Are sales and marketing the same person?
Sales and marketing are different functions, but in smaller B2B teams one person can own both with clear goals and handoffs. Marketing creates demand and preference, while sales converts qualified demand into revenue through pipeline management and closing. According to JJ La Pata, Chief Strategy Officer at The Starr Conspiracy, “AI-powered marketing makes role clarity more important, because automation increases volume but not accountability.” For example, a common split is marketing owning MQL-to-SQL conversion and sales owning SQL-to-close, tracked weekly in a shared dashboard.
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