In today’s rapidly evolving MedTech landscape, launching a disruptive product successfully requires more than just a brilliant invention—it demands flawless collaboration between sales and marketing teams. Unfortunately, all too often, these two crucial functions operate more like adversaries in an MMA cage match instead of a synchronized pair of ice skaters moving toward a shared goal. This disconnect can cause launches to fail, or at the very least, stumble right out of the gate. How do we turn this combat into choreography?
The following is a summary of a recent discussion between ViaVerus owner Chris Morrison and Jairus Marketing founder Scott Alexander. They explore the importance of a seamless collaboration between sales and marketing teams and outline the steps a business can take to fix a broken team.
Sales and Marketing Team Dynamics: A Historical Disconnect
Traditionally, sales and marketing teams have operated like oil and water—distinct entities that barely mix. Marketing focuses on generating leads, defining market strategies, and building awareness. Meanwhile, sales is charged with converting those leads into customers, driving revenue, and establishing long-term relationships. While both functions are vital to the success of a business, the friction between them is often palpable, particularly in the world of MedTech.
Sales teams often perceive marketing’s leads as unqualified or irrelevant, while marketing sees sales as too focused on short-term results, ignoring the bigger picture. Compensation structures exacerbate the problem, with marketing often rewarded for generating leads, while sales is compensated for closing deals. When the quality of leads doesn’t align with sales expectations, tensions rise.
Chris and Scott emphasize that both teams must move in tandem, feeding off each other to deliver a successful product launch. In MedTech, where disruptive technologies are complex and the buyer’s journey is non-linear, this alignment is more critical than ever.
How to Fix the Sales and Marketing Disconnect?
The good news is that this dysfunction isn’t permanent. With the right approach, sales and marketing teams can bridge the divide and work together harmoniously.
The Quick Fix: Thought Leadership and Communication
One immediate solution is to improve communication channels. Marketing needs to listen to sales and vice versa. Thought leadership is a valuable way to align the two departments. By creating and sharing relevant content, both teams can engage in the same conversation and offer their expertise on industry trends, customer needs, and product innovations.
The Long Fix: Aligning Goals and Creating a Unified Commercialization Plan
Beyond short-term communication improvements, a more sustainable solution lies in aligning goals. Instead of operating in silos, sales and marketing should share a common objective: commercialization. This is not just about hitting sales targets or generating marketing-qualified leads (MQLs); it’s about developing a joint go-to-market strategy that incorporates the needs, feedback, and strengths of both teams.
3 Steps to Repairing the Disconnect
- Collaborative Planning: The teams should work together from the very start of a product launch, developing a shared commercialization plan that clearly outlines each team’s role in the process.
- Ongoing Feedback Loops: Sales needs to communicate customer feedback to marketing regularly, while marketing should continue nurturing prospects who are not yet ready to buy but are learning about the product.
- Shared Metrics for Success: Instead of marketing being solely responsible for leads and sales for revenue, establish shared Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that reflect the joint success of both teams, such as customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (CLV).
Importance of Sales and Marketing Collaboration for Disruptive MedTech Sales
When launching a disruptive MedTech product, the stakes are even higher. Disruptive technologies often don’t have a well-defined market, and the sales cycle can be long and complex. Traditional pipeline management simply doesn’t work in these cases because prospects may stay in the educational phase for extended periods, rather than moving quickly from marketing-qualified to sales-ready leads. Therefore, it’s critical for sales and marketing to align on key elements, such as:
- Understanding the customer’s journey: From clinical evaluations to financial approval, many stakeholders are involved in MedTech purchasing decisions. Marketing needs to educate these stakeholders while sales nurtures relationships.
- Utilizing the right tools: Both teams should leverage the same Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and marketing automation tools to track leads, provide insights, and ensure a seamless handover from marketing to sales when a prospect is ready to buy.
- Processes for continuous improvement: Successful MedTech marketing launches depend on a culture of continuous learning and adaptation. Regular debriefs where sales and marketing share wins and losses ensure that both teams learn from each customer interaction.
Sales and marketing don’t have to exist in conflict. With careful planning, shared goals, and open communication, they can move in perfect synchrony, driving the success of disruptive MedTech products. As organizations learn to treat commercialization as a unified effort rather than separate sales and marketing plans, they will be better positioned to navigate the complexities of MedTech sales and launch innovative products that transform the market.
See the full live discussion between Chris Morrison and Scott Alexander that includes examples of companies that have gotten the collaboration right and those that have not.
