Here’s why your marketing team and your sales team can’t get along. 

Journalist Geoffrey James tackles the debate about sales and marketing alignment, and who owns the client:

“The war between Sales and Marketing is both legendary and debilitating. And yet it’s probably fair to say that the future of your company lies in your ability to make the two work better together.

With that in mind, here are the nine most common complaints Sales has about Marketing, along with my advice to resolve the problem.

1. Marketing Acts Superior

Many marketers have business degrees, so they think they’re better than sales reps who don’t. However, business degrees are of limited use in sales situations—because very few business schools offer courses in sales, let alone majors or degrees.

Since what’s taught in b-school is (frankly) a mix of accounting and biz-blab, the superior air of the MBA’d is neither appropriate nor helpful.

The Fix: Make certain that every marketer you hire has at least six months of experience selling something.”

Continue reading Geoffrey James’ article at Inc.com now.