"retention was slipping and lifetime value barely stretched past six months. On paper, the near-term numbers looked fine - but only because they'd been manipulated to hide the decline. When I asked what they were doing about it, they said, "We think if we improve the product, we'll fix retention." On the surface, that sounds reasonable - most executives reach for product first. But it told me exactly how stuck they were. They were hacking at the branches while the roots kept growing."
"When incentives align, we move together. When they conflict, teams pull in opposite directions and go nowhere. When they're tangential, there's no connection at all. For many sales and marketing teams - particularly in SaaS - incentives are unknowingly in competition. Marketing is rewarded for lead volume, sales for deal quality and retention. The result is predictable: Marketing celebrates hitting lead targets. Sales complains those leads are unqualified. Leadership wonders why growth targets stay stubbornly out of reach despite a full pipeline."
Sales were slowing, retention was slipping, and lifetime value barely exceeded six months despite near-term metrics appearing healthy due to manipulation. The immediate impulse to fix the product overlooks the deeper problem. The primary root cause is systemic misalignment between sales and marketing driven by competing incentives: marketing rewarded for lead volume and sales rewarded for deal quality and retention. That misalignment produces unqualified leads, internal friction, and stalled growth, prompting teams to patch the product and fight to retain customers. Aligning incentives and creating shared goals across sales and marketing is necessary to restore sustainable growth and improve retention.
Read at MarTech
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