In many organizations both functions are like water and fire. Still, one without the other would die out quickly.

Archetypes

The archetype of a Sales Manager is the attractive, fast talking stockbroker who always sells the stocks, gets the high salaried position, and the girl at the end of the evening. The archetype of the Operations Manager is the grumpy, oil-covered mechanic who gets the car running, is underpaid and is the faithful husband and father. In movies they make great counterparts, in reality exchanges often are less witty. Sometimes, underlying contempt/inferiority-feelings combined with a basic distrust need to be overcome to lead the organization to successful cooperation between both blood types. `Somebody should make the promises of Sales reality!´ is usually just as true as `This can not be that difficult!´

Characteristics

SALES                                                OPERATIONS

Effectiveness                                     Efficiency

Emotions                                            Facts

Convince                                            Prove

Symptoms                                          Causes

Sales                                                   Profit

Urgent                                                Important

Customer                                           Product

Signature of contract                      Clauses of contract

Unfaithful                                          Boring

Yin and yang

Where everybody seems to be talking about yin and yang these days, this comparison of Sales and Operations fits in quite nicely. Every company has a predisposition towards one or the other archetype. Philips and Intel are famous examples of companies with a strong footing in engineering (and the Operations archetype), sometimes to the detriment of Sales. Some German engineering companies have a similar reputation. Most companies, however, have a propensity towards Sales. Not surprisingly since it is generally also the primary lifelihood of the organization. Still, just as typical engineering companies should nurture their Sales types, all of these other companies would be wise to make sure they have sufficient capacity in Organization, Operations, Engineering or whatever the business they are in, to ensure their long-term survival.