Marketing is the Story. Sales is the Signal.
And the signal is being ignored.
When I was a prison officer, I used to receive small slips of paper from inmates.
The size - no bigger than a matchbox.
Sometimes, these pieces of paper are passed discreetly to me as they walk by. Sometimes they’re slipped into my shirt pockets. Sometimes left folded and slotted in between their inventories, shelves, cabinets.
Sometimes, these inmates would request to go to the dispensary (in-house clinic) just to share information with us.
For hard-core gang members and inmates, they call this snitching.
For prison officers, we called it Intel.
These notes and messages contain information that helps us maintain the stability, safety and welfare of the block - or even the whole prison compound.
They contained everything we needed to keep the block safe - fights about to break out, contraband, gambling, rising tensions between rival gangs.
They were critical.
They were real-time.
And they were trusted.
But I wasn’t just a receiver of Intel.
I was also a contributor. My case notes - detailed, unfiltered accounts of inmate behaviour and their progress toward rehabilitation - were reviewed regularly to help decide their fate.
It was a cycle of insight, correction, and progress.
Because Intel, when used well, can change outcomes.
—
Fast forward to today.
I’ve sat through more B2B war rooms, sales huddles, and pipeline reviews than I can count.
But one thing still puzzles me:
Why don’t marketing teams ask sellers for Intel?
We are sellers. We talk to prospects every day.
We hear what makes them hesitate, what makes them act, what they compare us with, what they believe.
We hear their objections, their pain points, their buying stories.
And yet, those insights rarely make their way back to marketing.
Marketing that rarely influence campaigns.
Marketing that rarely shape messaging.
Instead, marketing that builds stories in isolation - on gut feel, competitor mimicry, or some over-polished persona that hasn’t been stress-tested since 2021.
—
Sales is on the ground.
We’re in the mud, dodging ghosting, chasing budgets and earning trust one conversation at a time.
We hold the signal.
But too often, the signal gets lost.
Why?
Because there’s a wall.
Sales and marketing don’t talk.
Not really.
I see dashboards and decks being shared. But they’re just metrics that don’t matter.
Not Insights. Not Intel. Not the Truth.
If you’re in marketing, ask yourself:
When was the last time you called up a sales rep - not to ask about targets, but to ask about truths?
What language do buyers really use?
What are they silently worried about that doesn’t show up in your buyer persona slide?
What objection keeps cropping up but isn’t in your FAQ page?
You’ll only get that from the field.
From those of us bleeding for the deal.
—
I’m not here to bash marketing.
I’ve worked with enough marketers across Southeast Asia - brilliant people.
Committed to craft. Committed to the craft.
But somewhere within - something’s broken.
We’ve forgotten that sales is not just a function. It’s a feedback loop.
And if you’re not listening to it, you’re building in the dark.
In prison, Intel saved lives.
In business, it saves relevance.
Sales is the signal.
Start listening.