Internal communications between sales and product teams are essential for aligning customer needs with new product offerings. Effective internal communication makes sure customer needs are clearly understood. So product and marketing teams can share the insights behind new products, while sales teams can use customer pain points and key messages to shape conversations, maximise demand, and drive sales.
However, with sales and product teams on a larger scale, it can be difficult for companies to have effective internal communication methods. Creating missed opportunities and growing issues within the teams. With these challenges in mind, this blog post explores communication techniques and how they can be used to create communication between key teams.
Why sales and product teams often struggle to communicate
Sales and product teams often struggle to communicate effectively due to the numerous moving parts involved on a day-to-day basis. Sales teams often feel ignored when addressing customer pain points and feedback with the product teams, while product teams are overwhelmed with roadmap priorities. Both teams normally operate with different metrics for success: sales teams chasing revenue tactics and product teams focusing on development cycles. Different metrics for success can be compared to speaking different languages and not being able to get key messages across effectively. Without shared ‘languages’ and context, miscommunication is common, leading to frustrations across teams.
The cost of poor internal communication
Poor internal communications can cost companies significantly. Without a long-term strategy in place for internal communications, misaligned product launch go-to-market (GTM) strategies and slower product adoption, companies will see a loss of revenue for the business.
The consequences of poor internal communication go beyond inefficient processes. 34% say their organisation lost a customer or underperformed on a project due to ineffective communication, according to a report by AxiosHQ. Without strong internal communications and alignment between core teams, even high-quality work can fall short of driving success in the business. Improving internal communications is directly linked to the performance and growth of a business, improving KPIs, customer satisfaction and increasing profits.
7 Practical ways to improve communication between sales and product
Improving communication between sales and product teams is essential to ensuring any issues are addressed. When both teams are aligned, it leads to better outcomes for the customer. Putting the right strategies in place to improve communication ensures that everyone is working towards the same goals. These are 7 practical ways to improve communication for your teams.
Set shared goals and KPIs
Aligning goals and KPIs creates a common goal for both sales and product teams to work towards. Creating shared goals and improving customer retention rates allows both teams to work together. This approach ensures both teams are working together rather than in isolation, and increases accountability and focus towards reaching targets.
Use customer insights as a shared language
Customer insights, feedback and sales data should be used as a ‘shared language’ between sales and product teams.
Hold joint sprint reviews or monthly syncs
Joint sprint reviews are meetings with key teams at the end of a set period of time known as a ‘sprint’, where the work is reviewed and the data is used to improve the products. Monthly syncs are meetings that are focused on progress updates over a 1-month period, sharing real-time data with sales and products teams, to solve common pain points and satisfy customer demand quickly to increase revenue.
Appoint communication champions in each team
Having a communication champion within the sales team can be a great way to bridge the gap between product development and sales. Their role goes beyond passing on updates, they translate technical product information into clear, customer-facing language that highlights benefits and value propositions. By interpreting product updates in terms of how they solve customer problems, communication champions make sure sales teams are equipped with the right messaging to hold more effective, actionable sales conversations. This not only reduces misunderstandings between teams but also strengthens the consistency and impact of sales messaging, which then supports stronger business performance.
Use the right internal tools to deliver the right message at the right time
Internal tools such as shared dashboards, project management platforms, and internal chat systems aren’t just about visibility, they’re about ensuring the right messages reach the right people when it matters most. For sales teams, this means being kept up to date on key product launch dates, upcoming opportunities, and having quick access to the latest marketing assets. When sales and product teams are aligned in this way, sales strategies can be better timed, more effective, and more closely connected to customer needs. Having the right internal tools in place helps teams communicate clearly, stay aligned, and ultimately drive stronger business performance.
Encourage mutual empathy and job shadowing
Encouraging job shadowing is a powerful way to encourage mutual empathy between sales and product teams. Providing the opportunity for the sales team to sit in on product development meetings or model testing allows the sales team to understand the challenges faced by their partner team. In comparison, product teams should experience the pressure of closing deals by shadowing sales calls. Job shadowing provides clear insights for both teams and encourages mutual empathy and stronger collaboration between teams.
Get leadership buy-in to model collaboration
The leadership buy-in means gaining active support and agreement from senior leadership of both teams for decisions made on your projects. When senior leadership from both departments effectively communicate and set expectations for collaboration across sales and product teams, it sets the tone across the company. Leadership should encourage communication and provide the resources to make this possible, such as scheduling joint webinars and product updates, ensuring that internal communication and collaboration between teams are a priority.
Internal communication is a competitive advantage
Effective communication between sales and product teams isn’t just about efficiency; it’s a competitive advantage. When both teams have aligned goals and work together successfully, businesses can respond quickly to customer needs, deliver effective sales messaging, and adapt to market demands. This level of collaboration and internal communication directly impacts growth and customer satisfaction, setting the business up for a competitive advantage.
How Blueprint Partners can help
At Blueprint Partners, we specialise in helping businesses to streamline their internal communications across teams. Whether you’re looking to improve your communication strategies, enable your sales teams, implement the right tools, or align leadership on shared goals. Our team is ready to guide you through every step of the process.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can improve your team communication strategies and drive your business success.
