Getting sales and marketing to row in the same direction is harder than it sounds. Even if you’ve got the right people, it’s easy for handoffs to get messy, data to live in silos, and strategy to become a game of telephone. If you’re in B2B and serious about getting your go-to-market (GTM) motion sorted, you’ve probably heard about Akoonu. This guide is for folks who want a clear-eyed look at what Akoonu actually does, where it helps, and where it might fall short.
What Is Akoonu, Really?
Akoonu bills itself as GTM software focused on sales and marketing alignment for B2B teams. In plain English, it’s a platform that sits on top of Salesforce and tries to bring order to the chaos: pipeline reviews, deal inspection, forecasting, and making sure everyone’s working from the same playbook.
The pitch? Less time in spreadsheets, more closed deals, and fewer “wait, who owns this?” moments. Sounds great. But let’s get specific.
What Problems Does Akoonu Try to Solve?
Here’s where Akoonu tries to help, and why it matters:
- Sales Pipeline Visibility: Most CRMs are a mess of custom fields and patchwork dashboards. Akoonu tries to give you one place to see what’s moving (and what’s stuck).
- Deal Inspection: Sales teams waste time squinting at Salesforce trying to figure out what’s real. Akoonu aims to make it obvious—here’s what’s healthy, here’s what’s not.
- Forecasting: Manual forecasts are guesswork and gut feeling. Akoonu tries to automate it using your real data.
- Sales-Marketing Handoffs: Marketing says, “We gave you 100 leads!” Sales says, “None of them are real.” Akoonu tries to put an end to that blame game.
- Process Consistency: If every rep runs their own process, you can’t improve anything. Akoonu enforces your stages and methodology.
If your team spends hours in meetings debating pipeline numbers or chasing down context, this is the kind of pain Akoonu is designed to address.
Core Features: What’s Inside Akoonu?
Let’s break down the nuts and bolts, without the sales fluff.
1. Pipeline Reviews That Don’t Suck
Akoonu’s main view is a pipeline board that lives inside Salesforce. It’s Kanban-style, so you can drag and drop deals between stages, update fields, and spot gaps without opening a dozen browser tabs.
What works: - Real-time data—no more “let me pull a report and get back to you.” - See deal health at a glance: red/yellow/green indicators based on your criteria. - Easy to filter by team, rep, or segment.
What doesn’t: - If your Salesforce hygiene is bad, Akoonu will just surface your dirty data. - Customization is decent, but not unlimited—some advanced teams want more.
Pro tip: Clean up your opportunity fields before rolling this out, or you’ll just automate your confusion.
2. Deal Inspection and Qualification
Forget about flipping between tabs to figure out why a deal stalled. Akoonu shows key fields, activity history, and next steps right in the pipeline view. You can also build in qualification frameworks (like MEDDIC or your own flavor) so reps stay on track.
What works: - Makes it obvious when next steps or contacts are missing. - Customizable scorecards and qualification criteria.
What doesn’t: - If your team ignores Salesforce tasks, this won’t magically make them diligent. - The UI is fast, but dense—some users need a learning curve.
Pro tip: Use the qualification scorecards in pipeline reviews, not as a chore for reps to fill out after the fact.
3. Forecasting That’s Not Just a Guess
Akoonu tries to take the drama out of forecasting. Leaders can see projections based on real pipeline data, not just what reps “hope” will close. It highlights deals at risk and tracks changes over time.
What works: - Side-by-side view of rep forecast vs. system-driven forecast. - Highlights changes in deal size or close date automatically.
What doesn’t: - Only as accurate as your Salesforce data—junk in, junk out. - No fancy AI bells and whistles—this is more process discipline, less “magic.”
Pro tip: Use Akoonu’s forecast review as your single source of truth in pipeline meetings—no more arguing over which spreadsheet is right.
4. Sales and Marketing Alignment
This is the big promise: getting everyone on the same page. Akoonu lets you track handoffs, see lead source impact on pipeline, and spot where deals fall apart. It’s not a marketing automation platform, but it does make marketing’s impact on pipeline more visible.
What works: - Clear attribution from marketing source to closed deal. - Flags when leads or accounts stall between teams.
What doesn’t: - Won’t fix deeper process issues or bad lead definitions. - Requires sales and marketing to agree on definitions up front.
Pro tip: Sit sales and marketing down together to define lifecycle stages before you set up Akoonu—otherwise you’ll just automate old arguments.
5. Customizable Methodologies
Akoonu lets you embed your own sales process: stages, entry/exit criteria, qualification questions, etc. If you’re running MEDDIC, SPIN, or your own Frankenstein’s monster, you can build it in.
What works: - Forces reps to follow your process. - Easy to tweak as your process evolves.
What doesn’t: - Flexibility is good, but not infinite—if you’re super niche, you may hit limits. - Some reps will grumble about “one more checkbox.”
Pro tip: Roll out methodology changes in Akoonu gradually so reps don’t revolt.
The Honest Pros and Cons
Let’s skip the marketing spin and get to the good, the bad, and the “meh.”
The Good
- Real transparency: Everyone sees the same data, in real time.
- Saves time: Less prepping for pipeline meetings and chasing down info.
- Enforces process: Good for newer sales teams or orgs with lots of churn.
- Inside Salesforce: No more toggling between tools—Akoonu lives where reps already work.
The Not-So-Good
- Data dependency: If your Salesforce is messy, Akoonu just surfaces the mess.
- Change management: Reps and managers need to actually use it, or it’s shelfware.
- Customization limits: Very advanced orgs may want even more control.
- No AI magic: This is not Gong or Clari—there’s no call recording or predictive analytics.
What to Ignore
- “Single pane of glass” hype: Every vendor says this. Akoonu does centralize stuff, but don’t expect it to replace your CRM, marketing automation, and analytics stack.
- Plug-and-play promises: It’s fast to set up, but only if your sales process and Salesforce data are already in good shape.
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Use Akoonu?
Good Fit
- B2B teams with long, complex sales cycles.
- Orgs that already use Salesforce as their system of record.
- Companies struggling with pipeline visibility or sales/marketing finger-pointing.
- Teams who want to standardize their sales process and enforce it.
Not a Fit
- Early-stage startups with a handful of reps—Google Sheets might be plenty.
- Teams using HubSpot, Dynamics, or other CRMs—Akoonu is Salesforce-centric.
- Orgs looking for AI-driven forecasting or deep marketing automation.
Pricing: What’s the Damage?
Akoonu doesn’t post pricing on their website (classic), but users report it’s a per-user/month model, roughly in line with other sales tools—think $60–$100/user/month depending on volume and features. Not cheap, but not in “call for enterprise pricing” territory either.
Pro tip: Push for a proof of concept or short-term pilot before committing.
Setup and Support: The Real-World Experience
Setup is pretty quick—as long as your Salesforce is tidy. Plan for:
- 1–2 weeks to define your sales process and qualification criteria.
- Admin setup in a day or two.
- Training sessions for sales and marketing—Akoonu provides videos and support.
Support is responsive, but you’ll get the best results if you’ve got a sales ops or revops person driving adoption.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple
Akoonu is a solid tool for B2B teams who want to get serious about sales/marketing alignment and pipeline discipline—if you’re willing to put in the work. It won’t fix broken processes or lazy data entry, but it will make your problems impossible to ignore (which, honestly, is half the battle).
Start small. Clean up your data, agree on definitions, and roll out Akoonu with a clear owner. Iterate as you go. Don’t expect a silver bullet—but if you’re tired of pipeline chaos, it’s worth a look.