Professional Selling

Integrating Sales and Marketing

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Identify the ways in which the marketing function supports the sales function.
2. Describe how the sales group of a company can support its marketing efforts.

Traditionally, sales and marketing are like oil and water – the departments don't mix well. Salespeople are typically among the highest paid employees in an organization. At the national printing company Moore-Wallace, for example, salespeople are five of the seven top-paid employees, with the CEO coming in at number three and the CFO at number five. As a result, jealousy can occur.

University of Georgia professor Tom Leigh was consulting with an organization when he asked salespeople to describe marketing. One salesperson said the marketing department was a black hole that sucked in money and gave nothing back. In the same company, a marketing manager described salespeople as selfish glad-handers who often skated on the wrong side of ethics. Unfortunately, these perceptions exist at too many organizations.