Cooperation of Sales and Marketing

The more I think about it, the more I see why so many software companies hire one person to run both both marketing and sales. The amount of cooperation required between the two departments in handling leads is so crucial to the success of a company that giving one person the authority to make it happen helps reduce the risk that it will not happen.

As stated in this piece by Kate Maddox of BtoB, "managing leads throughout the sales cycle is a daunting job for virtually all organizations."

The handoff of a lead from Marketing to Sales is much more complex than just about any company realizes, especially due to the potential overlap of functions/tasks specific to the lead nurturing process.

The problem in bringing both functions under the command of one VP Sales/Marketing is that a new risk arises that one of the functions (usually Marketing) will get less priority. Very few people have enough marketing AND sales expertise to run both organizations. So what often happens is that a Sales VP will be in charge of Marketing, they will hire a Marketing Director, and Marketing will then play second fiddle to Sales.

Then they will fail.

Any thoughts? Please email me at ortner@capterra.com.