Mural’s 2025 Global Go-to-Market (GTM) Alignment Gap Index uncovered that GTM teams made up of sales, marketing, and research and development (R&D) departments are often working toward different goals as decision makers and individual contributors on those teams disagree on the root cause of misalignment.
Mural’s survey uncovered that 85% of GTMs feel confident about how they collaborate to accomplish the goal of getting products to market faster with less budget and resources. But the same percentage frequently find that they are working toward different goals and objectives— as misalignment that results in frustrated staff, wasted investment, and revenue forfeited to competitors who get their products to market first.
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. and Europe between March-April 2025. Participants included 350 global marketing, sales, and R&D professionals in multiple industries who work in organizations ranging from mid-sized businesses to enterprise companies. They were asked about their current GTM practices, collaboration tools, challenges faced, and perceived impacts of misalignment on business outcomes.
Aligning Priorities
Leigh-Margaret Stull, CEO of Mural, said the latest research reveals where GTM efforts hit the most friction and provides useful strategies to help teams align, move forward together, and realize their transformation goals.
“Across industries and geographies, we see organizations eager to transform—full of fresh ideas and a drive for change,” said Stull in a statement. “Yet the true test lies in keeping teams unified throughout the transformation journey, especially during critical go-to-market motions,”
Misalignment Impact on Revenue
One area of the study Stull pointed to was the collaboration breakdowns negatively impact revenue as 89% of respondents recognized direct revenue-related impacts including reduced customer retention, lower conversion rates, and slower time-to-market. Additionally, 83% recognized indirect revenue-related impacts including siloed systems and processes, lower morale, increased frustration, and frequent “fire drills.”
Decision makers are more likely to see poor strategy as a leading cause, the report found. This cohort, at 43% were nearly twice as likely to attribute misalignment to a lack of clear strategy and goals compared to individual contributors. And they attributed misalignment to unclear deadlines and priorities, 24% of the former vs 10% for that latter.
Best Strategy: Getting Everyone in the Same Room
The survey offered that sales and marketing teams were equally likely to learn best visually or through reading and writing (61%). However, they are nearly equally likely to say that it is difficult to communicate clearly between teams—41% for sales, 43% for marketing.
Despite growing software investments that should eliminate the need for spreadsheets, 87% of individual contributors use them to collaborate. The same percentage also experience misalignment often either weekly or monthly.
“Our research shows it’s not enough to just spend time meeting together,” said Christina Bottis, CMO of Mural. “Teams must collaborate to reach alignment so they can drive faster GTM outcomes. That alignment requires intentional co-creation, well-defined methods, and the right platforms applied across the GTM team.”
View Mural’s full 2025 Global Go-to-Market (GTM) Alignment Gap Index for additional survey insights and guidance on achieving GTM alignment by clicking here