In the early, primitive days of marketing professional services, there weren't enough people doing marketing for law, accounting, and consulting firms to think much about departmental management. The exceptions, of course, were the larger firms, particularly those for who, in the beginning, having more people on staff was readily equated to better marketing. Marketing, at the beginning, was invariably assigned to a partner, who had only a vague idea about marketing and the marketing process.

This practice still exists today, although to a lesser extent than before, and with a far greater sophistication. After all this time, some – not all – but some professionals have learned better. Where this still exists, it usually represents a traditional distrust in professional firms of any non-practitioner in the professional office. And by now, many more service providers than ever before are beginning to learn about marketing.

Good Marketers Are Not Necessarily Good Managers

As marketing is increasingly integrated into professional practices, more and more marketing professionals are being put in a position to manage. Unfortunately, due to the nature of marketing, few marketers are actually trained for managing. When you do get a good marketing manager, the chances are that it's luck, not skill in hiring.

And bad managers, no matter how skilled they are in their occupations, as either professionals or marketers, are a disaster. But one thing is certain -- the ability to perform the marketing process is not the same as the ability to manage that performance in others. The mistake comes in giving management responsibility to superior performers, without understanding the difference between the ability to do and the ability to manage.

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