Most alignment problems are not caused by a lack of goodwill. They are caused by different definitions and an unreliable handover.
Agree what the words mean
Marketing may call a form submission a lead. Sales may reserve the word for a person with budget, authority and a live need. Both teams can report strong performance while disagreeing about the same pipeline.
Define enquiry, qualified lead, accepted lead, opportunity and disqualified lead in plain language. Each definition should describe evidence, not opinion.
Make ownership visible
Every handover needs a named owner, a response expectation and a route for returning unsuitable leads with a reason. Shared inboxes and vague notifications create delay. So does sending every enquiry to sales regardless of quality.
The CRM should record acceptance, next action and outcome. Marketing then gains useful feedback about sources and messages; sales receives fewer leads with clearer context.
Measure the joint system
Separate targets can create local success and overall failure. Marketing optimises volume while sales protects time by ignoring low-confidence leads. A better scorecard includes speed to contact, acceptance rate, conversion to opportunity, revenue by source and reasons for rejection.
Alignment improves when the workflow makes the right behaviour easier. The meeting should review the system, not compensate for one that is unclear.