Sales and marketing are inextricably linked.

Like salt and pepper, Batman and Robin, and PB+J, sales and marketing seem to be forever paired together. It’s almost a guarantee. Maybe the functions are rolled up under a single VP of sales and marketing. Maybe they are blended even further behind the title, “GTM Leader.” And even if both functions in your organization are led by separate individuals, their respective worlds are rarely separated by anything more than a printed PDF doc.

At first blush, it seems to make logical sense. Consider this: Both departments are customer-facing; Both are pre-sales; Both care deeply about branding, messaging, competition, lead flow, and a host of other functions.

But does this pairing work?

Are both functions truly in sync? Do they really complement each other? If they do, why do we find them so frequently at odds?

Ask a sales rep what’s wrong with their pipeline, and they will inevitably say “It’s a marketing problem. There aren’t enough qualified leads.” Ask the same question to their marketing counterpart down the hall, and you will inevitably hear “It’s a sales problem. They struggle with discovery and multi-threading the leads we provide.”

Guess what? They are both right.

And both are very wrong.

Sales and marketing are kind of like Venus and Mars, the Roman gods of love and war. Forever linked and dependent upon one another, yet also hopelessly at odds.

At the heart of this struggle is the object of their respective communication goals. Marketing, at its essence, is inclusive by nature. Everyone can join the party. The message must be welcoming enough to attract, inspire, and retain the largest audience of potential buyers possible.

Sales is quite the opposite. Sales messaging at its core is exclusive. Meaning, the only intended audience member is the singular ‘snowflake’ buyer with their own particular needs, wants, and contexts.

It’s no wonder we struggle to get along.

But there is hope for these two intertwined gods. And that is questioning one’s organizations, and aligning the GTM motions accordingly.

Should your BDR team be a function of sales, or does it stand a better chance of thriving in the world of scaled messaging that marketing promotes? And should marketing events be coordinated by the local salespeople who work best and understand their markets best? As they say, all politics is local.

Once we stop borrowing from each other’s language, and start relying on each other’s areas of focus, our differences become strengths. Then (and maybe only then) a head of sales AND marketing may actually make sense.

Happy Selling (and marketing)!

Jeff