| Episode Type | Expert Insight Interview |
| Guest | Charlotte Johnson, Founder & CEO, Drew and Rose |
| Guest Website | drewandrose.com |
| Listen | View on Sales POP! Podcast Page |
Key Takeaways
- Charlotte Johnson argues marketing should be accountable for lead generation the same way sales is accountable for closing deals.
- Drew and Rose ties marketing compensation to results, paying a base plus incentives for meetings set, “okay” leads, and quality leads.
- Charlotte Johnson insists sales and marketing sit in the same weekly meeting and map the full funnel together to remove blame.
- Drew and Rose guarantees outcomes, working two months fee-free if targets aren’t hit by month nine of a contract.
Episode Overview
Why do sales and marketing still operate as rivals in 2026? Charlotte Johnson, founder and CEO of Drew and Rose, tackles the sales and marketing gap by making marketing accountable for lead generation. She traces the divide to mindset, training, and compensation. Charlotte shows how leadership creates a test-and-learn culture, gets both teams mapping the funnel together, and treats breakdowns as process problems rather than people problems.Why are sales and marketing still not aligned in 2026?
Charlotte Johnson points to mindset, training, and pay. Marketers are rarely taught lead generation, and most aren’t compensated in a way that ties them to leads or sales. Drew and Rose’s founder notes the problem appears even in large companies, where leadership keeps the two teams in separate meetings and they lose respect for each other’s work.How should you pay marketing to be accountable for leads?
Charlotte Johnson recommends tying marketing pay to outcomes, just like sales. Drew and Rose’s model pays a base plus incentives for setting a meeting, generating an “okay” lead, and generating a quality lead — leaving conversion to the salesperson. Charlotte argues this incentive structure makes marketers measurably more accountable for the leads they produce.Why must leadership put sales and marketing in one meeting?
Charlotte Johnson says leadership has to create the shared, psychologically safe space where both teams review the funnel together. Drew and Rose makes joint weekly meetings a contract requirement so teams spot the leaky bucket, adjust targeting and spend, and treat issues as process failures. Charlotte stresses this removes the ego and fear that drive the usual blame game.What processes improve lead quality and close rates?
Charlotte Johnson starts by getting the tech stack and CRM talking, then mapping the full funnel by persona or product. Drew and Rose uses visualization tools like Funnelytics and Clay to track stage-by-stage dropout and work backwards on small fixes. Charlotte explains that compounding 1% gains week on week takes the pressure off and gets both teams excited.How should sales and marketing use AI together?
Charlotte Johnson warns AI can widen the gap if it replaces collaboration, since fully automated campaigns convert far below manually optimized ones. Drew and Rose puts the CRM at the center and runs an AI assistant for every role and brand — each with a name, job description, KPIs, and a weekly meeting. Charlotte says human optimization still drives results.Pull Quotes
“The game is still the same, just the playground keeps on changing. Marketing and sales have to work together more — it has to be more performance-led.” — Charlotte Johnson, CEO of Drew and Rose
“Marketers know how to talk to people because they’re usually in psychology and they understand it. Sales have the confidence to go out and ask. And when you bring the two together, it really is magic.” — Charlotte Johnson, CEO of Drew and Rose
“It takes the people element out of it, because the loggerheads is all just ego and fear.” — Charlotte Johnson, CEO of Drew and Rose
“By month nine, if we haven’t hit the targets we have said we’re going to hit, we work fee free for two months. And then if we still haven’t done it, we’re fired.” — Charlotte Johnson, CEO of Drew and Rose
Sales-Marketing Alignment: Key Statistics from Drew and Rose
| Statistic | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ~$20M revenue | Below roughly the $20 million mark, companies are more likely to keep sales and marketing siloed with little cross-training. | Charlotte Johnson, Sales POP! interview, 2026 |
| Month 9 guarantee | On a 12 or 24-month contract, if Drew and Rose hasn’t hit targets by month nine, the agency works two months fee-free, then is fired. | Charlotte Johnson, Sales POP! interview, 2026 |
| ~40 minutes | Of each weekly client meeting, ~15–20 minutes covers results and next-week actions and ~40 minutes is coaching, mentoring, and training. | Charlotte Johnson, Sales POP! interview, 2026 |
| 1% gains | Compounding 1% incremental funnel improvements week on week builds momentum and takes pressure off both teams. | Charlotte Johnson, Sales POP! interview, 2026 |
| 4-tier comp | A lead-accountable marketing comp model pays a base plus incentives for a meeting set, an “okay” lead, and a quality lead. | Charlotte Johnson, Sales POP! interview, 2026 |
| 1 AI assistant per role + brand | Drew and Rose runs an AI assistant for every role and every brand, each with a name, job description, KPIs, and a weekly meeting. | Charlotte Johnson, Sales POP! interview, 2026 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make marketing accountable for lead generation?
Charlotte Johnson recommends paying marketing like sales: a base plus incentives for meetings set, “okay” leads, and quality leads. Drew and Rose pairs this with joint weekly meetings and full-funnel mapping so marketing owns measurable results, not just activity.
Why are sales and marketing still not aligned?
Charlotte Johnson attributes the gap to mindset, lack of lead-generation training, and compensation that doesn’t tie marketers to leads. Drew and Rose note that leadership often keeps the two teams in separate meetings, so they never build respect for each other’s roles.
How can sales and marketing use AI without widening the gap?
Charlotte Johnson advises putting the CRM at the center and training AI assistants like team members. Drew and Rose run an assistant per role and brand, but warn that fully automated campaigns convert at rates well below those of human-optimized ones, so collaboration still matters most.
What is the future of marketing according to Charlotte Johnson?
Charlotte Johnson predicts that marketing will become far more performance-led, tracked end-to-end through the CRM funnel, with less “fluffy” branding. Drew and Rose’s founder also expects PPC and paid ad spend to drop as AI search reshapes how buyers find information.
Related Resources
- Book a free consultation with Drew and Rose
- Sales POP! Podcast: salespop.net/media/podcast/
- Coevera: coevera.com
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