The quota attainment crisis is no longer a secret. A staggering 84% of sales reps missed it last year, and the problem runs deeper than just setting the right number. Even when companies lower their targets, the gap persists.
Fullcast’s 2025 GTM Benchmarks Report found that after quotas were reduced, nearly 77% of sellers still fell short, proving the issue lies in a broken go-to-market model. For too long, leaders have blamed each other, debating the value of marketing-sourced versus sales-sourced quotas. It is a symptom of a disconnected GTM strategy, not the root cause of missed targets.
Here is a practical path forward. We define both quota types, surface the hidden costs of a siloed model, and share a four-step framework to build a unified revenue plan that drives predictable growth.
Defining the terms: marketing-sourced vs. sales-sourced quotas
The debate between marketing and sales often begins with a misunderstanding of what each quota type represents and how it drives behavior across the revenue organization.
- Marketing-sourced quotas typically measure the volume and value of pipeline generated from marketing activities. Key metrics include Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), conversion rates from inbound channels, and revenue influenced by specific campaigns. The goal is to hold marketing accountable for creating initial interest and demand.
- Sales-sourced quotas focus on the pipeline generated through the direct, outbound efforts of the sales team. This includes metrics like Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), meetings booked from cold outreach, and deals originating from a seller’s own prospecting activities. This quota type measures the sales team’s ability to hunt for new business.
The hidden costs of siloed quotas
Operating with separate marketing and sales quotas may seem logical on the surface, but this division creates operational friction that drains resources and stalls growth. The costs are not just financial; they are strategic and cultural.
The most immediate consequence is a cycle of blame. When revenue targets are missed, marketing cites low lead conversion, while sales questions lead quality. This erodes trust and blocks collaboration.
This disconnect also makes accurate forecasting difficult. When lead flow, pipeline health, and conversion data live in separate systems and are measured against different goals, leaders are left with a fragmented view. The result is an unreliable forecast that undermines executive confidence.
Ultimately, this siloed approach wastes valuable resources. Marketing invests in campaigns that generate leads the sales team will not work, while sales spends time prospecting into accounts that marketing is already nurturing. This misalignment prevents teams from working together to drive more revenue per head.
Siloed quotas create a cycle of blame, inaccurate forecasts, and wasted resources that directly inhibit growth.
Implement a unified revenue plan in four steps
The most effective GTM organizations move beyond the sourcing debate. They focus on one question: did we achieve our revenue goals as efficiently as possible. In a unified model, marketing and sales work from the same playbook, target the same accounts, and drive toward shared revenue outcomes. Leaders plan continuously and adjust based on real-time performance data.
Step 1: Define your ideal customer profile (ICP) and territories collaboratively
Alignment starts with agreement on who to target and where to find them. When sales and marketing build the GTM segmentation model together, they focus resources on the highest-potential accounts from day one.
Disconnected spreadsheets and manual analysis slow this work. Modern RevOps platforms accelerate collaboration, allowing teams to build and iterate faster. Companies like Collibra have slashed territory planning time by 30% by using an integrated platform to build their GTM model.
Step 2: Establish a data-driven service level agreement (SLA)
A unified plan needs clear rules of engagement. A data-driven SLA removes ambiguity by defining lead handoff criteria, follow-up timelines, and disposition requirements for both teams.
Build the agreement around core metrics like MQL-to-SQL conversion rates, lead velocity, and overall pipeline contribution. Given that consistent performance is rare, only 24.3% of salespeople exceed their yearly quota, a data-backed SLA is essential for creating a predictable revenue motion.
Step 3: Align capacity planning with revenue goals
A unified revenue goal is meaningless without the resources to achieve it. Leaders should ensure they have the right number of sellers and marketing resources to realistically hit the target. This connects strategy to headcount and budget.
A unified platform helps leaders master sales capacity planning by modeling scenarios for headcount, productivity, and quota. This directly informs how you set quotas that are both challenging and achievable.
Step 4: Use one platform as your single source of truth
Alignment breaks down when teams operate from different data sets and tools. Spreadsheets, disconnected CRMs, and homegrown systems create operational chaos and make it impossible to manage a unified plan at scale.
A central Revenue Command Center connects the GTM plan to daily execution and acts as the single source of truth. It ensures every rep is set up for success with fair, balanced territories from the start, connecting the strategic plan directly to a seller’s performance.
Fullcast takes an AI-first approach to GTM planning. The platform models complex scenarios, recommends territory adjustments, and keeps the revenue plan aligned to market potential and business goals. That matters, since 84% of reps achieve their quotas when their employer incorporates a strategy like the one cited in best in class sales enablement. Leaders can also implement Automated RevOps policies that serve as dynamic rules of engagement so the plan is executed consistently and efficiently.
Stop debating sources, start building a revenue engine
The debate over marketing-sourced versus sales-sourced quotas distracts from the real issue: a disconnected go-to-market strategy. Winning teams do not chase credit but they build a single, efficient revenue engine where every play, resource, and action maps to one plan. That is how you move beyond missed targets and blame.
The path forward is to replace spreadsheets and siloed tools with an end-to-end RevOps platform that connects your GTM plan to execution. The first step is to get your entire GTM org aligned around a single, operational framework.
Ready to build a unified GTM plan that improves quota attainment? See how Fullcast’s Revenue Command Center connects your plan to performance.
FAQ
1. Why are so many sales reps missing quota even after targets are reduced?
The root cause isn’t poorly set targets; it’s a fundamentally broken and disconnected go-to-market (GTM) model. When sales and marketing operate in separate silos with their own quotas, the entire revenue organization lacks alignment. This disconnect creates friction and inefficiency, meaning reps will consistently miss targets no matter how they are adjusted. Marketing might be rewarded for generating a high volume of leads that sales deems low-quality, wasting everyone’s time. True success requires a unified approach where both teams work from a single, shared revenue plan.
2. What’s the difference between marketing-sourced and sales-sourced quotas?
Marketing-sourced quotas track pipeline from inbound activities like content downloads, webinar sign-ups, and ad campaigns. In contrast, sales-sourced quotas measure pipeline from direct outbound prospecting, such as cold calls and emails. Understanding this distinction is critical because it directly influences team behavior. A heavy focus on marketing-sourced quotas might incentivize marketing to prioritize lead quantity over quality, while a focus on sales-sourced quotas can discourage reps from following up on valuable inbound leads. This separation often creates a blame game instead of fostering collaboration toward the ultimate goal of revenue.
3. What are the hidden costs of maintaining separate quotas for sales and marketing?
Maintaining separate quotas for sales and marketing creates significant hidden costs that undermine growth. This siloed approach prevents teams from working toward shared goals and instead encourages finger-pointing when targets are missed. Key costs include:
- A destructive cycle of blame: Marketing blames sales for not closing leads, while sales blames marketing for poor lead quality.
- Inaccurate revenue forecasts: When teams operate from different data sets and assumptions, leadership gets a fragmented and unreliable view of the pipeline.
- Wasted resources: Your budget is spent on duplicate efforts or campaigns that don’t align with sales priorities, directly impacting your bottom line and hindering growth.
4. How does a unified revenue plan solve the quota attainment crisis?
A unified revenue plan directly solves the quota attainment crisis by shifting the focus from departmental credit to collective revenue accountability. Instead of fighting over who sourced a lead, sales and marketing collaborate on a single set of shared goals. This alignment eliminates the friction and blame associated with siloed quotas. The entire go-to-market motion becomes more efficient because both teams are strategically focused on the same target accounts and are measured by the same ultimate outcome: hitting the company’s revenue number. This creates a powerful, cooperative engine for growth rather than two disconnected departments.
5. What does collaborative territory planning look like in a unified GTM strategy?
In a unified GTM strategy, collaborative territory planning is a foundational process where sales and marketing act as one team. It goes beyond simply handing a list of accounts to sales. Instead, both teams work together to:
- Jointly define the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on firmographics, technographics, and buying signals.
- Prioritize accounts by tiering them based on revenue potential and strategic importance.
- Map out a coverage strategy that outlines who is responsible for what and how marketing campaigns will support sales outreach in specific territories.
6. Why is a single platform important for unified revenue planning?
A single platform is critical for unified revenue planning because it creates a single source of truth for the entire organization. It eliminates the data conflicts and manual reconciliation that plague siloed teams using separate tools. When everyone operates from the same platform, you can:
- Track progress accurately against shared revenue goals in real time.
- Make agile adjustments to strategy based on unified performance data.
- Ensure accountability by focusing on meaningful shared metrics, like pipeline coverage and win rates, instead of disconnected vanity metrics like “MQLs” or “dials made.”
7. How does AI support a unified go-to-market strategy?
AI is a powerful accelerator for a unified go-to-market strategy. Modern AI-powered platforms move beyond simple automation to provide deep, predictive insights that help revenue teams plan, model, and optimize their entire plan in real time. AI can analyze historical data and market trends to recommend the most promising territories, identify at-risk accounts, and even model different quota or capacity scenarios to predict outcomes. This allows you to build a more resilient and effective GTM plan that adapts quickly as market conditions change, keeping your teams aligned on the most effective path to revenue.
8. How can sales and marketing agree on what a good lead is?
The best way for sales and marketing to agree on lead quality is by establishing data-driven Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Instead of relying on assumptions or gut feelings, these SLAs use actual performance data to create clear, measurable commitments between the two teams. A strong, data-driven SLA will precisely define:
- The criteria for a qualified lead: What specific attributes and behaviors signal a high-quality prospect?
- Lead follow-up time: How quickly must sales engage with a marketing-generated lead?
- Expected conversion rates: What are the benchmark conversion rates at each stage of the funnel?
This creates mutual accountability and ensures marketing is focused on generating pipeline that sales can actually close.
9. How do you align capacity with revenue goals in a unified plan?
Aligning capacity with revenue goals means ensuring your go-to-market plan is grounded in reality. It involves honestly assessing whether you have the right number of sellers, adequate marketing resources, and the necessary technology to achieve your targets. Too often, leaders set ambitious revenue goals without a clear plan for how the team will get there. This capacity gap leads to burned-out reps, stretched marketing budgets, and inevitably, missed quotas. A unified plan requires you to model your capacity against your goals to identify and address any gaps before the quarter begins, setting your team up for success.
10. What’s the first step to moving from siloed quotas to a unified revenue plan?
The most effective first step is to bring sales and marketing leaders together for a collaborative territory planning session. This isn’t just a meeting; it’s a foundational workshop to build alignment from the ground up. Before you can debate attribution or assign quotas, both teams must agree on the fundamentals: who are we targeting and where will we find them? In this session, teams work together to define shared target accounts, tier them by priority, and map out a joint coverage strategy. This simple but powerful step ensures everyone is aiming at the same target, creating a solid foundation for a fully unified revenue plan.
