I was in a meeting when a sales leader said something that made me pause:
“Once a lead is engaged with sales, marketing shouldn’t touch them.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard this, and I knew where it was coming from. Some sales teams have been burned before—a mistimed email blast, an irrelevant campaign, or marketing messaging that disrupted a deal in progress. I get it. But this belief is outdated and, frankly, costing companies revenue.
Because here’s the reality: Modern marketing doesn’t just generate leads. It helps close them.
B2B buyers don’t follow a linear path. They research on their own, consult multiple stakeholders, and keep engaging with content even after they’ve started a conversation with sales. In fact:
72% of B2B buyers continue consuming content throughout the sales process.
The average deal involves 6-10 decision-makers, many of whom never speak directly with sales.
Buyers need multiple touch points to build confidence in their decision, and marketing plays a key role in providing them.
When sales leaders push marketing out of the process too soon, they lose out on valuable multi-threading, deal acceleration, and strategic nurturing that can help close deals faster and at a higher win rate.
If a sales leader wants marketing to back off, they’ve likely had a bad experience. They've seen:
Poorly targeted email campaigns interrupt active deals.
Mismatched messaging confuse a prospect who was already leaning in.
Lack of coordination between teams leading to redundant or irrelevant outreach.
The frustration is real. But the solution isn’t to cut marketing out of the sales process—it’s to do it better.
Instead of thinking of marketing as a lead-gen function that hands off prospects and disappears, the best companies see marketing as a revenue partner that actively supports sales.
Here’s what that looks like:
Multi-Threading Key Stakeholders
While sales is talking to one decision-maker, marketing is engaging the rest of the buying committee through targeted content, ABM plays, and retargeting campaigns. Deals don’t stall because secondary stakeholders aren’t informed.
Reinforcing Sales Messaging with the Right Content
Marketing should be serving up case studies, competitor comparisons, and solution briefs that align perfectly with sales conversations. The goal? Keep prospects confident and eliminate friction.
Increasing Deal Velocity Through Strategic Nurturing
Instead of relying on sales alone to push deals forward, marketing keeps prospects warm with thought leadership, customer success stories, and personalized content that addresses objections before they even come up.
Leveraging Intent Data to Drive Timely Sales Follow-Ups
Marketing isn’t just blasting content—it’s tracking who’s engaging, what they’re engaging with, and when they’re showing high intent. The best sales teams use this data to time their outreach when prospects are most engaged.
If sales is skeptical about marketing’s role in active deals, it’s on us as marketing leaders to educate, align, and prove impact. Here’s how:
Reframe the Conversation: Marketing isn’t competing with sales; it’s accelerating revenue. Show them today’s buyer behavior and how full-lifecycle marketing aligns with it.
Address Sales’ Concerns: Understand where past frustrations came from and show how your strategy is different.
Prove It with Data: Use metrics like deal velocity, influenced revenue, and engagement data to quantify impact.
Align on a Sales-Marketing Playbook: Create clear guidelines on when and how marketing supports active deals.
Start Small and Show Quick Wins: A targeted deal-stage nurture campaign or a content-driven ABM approach can prove value fast.
The fastest-growing companies aren’t debating whether marketing should be involved in active deals—they’re aligning marketing and sales to create a seamless, data-driven buyer experience.
Marketing isn’t here to step on sales’ toes. We’re here to make sure when sales steps into a deal, they win it.