I shout this just about every day. In fact, in a recent "client-facing" consultation with a young MBA wizard, when I was asked whether our strong suit was marketing or B2B sales, I felt compelled to remind the client the reason they had brought me in the first place--i.e. our tag line "We Connect the Tag Line to the Bottom Line"
TheStreet.com has a columnist that was compelled to post a recent article from Entrepreneur.com's Mark Stevens; "Sales and Marketing. Separated at Birth?" which suggests that either the media so deprived of content that it needs to fill space with business wisdom taught in elementary schools, or that there might be some people left in the world that don't understand the interconnection between marketing and sales.
Yes, it takes a certain skill set to create the "image" and "package" it,and another skill set to "sell" it. But if those two skill sets aren't continuously working hand in hand, whoever owns that business might want to think about changing careers.
And, if you've got employees that don't understand the link between the two practice areas, save yourself some time and energy and simply fire them. If they don't get it by now, they never will.
Click on the link to the article, its a good read. Especially for high school students that won't be able to afford to pay for college or graduate school in this period of economic reflection. If your MBA-trained managers need to read it, that's really scary.
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