Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling, spoke at the 2012 Business Marketing Association (BMA) annual conference and said the following: "Sales and marketing are two functions with an identical mission, so how can they be like ships passing in the night?" I frequently challenge audiences to find the oldest mention of sales and marketing alignment. The oldest I have found so far is from Viswanathan and Olson, 1992: "... poor alignment between these two functions is common, driving to inconsistencies between marketing strategies, sales management processes, and sales force activities."