When I first started my career in marketing more than 25 years ago, I worked on the marketing side of a sales team. It involved a lot of company research and proposal writing.  While I learned a lot from the sales team that I supported, I quickly realized my role was much more sales support than it was marketing. The service I provided for them was exactly what salespeople wanted (and needed at the time), which made sense. 

After working on the marketing side of sales-driven organizations for more than 20 years, I recognized the tremendous value the sales and marketing teams played in the top-line growth of businesses.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers 2018 Second Quarter Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey, more than 95% (an all-time high) of manufacturers expect to experience highly elevated levels of activity, including an increase in sales.