How do you partner with Sales leadership to land new messaging, drive adoption, and close the feedback loop from the field?

My approach to Sales partnership is that it has to be a two way relationship — you're not just pushing messaging down, you're constantly pulling intel back up. We run Product Decoded sessions weekly that are recorded and well attended, and feedback comes back through Slack so we're always connected to what sellers are hearing. We show up to OU leadership meetings to present but honestly some of the most valuable moments are when we're just listening to what's happening in customer conversations. ...Read More

To partner effectively with sales leadership I use a framework called "co-pilot method." We establish a message council, which is a small group of exceptional sales leaders and AEs who pressure-test narratives during the early draft phase. This ensures the "marketing story" survives a real-world discovery call. By giving sales leadership a seat at the drafting table, you transform new messaging from a marketing mandate into a shared strategy, which should reduce friction during the rollout. To c ...Read More

Don't live in an ivory tower. Sales leaders care about one thing: are you making their teams more successful? If you show up with that mindset and prove it with real impact, partnership becomes way easier. Get in the trenches with them - In my current role, I partner directly with account teams on initial pitches, technical discovery, and executive briefings. I'm not just creating content, shipping it to the field, and saying "good luck!" I'm in the room testing it live. I pitch to customers, (t ...Read More

The most important thing I've learned is that the head of sales needs to be genuinely bought in on new messaging — ideally, it feels like their idea, not marketing pushing something down their throat. You have to agree on what problem you're trying to solve, and you have to agree that it matters. Once you're aligned there, build the pitch deck hand in hand with sales. Don't go off and create it in a vacuum. That collaboration is where the real buy-in happens. From there, the magic is in the foll ...Read More

Sales buy-in is key to landing new messaging, they should be one of the most important stakeholders in developing your core messaging. Identify the right level of sales leaders/managers and ICs to get input/feedback as you are developing your messaging Collaborate with them and get early feedback on how that messaging comes to life in sales content. Partner with sales champions in delivering sales enablement, Sales would rather hear and use talk tracks coming from their peers. Put forums in plac ...Read More

Just as no plan survives contact with the enemy, no messaging survives contact with Sales - nor should it. Messaging shouldn’t be developed in an ivory tower; if you’re a sales-led company, your messaging needs to take into account your sales teams’ needs and feedback. To get there, you’ll want to involve them early and often. Development: Interview salespeople or listen to sales calls to get the (literal) voice of your customer and your sales team in your ear as you’re developing messaging. Not ...Read More