Running sales performance improvement projects worldwide we are experiencing that sales and marketing are usually two different worlds
within the same company - not aligned, not having a common goal and in the end blaming each other for poor results. We should become aware that with digital marketing the boundaries between sales and marketing are even more damaging. We always had to align sales and marketing, but now, they truly have to work as one in order to deliver on the digital promise. Digital marketing is taking over the sales process, websites are working instead of sales reps and salespeople are losing valuable customer contact. Even though the sales process is becoming more and more digitalized, it cannot just be taken over by marketing without salespeople providing the customer insight as the basis for valuable content. This also means that marketing cannot set up a company's strategy and take actions only according to big data. They should rely on thick data - the smaller and richer data sets coming from salespeople, from the field, from real life situations. The market is changing and company organisation should adapt accordingly. Please do share your experiences.