The Mythical VP Sales?

Bruce Cleveland, a general partner at InterWest Partners and an investor in Marketo, blogged about the Mythical VP Sales and Marketing. I dont agree that the VP Sales and VP Marketing cannot be combined.

The traditional VP Sales role is dying. Sales leads are generated by inbound marketing, and nurtured, not cold called. Marketo, Eloqua and Hubspot are three of the hottest companies in CRM.

Cleveland writes: "Sales and Marketing are vastly different functions that require substantially different personalities, skills, and decades of experience to master. "

That's was true 10 years ago. Today, the skills required of a VP Sales have changed. The decades of experience developed by many in sales are decades of inefficient sales habits. Sales cannot operate today without marketing. Marketo and Eloqua bring the sales function and marketing function together. Do the same for the leadership role. I'd argue that in today's sales environment, sales and marketing leadership must be combined.