I’ve always told my marketing teams: when things are not great, it’s marketing’s fault. When things are great, it’s all sales. It’s my tongue-in-cheek way of recognizing the reality we all know… marketing rarely gets the credit, but almost always takes the blame. It’s like being the goalie: make 29 saves and everyone forgets, let one squeak through and you’re the villain.

Now, I say it jokingly, but there’s truth to it. And it’s why I’ve always been a huge proponent of the connection between marketing and sales. Because at the end of the day, both sides are running the same race. Marketing sprints out of the gate, building awareness and generating leads. But unless sales takes the baton cleanly and crosses the finish line, none of it matters.

The Baton Pass Problem

Here’s one I’ve seen more times than I’d like: marketing launches a strong email campaign. The message is on point, click-throughs are solid, and a lead fills out the form. Great start. Then sales finally follow up a week later with: “So… what were you interested in again?”

And just like that, all the momentum is gone. Off on the wrong foot, handoff fumbled, the baton rolling around in the infield. What’s the point of generating a qualified lead if it gets treated like a half-forgotten subplot in a sequel no one asked for?

“What’s the point of a great sprint if the baton never makes it across the handoff?”

How to Pass the Baton Without Dropping It

• Set clear lead response times. If someone shows interest, they don’t want to wait until next Thursday to hear from you.
• Arm sales with context. Which email did they click? Which service caught their attention? A little intel goes a long way.
• Use shared notes in your CRM so nobody’s flying blind.

The Rogue Deck Problem

Another classic: marketing and sales work together to build a killer pitch deck. Months of collaboration, refining objections, polishing language, agreeing on tone and visuals. Everyone’s happy. Then, a few months later, you peek at the “live” version and… what’s this? Random extra slides. An outdated logo – seriously, how does this happen? Contradictory messaging. And fonts that look like they were ripped straight from Comic Sans: The Sequel.

It’s like lining up for a breakout in hockey and watching one guy sauce a pass straight back to his own goalie. Play’s over before it even started.

“A pitch deck isn’t a scrapbook. Consistency wins deals, not random add-ons.”