by Mark O'Brien | Jun 30, 2015
In my line of work, you have to say a lot of things that most folks find distasteful. This one elicits sneers, jeers, fears, and tears every time: Marketing is not a sales-support function. Sales is a marketing-fulfillment function. Salesperson: What do you mean...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 25, 2015
I know what you’re thinking: “This can’t be Hell.” I’m sorry. I know it’s not what you expected. There’s a bunch of stuff missing. There’s no eternal conflagration. There are no devilish dudes with horned heads and...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 22, 2015
Shelley Lucas, a very astute professional acquaintance, published a sorely needed post the other day: “The Missing Link: What CMOs & CIOs Really Need To Be Doing Together”. As Howard Cosell might have said, it contained a veritable plethora of quotable...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 11, 2015
The other day I saw a photograph of a Chief Sales & Marketing Officer manning a booth at a trade show. At first, it didn’t make much of an impression, one way or the other. But the more I thought about it, the more curious it made me. Presuming the dude in...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 4, 2015
I saw an update on LinkedIn the other day from a woman who described herself as a serial entrepreneur. I don’t know the woman. I have no earthly reason to doubt her. But her self-description caused me pangs of skepticism nevertheless. A professor of English with...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 3, 2015
Take heart, people (or persons). We may be on the way out, but we’re not quite dead yet. How do I know? A little birdie told me. But it didn’t need to. The idea of eschewing personal relationships in favor of compiling more data, the mechanized...