Ninety-eight percent of sales leaders and 96% of marketing leaders expect strategy to turn into execution. So why does progress stall quarter after quarter?
Teams don’t expect to fall short. The plan feels solid, the goals are ambitious, and energy runs high. But as weeks pass, momentum fades.
Deals take longer to close, and misalignment between marketing and sales execution stalls pipeline momentum. What begins as optimism too often fades into frustration.
The intent is there, but the reality doesn’t keep pace.
Execution drag, the friction that slows down even the soundest plans, creeps in.
It shows up when the right content is buried in a library, when campaigns win attention but don’t move pipeline, and when teams lose energy under the weight of competing demands.
Highspot’s Go-to-Market Performance Gap report makes it clear: Leaders know where they want to go, but momentum slips in the handoff from strategy to action.
Closing that gap means knowing that strategy can truly deliver results.
Sales leaders are aiming high but struggling to deliver
On paper, the pipeline looks good. Sellers put in the effort, and managers step in with coaching as needed. But too many deals linger.
The data backs up what leaders see every day.
Forty-one percent of sales leaders say sellers don’t use content effectively. Nearly 80% see burnout spreading across their teams. And despite significant investment in AI, only 16% say it’s making a real difference in performance. For about a third of sales leaders, shifting priorities derail new initiatives before they gain traction.
The stakes are clear. Sales leaders are aiming for predictable revenue growth, efficient sales cycles, and stronger customer retention.
Yet fragmented systems and lagging AI maturity undermine those outcomes.
Investment is flowing into tools and analytics, but without prioritising alignment across functions, these resources stall instead of making an impact.
Marketing leaders have bold plans but face execution gaps
Marketing is also optimistic when a new AI-driven campaign goes live. The launch feels fresh, engagement numbers climb, and the team celebrates early wins. But when the pipeline review comes around, excitement dims because leads aren’t converting into opportunities.
It’s a familiar challenge.
Forty-four percent of marketing leaders say sellers don’t use the content they create. Nearly half report slower deal cycles despite consistent demand generation.
And only 27% see AI delivering measurable performance.
Marketing is under pressure to deliver measurable ROI, fuel consistent pipeline growth, and expand customer relationships. But friction in execution slows progress.
More than a third of leaders also say their teams struggle to align with shifting priorities, which leaves campaigns stalling as quickly as they start.
Alignment would ease this pressure, yet too few leaders are investing there today, leaving productivity gains on the table. They’ll continue producing inspiring campaigns, but without alignment, those efforts won’t translate to pipeline impact.
Sales and marketing struggle with the same friction
Marketing leaders often believe sellers don’t use the content they request.
Sellers say content doesn’t fit the realities of buyer conversations.
Both teams are committed and putting in the work, but without a shared view of the buyer journey, the disconnect becomes execution drag.
The numbers reflect this strain. Eighty percent of sales teams and 81% of marketing teams report burnout. Deal cycles are slowing in nearly equal measure.
These aren’t isolated issues. Misalignment is mirrored on both sides, creating execution drag that frustrates leaders and stalls progress.
The cost isn’t just internal.
When execution breaks down, revenue growth stalls and efficiency drops.
In a market where buyer experience often matters as much as the product, that inconsistency erodes trust that’s hard to win back. And this erosion directly affects growth and retention.
From ambition to action
Sales and marketing leaders know where they want to go.
The question is how to get there without losing speed.
The answer lies in alignment: shared systems, consistent workflows, and AI that works directly inside execution. When both sides operate with the same visibility and the same priorities, the drag that slows execution begins to disappear.
Leading organisations are closing this gap. They’re building confident teams, delivering seamless buyer journeys, and proving strategy turns into results.
That progress requires more than tools. It demands a system that unites cross-functional teams around common goals and provides the clarity to measure progress together.
Explore the full Go-to-Market Performance Gap report to see how top-performing teams are closing the execution gap and how Highspot empowers them to do it.
