If you’re reading this, you’re probably tired of the disconnect between your sales and marketing teams. Maybe you’ve seen tools like Upscale and the usual suspects—HubSpot, Outreach, Salesforce, and so on—promising to make your go-to-market (GTM) process seamless. The reality? Most of these platforms get you partway there, but alignment is never “set and forget.” This guide breaks down what actually moves the needle, what’s just noise, and how Upscale compares to the rest.
Why Sales and Marketing Alignment Is Such a Slog
Let’s be honest: sales and marketing alignment isn’t just a buzzword. If you’ve ever had one team complaining about “bad leads” while the other gripes about “lazy follow-up,” you know the pain. The right GTM tools can help, but only if they fit how your teams actually work.
What you want: - Shared visibility (so everyone’s not working blind) - Clear lead handoffs (no more “who owns this?” debates) - Data that’s trustworthy (not just another dashboard no one checks) - Workflows that don’t slow people down
Keep these in mind. If a tool doesn’t help here, it’s probably just adding more noise.
What Is Upscale—and Who’s It For?
Upscale is a B2B sales engagement platform. It focuses on helping outbound sales teams run multi-channel sequences (email, calls, LinkedIn), track replies, and surface what’s working. It’s not a full-blown CRM. It’s not a marketing automation platform. It’s built for B2B teams who want to get more meetings, with less busywork and fewer handoffs lost in the void.
If you’re mostly inbound, or your marketing team runs the show, Upscale probably isn’t your one-stop shop. But if your outbound sales team is frustrated with tools that are too bloated, it’s worth a look.
Comparing Upscale to the Big B2B GTM Tools
Let’s look at how Upscale stacks up against common players you’ll hear about in sales and marketing alignment: HubSpot, Outreach, Salesforce, and Salesloft. There are dozens of others, but most fall into these buckets.
1. HubSpot: The All-In-One Giant
What it does well: - Combines CRM, marketing automation, email, ads, and reporting in one spot - Good for small-to-mid teams who don’t want to cobble together a tech stack - Decent out-of-the-box reporting and dashboards
Where it falls short: - “Jack of all trades, master of none.” Sales engagement isn’t as robust as dedicated tools - Gets pricey fast as you add features/users - Plays nice with marketing, but sales teams often find the sequences and task management lacking
Should you use it? If you want everything under one login and your sales process is pretty standard, HubSpot can work. But if your sales team wants deep sequences, call tracking, or multi-channel touchpoints, it’s not enough on its own.
Pro tip: Don’t get lured by the free CRM. The good stuff is behind a paywall, and costs balloon quickly.
2. Outreach & Salesloft: The Sales Engagement Heavyweights
What they do well: - Advanced multi-channel sequences (email, calls, LinkedIn) - Reporting that shows what’s working in your outreach - Good Salesforce integration - Power features for outbound teams (A/B testing, call recording, analytics)
Where they fall short: - Expensive, especially as your team grows - Can be overwhelming for smaller teams or those without dedicated ops people - Not built for marketing—these are sales-first tools
Should you use them? If outbound is your bread and butter, these workhorses are popular for a reason. But be ready for a hefty learning curve and a hefty bill.
3. Salesforce: The CRM King
What it does well: - Customization—if you can dream it (and pay for it), you can probably build it - Robust reporting and dashboards for leadership - Integrates with almost everything
Where it falls short: - Clunky UI; most reps hate living inside it - Needs a dedicated admin or consultant to keep it running smoothly - Not a sales engagement tool—email, call, and sequence workflows are bolted-on at best
Should you use it? You’ll probably end up with Salesforce at some point if you’re a larger org. But you’ll need something else for real sales/marketing alignment and day-to-day sales engagement.
4. Upscale: The Lean Sales Engagement Platform
What it does well: - Focused, clean UI—sales reps actually use it - Multi-channel sequences without the clutter - Intent signals and reply tracking are simple but useful - Easy to set up (no need for a Salesforce admin)
Where it falls short: - Won’t replace your CRM or marketing automation - Lighter on integrations compared to Outreach or HubSpot - Not built for marketing teams running complex campaigns
Where it stands out: If you’re a B2B team who wants to keep things simple and actually get reps following up consistently, Upscale is worth testing. For alignment, it helps by making handoffs clearer and activity more visible between sales/marketing, but you’ll still need a CRM to tie everything together.
How to Actually Use These Tools for Alignment (Not Just More Noise)
Here’s where most teams go wrong: they buy a tool, expect alignment to “just happen,” and end up with more silos.
Here’s how to avoid that trap:
1. Map Your Real-World Lead Flow
- Sit both teams down. Whiteboard how a lead comes in, gets qualified, gets worked, and gets closed.
- Don’t sugarcoat the ugly stuff—find the handoffs where things drop.
- Write down what info marketing needs from sales (and vice versa).
Pro tip: If you can’t explain your process in 2 minutes, it’s too complicated.
2. Pick Tools That Help, Not Hinder
Don’t chase features you’ll never use. Focus on: - Shared views of lead status (can both teams see what’s happening?) - Easy task assignment and follow-up - Activity tracking that’s visible to both sales and marketing - Integrations with your CRM (even if that’s Google Sheets, for now)
If you’re outbound-heavy, a tool like Upscale or Outreach can help sales keep things tight. If you’re inbound-heavy, HubSpot might be enough. Don’t buy both unless you really need to.
3. Set Up Simple, Shared Metrics
Forget “north star metrics” for now. Just pick: - Number of leads handed off from marketing to sales - % of leads actually worked by sales - Meetings booked and pipeline created
If your tool can’t give you these basics, it’s probably not worth the money.
4. Hold a Weekly “Pipeline Reality Check”
- Have both sales and marketing review the SAME numbers in the SAME tool
- Talk about specific leads—not just summary stats
- Keep it short. Focus on what’s stuck and why
This is where alignment actually happens. No tool does this for you.
5. Kill Bad Workflows Ruthlessly
- If no one uses a feature, turn it off
- If a report gets ignored, delete it
- If sales or marketing keeps working outside the tool (spreadsheets, Slack), figure out why
No shame in keeping things basic until you’re sure they work.
What to Ignore (Seriously)
- “AI-powered” anything—unless it solves a concrete problem you actually have, move on
- Overly complex lead scoring—keep it simple until you have real data
- Endless integrations—pick the 2-3 that matter, forget the rest
- Fancy dashboards no one checks—if it’s not actionable, it’s just decoration
The Bottom Line
Most teams don’t need more tools—they need fewer, better-used ones. Whether you go with Upscale, HubSpot, Outreach, or something else, pick what’s simplest for your real workflow. Get both teams looking at the same numbers. Kill what isn’t working. Iterate fast.
Alignment isn’t a destination. It’s a habit. Keep it simple, review often, and don’t let shiny new features distract you from what actually matters: getting sales and marketing rowing in the same direction.