I find myself nodding my head and smiling when I read this. Funny because I can relate with it so much in my previous life as a marketing coordinator. The smartest advice I ever took was from my manager, who happens to be the company’s owner. She told me to be on the sales floor a lot. Although they seemed suspicious of me at first, I befriended these guys, sought them for advice and eventually, bridged the gap between our departments. That was something previous marketing coordinators never did. It led to more targeted campaigns, accurate evaluation metrics and overall sense of mission. On our side, it shattered the “ivory tower mentality” pervasive in many marketing departments. We brought our ideas down to the trenches. Input from the people in the front lines were valuable bricks we used as foundation for all marketing initiatives. On their side, they began seeing us as useful resource that would help them reach their quotas and keep their customers coming back for more.