It takes a sales force to grow revenue, and a marketing team to build brand awareness and customer interest.

Today, both of those groups need to be working more in sync, experts say. That's especially true in B2B technology, with its seemingly constant state of change, as vendors keep coming out with the "next big thing" and their channel partners keep abreast of new releases.

In a study conducted earlier this year, Miller Heiman Group, which helps businesses improve sales and service, found that just 39 percent of companies surveyed said their sales and marketing groups are aligned in their knowledge of what their customers want and need. But among top-performing companies, that number soars to 94 percent.

"Sales and marketing alignment … is still a challenging [topic] for many organizations," the report said.  "In the age of the customer, creating leads and new business opportunities is a shared responsibility between marketing and sales."

Even last year, according to the results of a previous, similar survey Miller Heiman conducted in 2015, only 54 percent of businesses said their level of collaboration between sales and marketing met or exceeded expectations, while the remaining 46 percent said collaboration needed improvement or to be redesigned.

Here are three views on sales-marketing alignment from around the web:

BUSINESS 2 COMMUNITY: A partnership, like Lennon and McCartney

Stacy Willis describes the basics behind the alignment of sales and marketing and why the two disciplines are linked to each other.

DIGINOMICA: But why is there a disconnect between them?

Barb Mosher Zinck explores this question. The cure comes down to effective communication.

FORBES: The written word can make a difference

Sales expert and author Ian Altman says content marketing – enhanced by a shift of more of the buying process to online markets – can help clients better understand how you address challenges they face, which may initiate that all-important contact with the sales side.