A Human-Centric Approach to Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing alignment may sound straightforward, but it’s often reduced to process charts and dashboards, rather than focusing on the people doing the work. In this episode, Lia Davidson, CMO at EAB, joins Adam and Saima for a refreshingly honest conversation about what real alignment looks like inside complex organizations. She shares how building trust with sales didn’t come from structure or incentives, but from solving problems together and staying radically candid. Lia also unpacks the moment she realized marketing needed to stop celebrating metrics that didn’t match sales outcomes—and how shifting to shared KPIs changed everything. Plus, why personality tests, casual hangs, and a simple phone call can outperform strategy offsites. In this episode, you’ll learn:Why marketers should rethink their funnel language to reflect real sales impactHow to lead with empathy when functional teams aren’t getting along What happens when marketing and sales review pipeline togetherHow to create team alignment without reporting lines or reorgsJump into the conversation: (00:00) Introducing Lia Davidson and sales-marketing alignment (02:47) The human side of misalignment and why process alone doesn’t fix it (04:38) How Lia’s early sales experience shaped her approach as a CMO (06:44) A people problem disguised as a pipeline problem (08:15) The offsite that solved misalignment without touching strategy (10:19) Why marketing can’t claim green if sales is red (12:52) How Lia celebrates marketing wins while staying tied to revenue (14:32) Building one team without a shared reporting structure (18:59) Why “one funnel mentality” is more than just a slogan