How to Turn Chaotic Sales and Marketing Motion Into Powerful Business Momentum

When I was a kid, my dad took my brother and me up to the Boundary Waters just north of Ely, Minnesota. We went with a handful of other families, other dads and sons, and I still remember how magical it felt.

The adults were serious about fishing. Biggest fish. Most fish. All of it.

The boys, on the other hand, were serious about fun. We were tipping canoes, splashing each other, laughing way too loud, and doing everything except what the adults thought we were supposed to be doing.

But somewhere out on that water, I learned a lesson that has stuck with me for decades.

It was one of the first times I had ever paddled a canoe. And if you have ever been in a canoe with two people who do not know what they are doing, you know exactly what happens.

Both people work hard. Both people paddle like crazy, but the boat still feels like it is fighting you.

It takes effort just to stay steady. And it takes even more effort to move forward in a straight line.

The learning curve is not just about strength. It is about rhythm. Roles. Timing.

Eventually, you start to figure it out. The person in the front becomes the power. The person in the back becomes the steering. You stop wasting energy correcting each other. Your strokes start lining up. And suddenly, the exact same effort produces way more forward momentum.

That is what alignment does.

And it is one of the simplest pictures I know of what happens in a business when sales and marketing are both working hard, but not working together.

Two teams, one boat

A lot of B2B service companies live in this tension.

Marketing is busy generating leads, creating content, launching campaigns, building awareness, and keeping the brand visible.

Sales is busy chasing opportunities, jumping on calls, working proposals, following up, and trying to close deals.

Both teams are working. Both teams care. Both teams want growth.

But if they are not in sync, the boat feels heavy.

Marketing creates activity. Sales evaluates outcomes. Marketing thinks in terms of engagement. Sales thinks in terms of pipeline and close rate. Leadership sees motion, but the momentum is unpredictable.

That usually leads to the same set of complaints:

Marketing says, “Sales is not following up.”
Sales says, “These leads are not real.”
Leadership says, “We are doing a lot, but why does it feel inconsistent?”

Most of the time, the issue is not effort.

It is the absence of a shared process.

The “swing” that makes a team unstoppable

I saw this idea recently in a movie I watched, The Boys in the Boat.

It is the story of the 1936 Washington rowing team, an underdog story that ends with the Olympics.

What struck me was that they had powerful rowers, great individuals, and plenty of effort. But early on, their strokes were not in sync.

Then they learned something I had never heard before: “swing.”

Swing is what happens when a rowing team is not just rowing in the same direction, but rowing with the same rhythm. When the timing is aligned, the physics changes. The boat starts to move with mechanical advantage instead of chaotic friction.

Same people. Same strength. Different outcome.

And a big part of that came down to the caller, the one setting the tempo, helping the team find the timing together.

That is how I think about a sales playbook.

Not as a rigid script.

Not as a document that turns salespeople into robots.

But as the caller that creates rhythm across the customer experience, so marketing and sales stop paddling against each other and start producing momentum together.

What is a true sales playbook?

A sales playbook is the document that makes sales and marketing operate like one team.

It creates alignment around how the business responds when interest turns into opportunity.

It defines shared expectations so both teams are working toward the same outcome instead of pulling in different directions.

That is what creates rhythm. That is what creates swing.

Who are you as an organization?
This overlaps a bit with brand guidelines, and that is a good thing.
Mission. Value statements. Company persona. What it means to represent the organization. The standard you expect. The experience you want customers to have.

What separates you from others?
Who do you serve?  Who do you not serve? Ideal customer profiles and personas. Your marketing strategy. The story you are telling in the market and why.

The buyer’s journey
From awareness to decision. Not from the salesperson’s perspective, from the customer’s perspective. This helps sales understand what the customer has already seen, learned, and assumed before the first call ever happens.

What makes a lead “sales qualified”
This is where so many companies get stuck, because “good lead” is often subjective.
When you define it, marketing can improve lead quality and targeting. Sales can prioritize better. Leadership can forecast with more confidence.

The sales process, stage by stage
What measurable and provable actions does it take to move from one stage to the next? What you say. What you ask. What assets support the conversation. What follow-up looks like. Where marketing supports the process. Where sales feeds insights back to marketing.

When those pieces are clear, and everyone agrees on the process, marketing and sales begin working in sync, and the company starts to feel the swing. The momentum shifts forward in a positive rhythm, creating goal-crushing success!

How to build your custom Sales Playbook.

If you are a business leader who knows something needs to change, but you are not sure how marketing and sales should work together to support that change, I would love to talk.

No pitch. No pressure. Just a practical conversation about where your business is today, where you want it to go, and what systems will help you get there.

Clarity is often the most valuable first step to unleashing your full potential.