Your Sales Team Isn’t Broken — Your Strategy Is

When growth slows, most companies zero in on Sales or Marketing. Leads aren’t converting? Must be a pipeline problem. Campaigns aren’t performing? Let’s rewrite the messaging. But the reality is the issue isn’t in execution, it’s in the strategy being executed.

Author’s

Simon Harrison

Analyst and Executive Partner

Simon Harrison is an accomplished analyst and technology strategist with over 30 years of experience spanning systems engineering, technical consulting, product innovation, and global senior leadership. He began his career as a UNIX systems engineer and consultant before advancing to senior roles, including SVP of Product Marketing and award-winning Chief Marketing Officer, driving growth for a multibillion-dollar company. A former Gartner analyst and Magic Quadrant author, Simon remains an active industry analyst and executive advisor, helping companies sharpen their strategy, messaging, and go-to-market performance. Today, as founder of Actionary, he delivers board-level insight on AI, customer engagement, and platform innovation, drawing on deep technical roots and a proven track record of helping companies achieve their goals at scale.

Jim Davies

Analyst and Executive Partner

With over 20 years of experience, Jim is a visionary analyst who has shaped markets and provided strategic advice to thousands of organizations. As the founder of groundbreaking frameworks such as the VoC and Workforce Engagement magic quadrants, and through his role as agenda manager for Gartner’s customer service research team, Jim has championed the elevation of customer experience and employee engagement. As an Executive Partner for Actionary, he continues his mission of driving impactful change in the industry.

Customer expectations have changed. Competitors have evolved. Tech innovation has accelerated. Sales and Marketing are doing the best they can but if there is no clearly defined strategy or it’s outdated, so being ignored, they won’t be able to achieve their goals. While the outside world shifts rapidly, many businesses are still following an old internal map drawn years ago. The fix has nothing to do with spending more or working harder:

• Leadership Is Disconnected
  Weekly exec meetings may check the box, but they rarely align people on a shared direction. Product, Sales, and Marketing keep moving — just not in the same direction.
• Strategy Is Stuck in the Past
  Outdated visions, vague goals, and departmental silos mean that most teams are executing with no idea how their work ties to the bigger picture.
• Short-Term Thinking Wins the Day
  Obsessing over quarterly numbers leads to reactionary decisions — not long-term growth. Strategy should tie today’s moves to tomorrow’s momentum.
• Tech Is a Distraction When Strategy Is Missing
  Transformation projects and expensive tools won’t fix broken alignment. If the strategic foundation isn’t clear, no platform will magically connect the dots.

So what’s the answer?
It’s time to fix the root of the problem: the strategy itself. That means realigning the company’s vision, reconnecting departmental strategies, and getting leaders to work as one team.

Read the full research: “Solve The Deep-Rooted Strategy Problem Affecting Marketing and Sales”