A quiet revolution is underway—one that is upping the stakes and requires a new approach to how marketing and sales teams work together. While once separated by clear functions, the rise of the self-reliant B2B buyer has blurred these lines. But most companies are struggling to adapt, and lack of alignment across marketing and sales is creating swirl and stunting growth.

Amidst this backdrop, companies that align their sales and marketing efforts can get a powerful competitive edge. By engaging buyers more effectively throughout the path to purchase, marketing and sales can accelerate their win rates and unlock growth. 

The Circles of Doom: Quantifying the Misalignment

In an ideal world, marketing and sales would talk to the same buyers. Marketing primes buyers and fills the pipeline with leads; sales turns those leads into customers. If we were to draw a Venn diagram, the audiences reached by sales and marketing should look like this:

But in reality, marketing and sales rarely talk to the same buyers. LinkedIn research covered in Marketing Week reveals a staggeringly small 16% overlap in the audiences targeted by marketing and sales teams. Think about that: out of all the potential customers you could engage, both teams are working on just a small, shared portion.

That’s a waste of effort, time, and budget. It's also a recipe for frustration. This isn’t just a minor operational hiccup—this is your competitive edge being dulled by inefficiency. That’s why our team has called this analysis “the circles of doom.” Instead of one integrated funnel that spans marketing and sales, most companies operate within silos that barely intersect.

So, what’s going on here? And more importantly, how do we break free from these circles of doom and find “circles of boom”—that sweet spot where marketing and sales are aligned, engaged, and pulling together to drive higher revenues?

The Digital Buyer Has Changed the Game

Today's B2B buyers are younger, more tech-savvy, and highly independent in their decision-making processes. Millennials and Gen Z now dominate the B2B buying cohort, with two-thirds of buyers being under 45 years old. Raised in the digital age, these buyers expect a frictionless, informative, and self-directed research process.

What’s more, the average B2B buyer consumes 13 pieces of content before even thinking about speaking to your sales team. Yep, that’s 13. And often, those decisions are made well before any human interaction. According to Forrester, 7 in 10 of B2B buyers reach vendor selection after a digital-only journey.

The implications for marketers? You’re now the first salesperson. If your digital ads don’t reach the right buyers – and don’t link your brand to relevant buying situations – your company isn’t going to make it to the short list.

The Circles of Boom: Outsized Revenue

So how do we break this cycle and move towards circles of boom—the ideal state where marketing and sales are fully aligned? In companies that get it right, marketing and sales aren’t just sharing audiences—they’re sharing strategy. According to LinkedIn’s research, top-performing companies in the Fortune 500 tech space show a 60% overlap between sales and marketing efforts. That’s nearly four times the cross-industry average, and it shows what’s possible when these two teams work together.

The benefits aren’t just anecdotal either. Gartner research suggests that companies with strong marketing-sales alignment are three times more likely to exceed their new customer acquisition goals. One LinkedIn analysis found that high alignment increased marketing generated revenue by 208% and customer retention by 36%.

Even in the short term, aligned teams see better results. LinkedIn data shows that companies with a high overlap between marketing and sales see 40% higher click-through rates (CTR) on their digital campaigns. And on the sales side, outreach efforts are much more effective when prospects have already been exposed to relevant marketing content. LinkedIn members exposed to a company’s advertising are +19% more likely to accept a connection request from the company, and +15% more likely to accept an InMail.

So, how can marketers take the next step, and transform the “circles of doom” into “circles of boom?”

1. Marketing and sales need to align on targeting. Senior marketing and sales leaders need to have strategic conversations about audiences and correctly execute on that strategy. It may seem obvious, but if it were, the average overlap would not be so low at 16%.

2. Marketing needs to target broadly to increase alignment. The primary reason that marketing and sales are so misaligned is because most B2B companies pursue hyper-targeting strategies. As a result, low reach decreases the likelihood of overlap. Deploy a reach maximalist marketing strategy to reach as many prospective buyers as possible. This improves your odds of casting a wide enough net that you catch your sales leads as well.

Put These Insights into Action

Ready to break free of the circles of doom? Reach out to your LinkedIn representative to learn more about our proprietary insight offerings and our B2B Edge brand consultation program.