The anatomy of aligned go-to-market teams report

Insights from 500+ SMBs on what drives and derails go-to-market team alignment.

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Go-to-market (GTM) alignment gets talked about a lot. Operational alignment is harder.

The report breaks down the real-world patterns behind sales and marketing alignment at SMBs, including what highly aligned teams do differently and where alignment most often falls apart.

How to build an aligned go-to-market team

Alignment works best when it’s supported by more than good intentions and extra meetings. It works when communication is backed by a consistent operating rhythm, shared processes, and systems that keep data moving from first click to close.

In the report, insights from 500+ SMBs reveal what drives GTM alignment, what derails it, and how sales and marketing see it differently. These insights will help you move from just talking about alignment to operationalizing it.

Why go-to-market teams struggle to operationalize alignment

Misalignment doesn’t usually happen because teams don’t care. It happens when the day-to-day operating model makes alignment difficult to maintain.

In the report, you’ll see three recurring points that show up across highly aligned SMB go-to-market teams:

• Leadership teams operate in silos: When leadership alignment is inconsistent, priorities drift and teams start optimizing for different outcomes. Teams with weekly leadership alignment discussions are nearly 3x more likely to report strong GTM alignment.
• Strategy and handoffs break down: Even great campaigns underperform when roles, definitions, and handoffs are unclear or inconsistent. Highly aligned teams standardize tools across teams more often: 50% vs 41%.
• Tech creates friction instead of flow: When systems don’t connect, data stalls, handoffs slip, and lead quality suffers. Tech is the biggest alignment roadblock, with 53% citing it as a barrier.

What aligned go-to-market teams have in common

The report explores three traits that show up again and again in highly aligned GTM teams:

• A leadership rhythm that keeps teams connected: Clear priorities, fewer surprises, and faster decisions.
• Shared strategy and handoffs that create consistency: Common definitions, clean routing, and predictable execution.
• A streamlined tech stack that removes friction: Fewer workarounds, fewer manual steps, and more usable data.

If you’re trying to improve sales and marketing alignment, these are the foundations that make alignment durable, even when teams are lean and timelines are tight.

Benefits of aligning your go-to-market team

Aligned teams move faster because fewer things get stuck between systems, teams, and stages. The payoff shows up in practical outcomes that matter for SMB growth.

Aligned GTM teams typically unlock:

• Better data sharing and fewer inconsistencies across tools
• Higher-quality leads because handoffs are cleaner and follow-up is faster
• Smoother processes across campaign launch, routing, and pipeline management
• A more consistent buyer experience from click to close
• Revenue protection, because fewer leads are lost to process gaps

Don’t just talk about go-to-market team alignment

Meetings can’t compensate for broken workflows. Alignment breaks when it relies on conversations alone.

Alignment holds when communication is supported by:

• A consistent operating rhythm
• Shared processes across teams
• Systems that are connected and actually adopted

This report helps you identify which operational barriers are most likely to derail alignment, and what to change first if you want alignment to stick.

Should my SMB make go-to-market team alignment a priority?

If your team is trying to grow with limited time, people, and budget, GTM alignment becomes less of a “nice to have” and more of a practical requirement. This report is built for go-to-market teams at small and mid-sized businesses that want alignment to show up in execution, not just in conversations.

This report is especially relevant for:

• Marketing teams focused on lead quality, speed-to-launch, and attribution
• Sales teams that want consistent follow-up, cleaner handoffs, and pipeline visibility
• Revenue operations and go-to-market ops teams responsible for process, tooling, and adoption
• Founders and operators building a scalable revenue engine

About the research

This research was conducted by Unbounce Go-to-Market Solutions (Unbounce landing pages + Insightly CRM) in partnership with Ascend2, surveying 500+ GTM professionals at SMBs.