Robert J. Schmonsees
Escaping the Black Hole
Minimizing the Damage from the Marketing-Sales Disconnect
Thomson South-Western, 2005
What's inside?
When the marketing department begins feuding with sales, it means trouble. Learn how to become a peacemaker.
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Recommendation
Sales and marketing are critical departments in any corporation, but they never seem to work together very well. Author Robert Schmonsees explains why this happens, especially in the business-to-business sector. However, his blueprint for correcting sales/marketing "disconnects" is somewhat swamped by his writing style, which is full of repetitive prose and industry jargon. Eager to describe and elaborate on various problems and solutions, he tends to overuse numbered lists and circular flow charts. In fact, he sometimes enumerates good techniques for correcting a problem and returns to the same issue in a later chapter. Pulling such concepts together would have aided his argument. Thus, the worthwhile ideas in the book are challenging to put into practice. getAbstract believes that’s unfortunate, because the author’s insights are helpful, and a more systematic approach might have made them more accessible. Patient readers will find this book useful.
Summary
About the Author
Robert J. Schmonsees is a marketing and sales executive with 35 years of experience building and running both start-ups and large, publicly traded high-tech companies.
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