Welcome to a story of misalignment.

It is so painful for me to see a startup struggling, only to find out it’s because sales and marketing are not working in sync. 

In this edition I’m sharing a case study that hits on one essential alignment play: syncing LinkedIn campaigns and SDR outbound to a single target account list. A moderate shift, with big results.

Subscribers, don’t miss the free playbook at the end.

📢 Quick update before we jump in…Demand Crush is Evolving

When I started this newsletter, I didn’t overthink the name (or very much about it). I just wanted to get moving instead of making excuses. So I did. And now, it’s time for the next step.

🎯 Next week, Demand Crush officially becomes The Shortlist.

Why The Shortlist? In B2B, most buying decisions happen long before a sales conversation or form fill. That’s why making the shortlist is everything. I’ll keep breaking down exactly how to do that - with a bias toward simplicity and a healthy disregard for attribution.

If you are a subscriber here (or become one) you’ll get access to the full version. It comes with playbooks, prompts, checklists and sometimes more personal stories or career insights.

Now back to our regular programming…

It's not unusual for SDRs to run spray-and-pray playbooks to hit numbers. Then AEs decide to work accounts they know from previous roles, chase deals with sports teams just to score game tickets (true story), or create their own targeting criteria 😬.

Meanwhile...marketing is running major campaigns into the travel industry.

This happens all the time. It’s a classic case of self-inflicted pain that impacts pipeline.

An up and coming startup was burning ad budget on an unfocused LinkedIn program—hundreds of ads, vague targeting, and overly broad audiences. Meanwhile, the sales team was working from a mix of account lists. SDRs struggled to book meetings, and marketing was running massive campaigns that weren’t even hitting the same accounts.

The pipeline reflected it. It was time to get everyone moving in the same direction.

✅ Cut 100’s of ads down to 7—focused messaging, cut the noise.
✅ Laser-targeted our budget—ads shown only to vetted, sales-approved accounts.
✅ Segmented creative—videos + case studies tailored to seniority level.

✅ Together sales and marketing agreed on one account list to put their focus.
✅ SDRs prioritized outbound to these core accounts, and prioritized further with signals.

One quarter in, there is over $1.5M in pipeline booked that would have been missed before. We are expanding the campaign to more sales-aligned accounts—because when outbound + demand actually work together, growth happens.

Yes, sometimes it really is that simple.

Does your demand strategy need a boost? »»» My Demand Gen Audit breaks down exactly why—and how to fix it. In 60 minutes, we’ll pinpoint your biggest pipeline blockers & quick wins.

Get the details here🔥

This wasn’t a massive-budget campaign—we started at $3,500/month and later scaled to $5,000/month. And yes, we’re scaling further.

I put together a Demand Gen & Outbound Playbook for SDRs - a quick checklist to help your team stop burning pipeline and start booking real meetings.

Grab it for free here 👇

This is just one case study—one example of how teams are often misaligned. There are straightforward ways to get on track and make a big impact.

Reply and tell me if your outbound team is thriving or struggling right now. Or just send me the number of times you ignored a cold call this week. I won’t judge.

Share this with your sales or marketing friends! Thanks for subscribing!

Shannon