The disconnect is larger than the author thinks

A prominent author writing in a journal published by a well-known consulting company wrote:

"There is often a fundamental
disconnect between marketing and sales. Marketers,
both a company’s own marketing department and the
agencies it works with, don’t pay enough attention to
the point where their efforts should hit home, the
moment of purchase decision. That is where sales support
is absolutely crucial. But by ignoring the motivations
and interactions with a company that drive
customers to choose one product over another, marketers
are missing the opportunity to uncover critical
insights that can dramatically affect results."

They are right, there is a disconnect. But the disconnect is with their knowledge of marketing.

First, they are focused on transactions. Marketing is about creating and nurturing customer relationships. As soon as you focus on transactions you turn into a sales-focused company.

The authors then go on to suggest that marketing deliver the tools and support that the sale person needs to close the sale.

At this point, the transaction becomes a zero-sum game and any pretense of marketing is lost. As great sales people know, relationships are critical and what they as sales people do between sales is more important than their actions during the actual purchase. If they have built a solid relationship based on serving the customer's needs, they'll get the order.

That's the basis of the relationship.

But articles like this just hinder the growth of real marketing and continue to give marketing and marketers a bad name.

A failure of marketing.