you.

Lee has a unique perspective.

As a marketer who was placed directly between sales and marketing early in his corporate career, he didn’t just observe the disconnect, he lived it.

And that’s exactly why he wrote CASH: to give companies a practical framework to close the gap and start winning as a united revenue team.

The CASH Framework: A Blueprint for Sales and Marketing Teams

In his book, Lee introduces the CASH framework

• Communication

• Alignment

• Systems

• Honesty

as a way to bring structure and clarity to collaboration between teams.

“Marketing says ‘new widget 3000’, but the customer just wants a screwdriver,” Lee explained. “If marketers never hear how sales talks to customers, they’ll keep using the wrong language.”

It all starts with communication. Lee suggests that the easiest first step is simply to get in the room. If you’re a marketer, go to sales meetings. If you’re in sales, attend marketing planning sessions. You’ll immediately start hearing what matters to the other team, and to your customers.

“The best content comes from sales,” he added. “It comes from real objections, real customer language. That’s what makes content marketing powerful.”

Sales and Marketing Alignment: More Than Just KPIs

As a marketer, I’ve been there. You’re handed social media goals with no insight into sales objectives. You're posting, creating, reporting... but flying blind. And I know I’m not alone.

“I've actually been in a situation where we were not told the business goals,” I shared with Lee. “We were just told, ‘Here’s your social media goal.’ We didn’t even know what their sales goals were.”

This lack of alignment is more than frustrating—it’s costly. Marketing may be generating high-funnel leads while sales is targeting bottom-funnel deals, with no shared view of the customer journey.

Lee encourages marketers to look at sales reports and ask, “Where does marketing show up here?” Then, start injecting marketing insights, like campaign influence or lead nurture history, into those reports.

Sales can also benefit by understanding the why behind marketing’s metrics. It’s not just about likes and follows. What really matters is how those interactions convert.

“We often have KPIs geared toward our team, not the organization,” Lee said. “Marketers need to go beyond vanity metrics and show revenue impact.”

Content Marketing Gets Stronger with Sales Involvement

Let’s talk content. You know I love it, and Lee does too, so much so that he founded a content marketing agency based on his experience interviewing his sales team.

“I sat down with the sales team and just started asking questions,” he shared. “We turned those answers into video content. It was the best-performing content marketing we had.”

And that makes perfect sense. Salespeople know the pain points. They know the objections. When you capture their stories, language, and expertise on camera, you’re not just creating content—you’re creating tools that sell.

If you’re a marketer reading this, your next step is clear: pull your sales team into the content creation process. Record short videos. Capture their responses to common objections. Use their words in your copy.

And if you’re in sales? Don’t brush this off. The more involved you are in content, the more qualified your leads will become. You’ll spend less time explaining and more time closing.

Technology Should Connect, Not Divide Sales and Marketing Teams

Tech can help, but only if it’s working together. One of the biggest mistakes Lee sees is when companies use different systems for sales and marketing that don’t communicate.

“I once consulted for a company where a lead would go through a marketing platform for years, then get dumped into Salesforce like they were brand new,” Lee said. “No history, no context. That blew my mind.”

Integrating your CRM with your marketing automation platform is step one. But today, AI can do even more. From spotting duplicates to identifying patterns in customer behavior, AI can bridge gaps humans don’t even see.

And it’s not just about efficiency. This kind of integration improves customer experience, too, something both teams should care about deeply.

Sales and Marketing Teams Who Collaborate Build Revenue Teams

The end goal? A revenue team mindset. One team, two skill sets, aligned around one outcome: growth.

“Sales and marketing are like offense and defense,” Lee said. “Neither wins the game alone.”

And he’s right. If you’re in marketing, you need to understand sales goals. If you’re in sales, you need to respect the long game of marketing. If you’re in leadership? It’s time to bring them together.

Because when sales and marketing teams stop competing and start collaborating, that’s when real growth happens.

Ready to Start Aligning Your Sales and Marketing Teams?

If you’re not sure how well your sales and marketing teams are really working together, Lee has a helpful resource: TakeTheCashTest.com. It’s a quick assessment that gives you a reality check—and a starting point for building true collaboration.

And if you want to dig deeper, check out Lee’s book, CASH, at aleejudge.com. It’s filled with practical steps, real-life stories, and a framework you can implement right away.

Your revenue team is waiting. Let’s make sure it actually works like one.

10 Smart Prompts You Can Ask AI to Support Sales and Marketing Teams

• What are some practical ways to align sales and marketing teams?

• How can a marketer start collaborating with a sales team in a siloed company?

• What is the CASH framework by A. Lee Judge and how can I apply it?

• How can content marketing support the sales team’s goals?

• What marketing metrics actually matter to the sales team?

• How can I use AI to improve alignment between sales and marketing?

• What’s the difference between a revenue team and a marketing team?

• What should a sales report include from a marketing perspective?

• How do I get my sales team involved in content creation?

• How do I break down silos between departments in a B2B organization?