Are Sales Targets a Marketing Responsibility?

This morning I shared my 2^nd half 2006 marketing objectives with a colleague from a different department.  He was surprised to see that I would include the H2 sales targets as a key marketing objective.  Though traditionally in most companies hitting short-term sales targets wasn’t a primary marketing responsibility – it should be today. Practitioners of metrics driven marketing understand that short-term bookings (particularly new bookings) goals are a key element in the model that is used for measuring the efficacy of our outbound marketing budgets.  Of course we also look at more granular numbers that relate to specific activities, but the aggregate numbers are also important.  Additionally, most venture funded companies are expected to grow quickly and marketing shares the responsibility for achieving target growth rates.  Obviously in the process of achieving short-term sales goals, marketers must be building long-term brand equity to support future sales momentum and ensure that target markets have the capacity to support future growth targets.  Marketing cannot escape the pressures of accountability to the top and bottom line.