A commonly-occurring type of career mobility within organizations is the sales-to-marketing job transition (SMJT). Understanding SMJTs is important because: 1) Substantial differences often exist between sales and marketing roles, 2) Individuals and organizations can positively facilitate successful transitions, and 3) SMJTs convey both benefits and drawbacks to organizations.

1. From:
Sales-to-marketing job transitions (SMJT) are
common in the field
Johnson, Jeff S. and Joseph M. Matthes (2018), “Sales-to-Marketing Job Transitions,”
Journal of Marketing, 82 (4), 32–48. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.17.0279
1. Substantial differences exist between
sales and marketing roles
2. Individuals and organizations can
positively facilitate successful transitions
3. SMJTs convey both benefits and
drawbacks to organizations
Understanding SMJTs is important because:

2. From:From:
 SMJTs can be helpful
 Generate marketing strategies more grounded in the customer’s reality that are more
effectively implemented
 Reduce strain and improve interface between sales and marketing
 Provide a career-advancement goal for salespeople
 SMJTs can be harmful
 Transitioned former salespeople may be too receptive to customer feedback resulting
in overreactive marketing and reduced margins due to suboptimal pricing
 SMJTs can be a disruptive influence on long-term relationships between salespeople
and customers
 Top salespeople could be mediocre marketers, depleting both functions
Implications
Johnson and Matthes (2018)

3. From:From:
 Proper selection is critical for successful SMJTs
 Assess salespeople’s marketing mindset and team orientation
 Gauge their likelihood to proactively solicit feedback and gather information
 Conducive company support is needed for successful SMJTs
 Make transparent the company’s overall openness to/acceptance of internal mobility
 Encourage communication with current marketers and provide easy access to
relevant company data
 Aid early-career salespeople in overcoming challenges resulting from increased
pressure, job ambiguity, and company politics
 Help later-career salespeople in overcoming potential losses in compensation,
freedom, customer interaction, and excitement
Findings
Johnson and Matthes (2018)

4. From:From:
Supplemental Slide:
SMJT Qualitative Study Findings
(from interviews with 56 informants across various industries)
Johnson and Matthes (2018)