Allbound Revolution Podcast Ep #05: How to Fix a Broken Buyer Journey (Before Your Pipeline Dries Up)
In the fifth episode of The Allbound Revolution,Tamara Salamonovitz, Melissa McGaughey, and Cameron Collins break down the numbers, blind spots, and myths that quietly mess with your GTM strategy. You’ll see how to tell if your funnel’s broken, what real alignment between teams actually looks like, how to use your CRM to spot money slipping through the cracks, and when tools like AI help....and when they just get in the way.
Check it out! 👇
5 Minute Rundown:
How to Spot When Your Buyer Journey’s Actually Broken
It’s not always obvious, but a big giveaway is a top-heavy pipeline. You’ve got a ton of people visiting your site, maybe filling out forms or grabbing a free guide, but they’re not moving past that point.
You see leads piling up but deals aren’t closing. That gap shows your buyer journey probably has friction points you can’t see yet. This is where having the right tools comes in, something like HubSpot helps you map out exactly where people drop off, so you’re not making guesses about what’s going wrong.
Data and Lifecycle Stages: Get Them Right or Nothing Works
Too many companies throw around buzzwords like MQLs and SQLs, but don’t actually agree on what they mean. One team’s SQL might be another team’s “not ready.” So you end up with reporting that doesn’t add up, and no one trusts the numbers.
You need to actually define each stage clearly, spell out exactly what counts as a lead, what qualifies them to move forward, and what actions or data points push them into the next stage. When you do this well, you’re creating a system that makes it easy for people to hand off leads without second-guessing if they’re real or not.
When Sales and Marketing Don’t Agree, Revenue Suffers
It’s wild how many companies think they have alignment when they really don’t. Marketing hits their goals: they bring in a ton of leads, they check the box on MQL targets and then sales turns around and says, “None of these are closing. These people aren’t ready to buy.”
Meanwhile, leadership is wondering why deals aren’t moving. It’s painful for everyone involved. The problem is rarely the teams themselves; it’s the lack of real communication. Sales and marketing should be talking all the time, comparing notes, adjusting criteria, and making sure they’re setting each other up to win. And that doesn’t mean a quarterly check-in when you’re already trying to explain bad results, but regular alignment meetings, shared dashboards, and constant tweaks to keep everyone rowing in the same direction.
The Real Challenge: Getting Everyone to Face the Gaps
Fixing a broken buyer journey starts with being honest about what’s really happening. Sales might say they’re sending good feedback. Marketing might swear they’re delivering quality leads. But if deals keep stalling, something’s not clicking. The real work is getting everyone in the same room, usually with a RevOps guide, to dig into where leads drop off, why handoffs feel awkward, or why lifecycle stages are defined differently.
When everyone sees the same data and agrees on what’s going on, it’s much easier to fix your stages, tighten up definitions, and create workflows that match how the process actually works. These conversations can feel uncomfortable but they stop the buyer journey from turning into a mess. You can’t just do this once a year. Regular check-ins catch small cracks before they become huge problems and keep everyone moving toward the same goals.
How to Keep Leads Warm Without Wasting Effort
A lot of companies slap together a generic nurture sequence and call it a day, but what actually works is sending people stuff they care about, when it makes sense. For example, if someone signs up for your newsletter, a short welcome series that explains what you do and how it might help them is a good start.
When people show buying signals, like clicking on key pages or coming back a few times, have a follow-up ready. A clear next step like booking a demo or trying a free version works better than blasting the same email to everyone. And don’t forget about old deals you’ve lost. Checking in after a few months with a simple, “How’s it going with that choice?” can reopen the door.
The main thing: make sure your nurture actually matches what people want to know, so your leads don’t just sit there until they’re dead.
Check out our webinar with Clay on how to streamline your GTM efforts by unifying fragmented data, enriching contact records, and automating workflows directly into HubSpot. 👇
