SMarketing: How to Align Sales and Marketing in B2B Industrial Companies

In many industrial companies, marketing and sales teams function as two parallel worlds. One generates content, executes campaigns, and attracts prospects. The other seeks to close opportunities, negotiate terms, and achieve commercial objectives. But when they don't share data, objectives, or processes, this disconnect translates into wasted leads, internal tensions, and lost sales. 

SMarketing – Sales + Marketing – is a methodology that breaks down this barrier. It involves aligning both teams under a shared strategy, with integrated processes, connected tools, and a common view of the customer. According to HubSpot, companies that apply SMarketing can sell up to 38% more, grow 24% faster, and close deals with up to 67% greater efficiency. 

And the best part is that you don't need large structures to get started. Even in industrial SMEs with small teams, applying SMarketing principles can make a real difference. 

In this article, we explain what SMarketing is, why it's key for industrial companies, and how to implement it step by step. 

The Core Problem: When Marketing and Sales Don't Understand Each Other 

In many industrial SMEs, marketing and sales operate as if they were separate departments, with different objectives and disconnected tools. Marketing focuses on generating leads, increasing brand visibility, and nurturing the market with content. Sales, on the other hand, is focused on closing deals, negotiating terms, and hitting quarterly targets. 

The result is a broken chain. Marketing fills the CRM with contacts that sales doesn't consider relevant. Sales ignores those leads, complains about their quality, and looks for other ways to get customers. Meanwhile, management only sees one thing: many actions, but few results. 

This misalignment generates several critical problems: 

• Wasted leads due to lack of follow-up or premature handoff. 

• Distrust between teams, who work in silos without real feedback. 

• Contradictory messages, which confuse the customer and weaken the value proposition. 

• Lack of global funnel visibility, making it impossible to know what works and what doesn't. 

SMarketing was born precisely to solve this structural problem: align teams, share data, and build a common strategy that smoothly guides the customer from the first touchpoint to the sale closure. 

What is SMarketing and How Does it Differ from the Traditional Model? 

SMarketing is the strategic integration between sales and marketing teams, with the goal of improving commercial efficiency, reducing internal friction, and increasing overall business results. 

Unlike the traditional approach—where marketing and sales work in parallel with little operational contact—, SMarketing promotes real collaboration through: 

• Shared objectives, aligned to business results, not just intermediate metrics like visits or form submissions. 

• Coordinated processes, with clear agreements on when and how a lead is transferred. 

• Common language and shared funnel visibility, to avoid misunderstandings and duplications. 

• Integrated tools, especially CRMs that allow joint tracking, traceability, and unified measurement. 

According to HubSpot, companies that apply SMarketing: 

• Sell up to 38% more, 

• Grow 24% faster, 

• And have 67% higher closing efficiency than those with misaligned teams.

Pipedrive adds that 87% of sales and marketing leaders consider greater alignment between both teams key to their company's growth (source). 

Concrete Benefits of Applying SMarketing in Industrial Companies 

In the industrial B2B context, where sales cycles are long, products are complex, and there are multiple decision-makers, coordination between departments makes the difference between generating leads and generating real opportunities. 

• Improved lead quality: The handoff between marketing and sales happens only when the lead has shown real interest. This avoids premature or poorly qualified contacts that end up being abandoned. 

• Reduced closing time: A lead that arrives educated, informed, and well-nurtured requires less sales effort. Objections have already been addressed through previous content and communication. 

• Higher conversion rate: When marketing and sales work in a coordinated manner, leads receive more relevant and timely follow-up. As a result, the conversion rate improves significantly. 

• Message unification: Both areas communicate the same value proposition, with consistency in tone, arguments, and content, which reinforces the perception of professionalism. 

• Less internal friction: Tensions, blame, and duplications are avoided. Each team understands its function but works towards a common goal. 

• More effective tracking: By using shared tools, marketing can see what content impacts conversion, and sales can leverage that content in key conversations. 

• More predictable growth: Team alignment allows for better measurement of each action's impact and more reliable result forecasting. 

1. How to Implement SMarketing in an Industrial SME 

Applying SMarketing in an SME does not require a radical transformation or large budgets. It's about adopting a new way of collaborating based on three key principles: continuous communication, clear processes, and smart use of tools. 

Here are some essential actions to get started: 

• Organize regular meetings between marketing and sales: at least once a month, to review results, align priorities, and adjust the focus based on real feedback. 

• Jointly define what a qualified lead is: establishing clear criteria for MQL and SQL will prevent misunderstandings and facilitate effective handoff. 

• Create a lead handoff template: with key data like company, position, industry, previous action (download, visit, request), and recommended next step. 

• Involve the sales team in content creation: their questions, objections, and needs should inspire articles, datasheets, and use cases. 

• Use shared tools (like a CRM) for joint tracking: avoids duplications, improves traceability, and allows identifying conversion patterns. 

• Set common and measurable objectives: for example, percentage of MQLs converted to SQLs, average handoff time, or closing ratio. 

1. Key Indicators (KPIs) to Measure if it's Working 

An SMarketing strategy is only effective if it can be measured. Here are the main KPIs you should consider: 

• MQL to SQL conversion rate: indicates if marketing is generating leads that sales finds usable. 

• Average closing time from first contact: allows evaluating if content and prior qualification are accelerating the sales process. 

• Closing ratio by source channel: helps identify which channels are providing more valuable leads. 

• Usage of content by the sales team: measures if sales is using the materials produced by marketing and which are most effective. 

• Qualitative feedback shared between teams: a well-structured monthly meeting can reveal key insights for continued improvement. 

In today's industrial context, where each commercial contact implies a high acquisition cost and long decision cycles, aligning marketing and sales is a condition for competing effectively. 

The SMarketing approach allows building a more efficient, coherent, and results-oriented commercial system. When both teams work under a common strategy, friction points are reduced, content is better utilized, and the lead's path to sale is accelerated. 

At Smart Team, we help make that step concrete, measurable, and sustainable. With methodology, accessible technology, and strategic support tailored to each company's pace.