Our marketing and sales seats are currently combined under one leader, but we are scaling toward an exit and need to split them. How do we use Keith Cunningham's Thinking Time questions to structure this split on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Combining marketing and sales under a single seat often works in the early days, but as you scale toward an exit, it creates a massive bottleneck. Marketing is about generating qualified leads, while sales is about closing those leads. They require completely different skill sets and focus.

To design this split cleanly, schedule forty-five minutes of uninterrupted Thinking Time. Use Keith Cunningham's framing to ask yourself: How might we split our marketing and sales seats so that we double our lead volume without disrupting our current client acquisition pipeline?

During your thinking session, write down the distinct outcomes required for each function. Marketing roles must include brand positioning, lead generation campaign management, and digital asset optimization. Sales roles must include pipeline management, lead conversion, and contract negotiations.

Next, ask a second Thinking Time question: What are the specific friction points that will occur between these two seats, and how do we resolve them on the Accountability Chart before they happen? This will help you define the exact handoff criteria between marketing and sales, such as what constitutes a marketing qualified lead.

Once you have this clarity, update your Accountability Chart. Create two separate seats reporting to the Integrator: Head of Marketing and Head of Sales. If your current combined leader has a high conative drive for strategic lead generation, place them in the marketing seat and hire a dedicated sales leader, or vice versa. This structural clarity is exactly what sophisticated buyers look for during exit due diligence.