Dateline London.
I am writing this during President Obama's state visit to the UK. Lots of pomp and circumstance, 41 gun salutes and posh banquets. Both the Queen and the President have used that term “Special Relationship" to describe something that's supposed to exist. Of course it's tosh, something just to appeal to the vanity in the Old Country. Earlier in the day the Prime Minister and the President had referred to an essential relationship, better, but still sugar coating.
What we have here is a failure to be realistic.
When the USA and UK's interests are the same then it makes sense to be aligned, not essential and certainly not special.
So it is in business when sales and marketing share the same interests and goals they will naturally be more aligned. Try telling one of your sales reps that you think she is special. Maybe not.
Alignment means no finger pointing when things go wrong. Working on your Culture, Language and People.
Alignment means common ownership of the pipeline and forecast. Goodbye to silos, hello to openness.
The end result meaning that you can improve the customer buying experience and generate more profitable revenue, more predictably.
Who needs a Special Relationship when you can have something far more powerful: Alignment.