Even the strongest go-to-market (GTM) strategies can fail if teams aren’t aligned. Despite all the tools and talent, misalignment is still an all-too-common norm. According to research from Mural, 85% of GTM teams say they’re confident in their strategies, but the same percentage report persistent issues with alignment.
That misalignment carries a high cost: Teams move slower, customer insights get lost, and product-market fit suffers.
At the heart of the problem is how companies engage with customers and with each other. Teams often operate from assumptions rather than real-time understanding. Sales, marketing, and product each have their own workflows and systems, but without clear collaboration, that turns into siloed execution.
Here are three steps to help GTM teams move from siloed to synced by focusing on shared goals, real-time collaboration, and a living view of the customer.
Keep the Customer Front and Center
One of the biggest reasons teams fall out of sync is that they lose sight of the customer early in the GTM process. Instead of aligning around customer needs, they rely on assumptions, inaccurate personas, or outdated journey maps. These assumptions can be carried through the duration of the go-to-market motion, which can result in missed opportunities, delayed launches, and solutions that don’t sell.
To course-correct, GTM teams need to co-create a shared ideal customer profile (ICP) that goes beyond demographics. Think of this as a living document built on real conversations, purchase behavior, and feedback loops.
Teams can co-create better ICPs by defining:
- Pain points and desired outcomes
- Triggers that signal readiness to buy
- Decision-makers vs. daily users
- Emotional drivers
Then, map the entire customer journey from initial interest to onboarding and expansion. Where do they get stuck? What makes them convert? What feedback have you heard in sales calls or user interviews?
When done right, this creates mutual ownership of the customer experience. Instead of product chasing features or marketing pushing content that doesn’t convert, all teams work from the same playbook so they know who they’re serving and what really matters to them.
Align Goals, Not Just Activity
Even when teams agree on who they’re targeting, they often diverge on what success looks like. Sales may be pushing toward revenue. Marketing may be optimizing for leads. Product may be focused on retention.
Start by agreeing on specific, concrete goals across all GTM teams. That could be:
- Increase sales by 20% YoY
- Cut launch cycles from 12 weeks to 6
- Reduce churn by 15% in Q3
Then, define the metrics that support those outcomes such as qualified leads, conversion rate, and average deal size. From there, assign ownership.
Make Work Visible
Most GTM teams aren’t short on tools – they’re short on integration. Without a centralized hub for collaboration, they’re often working in isolation, even when they think they’re not. This is where miscommunication happens. Outdated product messaging in campaigns, customer feedback that never reaches product, or sales decks that don’t resonate with real pain points.
A shared collaboration space can document plans, map dependencies, and track updates in real time. It’s not just another tool, either. This shared space creates one connected workspace where teams can contribute without duplicating effort.
According to Mural’s research, 95% of GTM professionals say that centralized collaboration tools are highly impactful. But only a fraction use them to their full potential. When everyone can see what’s happening, who’s responsible, and how each task supports the end goal, teams stay in sync and adapt faster.
Visibility should extend to the customer, too. The best teams don’t just build for customers—they build with them. By involving customers throughout the GTM process, whether through beta testing, roadmap input, or feedback loops, teams validate decisions in real time. This co-creation model builds trust and loyalty while ensuring the final solution truly solves the problem.
A Shared Plan Turns Strategy into Results
Alignment doesn’t happen just because a strategy is in place. It happens when every GTM function shares a view of the customer, commits to the same goals, and collaborates in a visible and actionable way.
The organizations that succeed are the ones that close the gap between intention and execution. They make the customer journey central, break down silos with shared tools, and keep their GTM plan adaptable.
Alignment isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a competitive advantage and the key to building faster, smarter, and more customer-centric go-to-market motions.
Christina Bottis is the Chief Marketing Officer at Mural, the leading visual work platform. She brings two decades of go-to-market, demand generation, product development, and leadership experience to Mural, where she oversees the company’s global marketing strategy.
