Use this comprehensive checklist to evaluate the current state of collaboration between your product marketing, product, and sales teams. Rate each item on a scale of 1-5, where:

• 1 = Not happening at all
• 2 = Happening inconsistently
• 3 = Happening regularly but with room for improvement
• 4 = Working well
• 5 = Best-in-class example

Foundation Elements

Shared Understanding

• Product marketing has a clear understanding of the product roadmap and development timeline.
• Product team understands marketing campaign plans and go-to-market strategy.
• Sales team comprehends product capabilities and limitations accurately.
• All teams share a common understanding of target customer personas and their needs.
• Cross-functional teams use consistent terminology and definitions.

Structural Elements

• Regular cross-functional meetings have clearly defined purposes and agendas.
• Roles and responsibilities for collaborative processes are explicitly documented.
• Decision-making frameworks for cross-functional issues are established and followed.
• Escalation paths for resolving cross-functional conflicts are clear and effective.
• Shared tools and platforms facilitate cross-team information sharing.

Cultural Elements

• Leadership visibly champions and rewards cross-functional collaboration.
• Teams celebrate joint successes and share recognition across functions.
• Cross-functional input is actively sought and valued by all teams.
• Constructive disagreement is encouraged within a framework of mutual respect.
• Teams demonstrate empathy for others’ constraints and priorities.

Product Marketing-Product Collaboration

Strategic Alignment

• Product marketing participates meaningfully in product strategy discussions.
• Product roadmap reflects market insights provided by product marketing.
• Feature prioritization includes input from product marketing on market demand.
• Product and marketing teams jointly develop product positioning and messaging.
• Both teams have aligned definitions of success for product launches.

Information Exchange

• Product marketing receives timely updates on product development progress.
• Technical product information is translated effectively for marketing use.
• Customer and market insights flow regularly from marketing to product teams.
• Competitive intelligence is systematically shared between teams.
• There’s a documented process for product marketing to provide feedback on features.

Joint Activities

• Product and marketing teams conduct joint customer research activities.
• Both teams participate in beta testing and early customer access programs.
• Release notes and product documentation are collaboratively developed.
• Product teams actively participate in go-to-market planning sessions.
• Both teams jointly review product launch performance and lessons learned.

Product Marketing-Sales Collaboration

Enablement Effectiveness

• Sales tools and collateral directly address common customer questions.
• Product messaging is consistently delivered across all sales channels.
• Sales training on new products/features is comprehensive and effective.
• Competitive battle cards and objection handling guides are regularly updated.
• Custom materials are developed for different sales roles (SDRs, AEs, SEs, etc.).

Feedback Systems

• Formal processes exist for sales to share customer reactions to messaging.
• Win/loss analysis is conducted jointly and informs future strategies.
• Sales objections and customer questions are systematically captured and addressed.
• Sales has clear channels to request new marketing materials or support.
• Product marketing regularly joins sales calls to hear customer interactions firsthand.

Alignment on Metrics

• Both teams track and discuss common conversion metrics throughout the funnel.
• Sales and marketing jointly review campaign performance data.
• Shared accountability exists for qualified opportunity generation.
• Both teams collaborate on customer success stories and references.
• Clear agreement exists on pipeline attribution and influence measurement.

Product-Sales Collaboration

Technical Support

• Product team provides timely support for complex technical sales questions.
• Sales engineers have direct access to product experts when needed.
• Product demos are tailored to different sales scenarios with product team input.
• Custom proof-of-concept implementations receive appropriate product team support.
• Product managers occasionally join sales meetings with strategic prospects.

Requirements Gathering

• Sales input is systematically incorporated into product requirements.
• Customer feedback from sales interactions influences roadmap priorities.
• Sales has visibility into how their feature requests are prioritized.
• Product team explains trade-off decisions transparently to sales.
• Joint customer visits occur to validate requirements and use cases.

Roadmap Communication

• Sales receives regular updates on product roadmap and release timing.
• Product team provides clear guidance on what can/cannot be promised to customers.
• Future products and features are communicated with appropriate timing and detail.
• Sales understands the strategic rationale behind product decisions.
• Product team provides competitive positioning guidance for roadmap items.

Tri-functional Collaboration (Product, Marketing, Sales)

Launch Execution

• Launch plans include clearly defined roles for all three functions.
• Launch readiness is assessed jointly with input from all teams.
• Launch timing decisions consider all relevant cross-functional factors.
• Post-launch reviews include perspectives from all three functions.
• Launch success metrics reflect goals that matter to all teams.

Strategic Planning

• Annual planning processes include meaningful cross-functional input.
• Market opportunity assessments draw on insights from all three teams.
• Resource allocation discussions consider cross-functional dependencies.
• All three functions contribute to competitive strategy development.
• Teams align on target customer segments and prioritization.

Customer Journey Alignment

• All teams share a common view of the customer journey and key touchpoints.
• Customer experience considerations span product, marketing, and sales decisions.
• Customer success metrics are jointly defined and tracked.
• Cross-sell and upsell strategies leverage insights from all functions.
• Customer retention and expansion efforts are coordinated across teams.

Action Planning

Based on your assessment, identify:

1. 1. Top three strengths to maintain and build upon:
   2. Top three improvement opportunities to address immediately:
   3. One foundational issue that, if resolved, would improve multiple areas:

Implementation Plan

For each priority improvement area, complete the following planning template:

Improvement Area: ______________________________________________________

Specific Actions:

Resources Needed:

Timeline:

1. 1. • Start date: ___________________
      • Key milestones: ___________________
      • Target completion: ___________________

Success Measures:

Stakeholders to Involve:

Regular Review Schedule

Schedule regular assessments using this checklist:

1. 1. • Initial baseline: Date: ___________________
      • 90-day follow-up: Date: ___________________
      • Quarterly reviews: ___________________