If you run sales or marketing, you already know the drill: everyone talks about “alignment,” but most teams limp along with scattered data, fuzzy handoffs, and constant finger-pointing. This isn’t about buying yet another “single pane of glass”—it’s about actually getting your sales and marketing data to talk to each other so you can make decisions, not just dashboards.
This guide is for practical operators—sales leaders, marketing ops folks, and anyone tasked with making go-to-market (GTM) actually work. We’ll break down how to use Mylighthouse to pull your sales and marketing info into one place, spot the stuff that matters, and ignore the noise. No hype, no handwaving—just what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid wasting your time.
Why Bother Integrating Sales and Marketing Data?
Let’s be honest: most “alignment” meetings are just people guessing at what’s working. Marketing says, “We generated 300 leads!” Sales says, “We can’t close any of them!” And leadership just wants to know where the money’s going.
Getting your data in one place means:
- You see where deals are stalling, not just how many leads you have.
- You can actually match campaigns to revenue, not just pipeline.
- Sales and marketing can stop arguing about whose spreadsheet is right.
But—and it’s a big but—most tools claim this and deliver little more than another dashboard to ignore. The trick is getting just enough integration to see the truth, without getting stuck in a six-month “data warehouse initiative.”
Step 1: Get Real About Your Data Sources
Before you even log into Mylighthouse, make a list. Where’s your sales data? Where’s your marketing data? Don’t kid yourself—if your CRM is a mess or your marketing team lives in spreadsheets, no tool will magically fix that.
Typical sources: - CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) - Marketing automation (Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot) - Ad platforms (Google Ads, LinkedIn) - Spreadsheets (yes, really) - Website analytics
Pro tip:
If you’re missing basic fields (like campaign source, lead owner, or deal stage), fix those first. Mylighthouse can’t do magic on junk data.
Step 2: Connect Your Tools to Mylighthouse
Here’s where Mylighthouse earns its keep: instead of a painful, custom integration, it gives you connectors for common tools. It’s not perfect—if you’re using something obscure, you might have to get creative—but it covers most of the big ones.
To get started: 1. Log in to Mylighthouse and head to the Integrations section. 2. Pick your CRM and marketing platforms from the list. 3. Follow the authentication steps (OAuth for most major tools). 4. Map the fields you actually care about (lead source, opportunity stage, campaign name, etc.).
Watch out for: - Field mismatches: “Lead Source” in marketing might be “Source” in sales. Map carefully, or you’ll get garbage results. - Data sync timing: Some connectors update hourly, some daily. Don’t get hung up on “real-time” unless you actually need it.
Honest take:
If your data is a mess going in, you’ll just create a fancier mess. Clean your fields and naming conventions as much as you can before you connect.
Step 3: Define What “Aligned” Actually Means
Here’s the part most teams skip. Don’t just connect everything and hope insight falls out. Decide what questions you need answered, and set up your integration to serve those.
Examples of useful alignment questions: - Which marketing campaigns actually led to closed/won deals? - Where are leads dropping out between marketing and sales? - Are the leads sales gets actually the ones they want? - How long does it take a campaign lead to turn into revenue?
In Mylighthouse: - Build views and reports that answer these questions directly. - Skip the “vanity” metrics (total leads, open rates) unless you really use them. - Set up alerts or dashboards for bottlenecks (e.g., leads that stall in qualification).
Pro tip:
Start small. Pick one or two questions that matter for this quarter. Add more later. Endless dashboards = endless confusion.
Step 4: Map the Customer Journey in Both Directions
Most alignment fails because sales and marketing see different slices of the customer journey. Use Mylighthouse to stitch together the whole story, not just the first touch or the closed deal.
How to do it: - Map a lead from first website visit through to closed/won (or lost). - Set up tracking for touchpoints: emails, calls, content downloads, meetings. - Use unique IDs (like email addresses or CRM IDs) to tie records together across systems.
What works: - Automated mapping if your data is clean and IDs are consistent. - Manual mapping (CSV imports, matching) if you have gaps—tedious, but sometimes necessary.
What doesn’t: - Hoping the tool will “figure it out” if your IDs are inconsistent or missing. You’ll end up with duplicates and holes.
Step 5: Build (and Use) the Right Reports
Mylighthouse offers a bunch of default reports, but don’t just stick with the out-of-the-box stuff. Build reports that actually help you make decisions.
Must-have reports: - Campaign-to-Revenue Attribution: Which campaigns generate actual revenue, not just leads. - Lead Handoff Quality: Are leads being followed up? Are they a good fit? - Stage Drop-off: Where do leads die in the funnel? - Sales Cycle by Source: Does it take longer to close leads from certain channels?
Ignore: - Reports that just count things (“total emails sent”) unless you’re troubleshooting. - Vanity dashboards—if it looks cool but doesn’t help you act, kill it.
Pro tip:
Schedule a recurring meeting (biweekly is plenty) to review these with both sales and marketing. If the report isn’t helping you make a decision or change, scrap it.
Step 6: Automate the Boring Stuff
Once you’ve got your key reports and fields set up, use Mylighthouse’s automation features to save yourself some grunt work.
Automations worth setting up: - Alert sales when a high-quality lead comes in from a campaign that’s working. - Flag leads that haven’t been touched in X days. - Push revenue data back into your marketing tool so campaigns can optimize for real outcomes, not just clicks.
What to skip: - Over-automating. Don’t try to automate every edge case or you’ll end up managing the automations, not your GTM.
Step 7: Spot Issues and Iterate
No integration is “done”—things break, people change fields, and business priorities shift. Use Mylighthouse to spot issues before they become disasters.
How to keep it healthy: - Set up error alerts for broken field mappings or failed syncs. - Review your integration setup monthly—are your tools still connected? Are fields up to date? - Get feedback from the people who actually use the data (not just leadership).
Honest warning:
Don’t expect perfection. Aim for “good enough to make decisions.” Chasing 100% accuracy will grind you down.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What works: - Keeping your field mapping and data sources as simple as possible. - Focusing on a handful of reports that actually drive action. - Regular check-ins with sales and marketing, using the same data.
What doesn’t: - Dumping all your data into Mylighthouse and hoping magic happens. - Ignoring ongoing maintenance—integrations drift over time. - Chasing “real-time” everywhere. Daily or hourly is plenty for most teams.
What to ignore: - Fancy dashboards that don’t change how you work. - Buzzwords like “360-degree view” unless you know exactly what you need to see.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Keep It Useful
It’s tempting to chase the perfect integration, but you’ll get more value from a few clean fields and actionable reports than from a sprawling mess of data. Start simple. Use Mylighthouse to connect your sales and marketing data around the questions that matter. Review what’s working, fix what’s broken, and don’t be afraid to kill dashboards that no one uses.
GTM alignment isn’t about tools—it’s about making better decisions, faster. Set up your basics, keep it honest, and iterate as you go. That’s how you actually make sales and marketing work together—without all the drama.