Mission Impossible of the VP Sales and Marketing

Except for the big corporations sales and marketing departments are managed by one person: the VP Sales and Marketing.

However it is unlikely this is really feasible:
- As VP Sales he needs to generate sales: having a short term view – easy to measure
- As VP Marketing he needs to plan events, efforts and investments all with a long term view and the results are hard to measure.

Sales: the Executors

In order to keep the company running th pressure is on sales and generating revenue. Hence the VP Sales and Marketing will invest most of his time in sales as selling drives the company.

- Deal flow and closing sales is now.
- Sales people have mainly one to one verbal communicators.
- Sales will detect demand and sell the solutions.
- Sales is easy to measure in the accounting dept using the invoices.
- Aggregated analytics are not required as each case is different.
- Sales are the executors of existing opportunities.

Marketing: the Invaders

Due to the fact Marketing:
- Has less pressure for delivering instant results
- Requires a longer term to see any return on investment
Marketing will get less attention of the VP Marketing & Sales.

- Marketing is for the future revenue.
- Marketing is one to many using written or visual communications.
- Marketing needs to create demand.
- Marketing requires analytics to measure its’ effectiveness.
- Marketing can be seen as the invaders into new territories.

Short term vs long term

The mission of a VP Sales & Marketing is impossible as he needs to split up his time between both:
- Sales giving almost immediate return: Action – Result.
- Marketing efforts and investments having an uncertain long term return: Action – Patience.
It is obvious he will have a tendency to focus primarily on selling as company management demands it.

Moreover in most cases the VP Sales & Marketing has previously been in sales not in marketing, hence their nature and attitude is more fast paced not matching the required nature of patience for building slowly a brand or awareness which is required for marketing.

Having one person as VP Sales and Marketing is probably not such good idea: he has a Mission Impossible to achieve.