A clever and accurate answer to a disciple’s question of the great Hindi sage, and not too distant from a question I ask marketers today. “What are you,” I ask, “in this incarnation? Are you a marketing manager who likes bling or accountability? Do you like shiny objects or results? Can you do the real job you were hired to do, and market your company’s products while creating revenue?”

Most marketing job descriptions do not address revenue generation as a key component. Accountability also seems to be a stretch. While marketing titles often have different handles attached which describe the position, are these two traits part of the description for your marketing department? For instance:

CMO/Marketing Manager/Product Marketing Manager: Creates measureable revenue growth year to year based on the sales and marketing forecast, and measures the ROI of the marketing budget including all lead generation activities.

Trade Show Manager: Creates growth for trade show and event attendance and measures the ROI for events in terms of the event cost and the revenue which results from the event.

Digital Marketing Manager: Creates digital lead generation programs, tracks response, and measures the revenue results and contributions to the company sales forecast.

Of course, these are just a few of the dozens of marketing titles that are responsible for managing marketing programs that produce prospects and revenue. When you think about it, slipping in a few words about revenue growth, measuring what they manage, and lead generation sets the tone for who your marketing managers are in this life.

So I ask you again, who are you as a marketing manager? Are you concerned with revenue or bling? Do you welcome accountability or avoid it?

This blog was submitted by James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting. James is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint.

ⁱTo know about the famous Hindi Sage go to: http://www.arunachala-ramana.org/index.htm. The photo was copied from the Wikipedia site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi.