The Right Questions to Ask Sales for Smarter Campaign Planning

Effective marketing campaigns don’t happen in a vacuum. To drive results, marketing and sales must work in lockstep, aligning on target audiences, messaging, and engagement strategies. One of the best ways to ensure alignment? Ask the right questions.

By gathering insights from sales and operations, marketing teams can build campaigns that resonate with the right buyers, support sales efforts, and drive higher conversion rates. Here’s how to structure these conversations to create smarter, data-driven marketing campaigns.

1. Strategic Focus: Where Should We Be Looking?

Before launching a campaign, it’s critical to understand sales’ priorities. These strategic questions help uncover new growth opportunities and ensure marketing is targeting the right accounts.

🔹 Are there new industries, verticals, or account types you plan to target this year?
🔹 Are there specific accounts or customer segments we should prioritize for ABM (Account-Based Marketing) campaigns?
🔹 What is your outbound strategy? How can marketing support it?

Why it matters: These insights help refine campaign targeting, content themes, and channel selection to align with sales’ revenue goals.

2. Territory Insights: Where Is Growth Happening?

Not all territories or regions perform equally. Understanding where sales sees success—or struggles—allows marketing to allocate resources effectively.

🔹 Which territories or regions are generating the most revenue or showing the greatest growth potential?
🔹 Are there specific areas where sales is struggling to gain traction and could use additional support?
🔹 What percentage of top prospect accounts have you penetrated?

Why it matters: Campaigns can be tailored by region, doubling down on high-performing areas and providing extra support where sales needs it.

3. Engagement Feedback: What’s Working (and What’s Not)?

Sales teams are on the frontlines of customer interactions. Their feedback on objections, pain points, and persona preferences is invaluable for crafting compelling messaging.

🔹 What common objections or challenges are you hearing from prospects?
🔹 Are there specific personas or job titles that respond more positively to our outreach efforts?

Why it matters: Addressing these challenges proactively in marketing materials can improve engagement and move prospects through the funnel more effectively.

4. Content Needs: What Resources Help Sales Sell?

Marketing creates content, but sales delivers it. Knowing which assets drive meaningful conversations ensures that marketing efforts translate into sales impact.

🔹 What resources or messaging do you find most effective when engaging different audiences?
🔹 Are there gaps in the content or tools you need to support certain audiences?

Why it matters: Instead of guessing what sales needs, marketing can produce high-impact content that supports real sales conversations.

5. Emerging Trends: How Is the Market Shifting?

Markets evolve, and so should marketing campaigns. Sales often spots shifting trends, competitor moves, and seasonal buying patterns before they become widely apparent.

🔹 Are there any market trends or competitor movements impacting specific audiences that we should address?
🔹 Are there seasonal or cyclical buying patterns we need to consider?

Why it matters: Staying ahead of trends ensures campaigns are timely, relevant, and competitive in the marketplace.

6. Feedback Loop: How Can We Work Better Together?

Sales and marketing alignment isn’t just about launching campaigns—it’s about continuously improving lead quality and audience targeting.

🔹 How can marketing better align with sales to refine our audience prioritization and targeting efforts?
🔹 What would help you feel more confident about the quality and relevance of the leads being passed to you?

Why it matters: When sales trusts marketing-generated leads, pipeline efficiency improves, and conversion rates rise.

7. Ideal Customer Profile: Who Are Our Best Buyers?

The best way to acquire new customers? Find more of the ones who already love your product.

🔹 What do our best customers have in common (e.g., industry, company size, job roles)?
🔹 Are there specific industries or segments where our solution has a clear competitive advantage?

Why it matters: Refining the ideal customer profile (ICP) ensures marketing and sales are focused on high-value prospects with a higher likelihood to convert.

8. Sales Pipeline Analysis: What’s Driving Revenue?

Not all leads convert equally. Understanding which lead types turn into closed deals (and which don’t) helps marketing refine its efforts.

🔹 Which types of leads are converting most effectively into opportunities and deals?
🔹 Are there any lead types or segments that consistently stall or drop out of the pipeline?

Why it matters: By identifying what’s working (and what’s not), marketing can optimize lead generation efforts for stronger pipeline performance.

Final Thoughts: Smarter Questions, Better Campaigns

When marketing and sales align on strategy, targeting, and messaging, campaign performance skyrockets. These key questions help marketing teams move beyond guesswork and build campaigns that are data-driven, customer-centric, and revenue-focused.

💡 Your Next Step: Schedule a conversation with your sales team this week and use these questions to refine your next campaign. The insights you gain will transform the way you approach marketing.

🔥 Need help optimizing your marketing campaigns? Let’s talk!