The Uncomfortable Truth No One Wants to Discuss

There's a dirty secret in the marketing industry that we've been avoiding for years: we're systematically failing to train our people. While sales teams have entire enablement functions dedicated to their success, marketing departments throw newcomers into the deep end and wonder why they're drowning.

In a recent Revenue Marketing Raw discussion between Jeff Pedowitz and Dr. Debbie Qaqish, they dropped this bombshell: less than 1% of companies in America have any kind of marketing enablement function. Let that sink in for a moment.

The $50,000 Question

Here's where it gets absurd. Companies will lose a talented marketer because they won't invest in their development, then turn around and spend $50,000 to recruit their replacement. Between recruiter fees, downtime, and onboarding, organizations are hemorrhaging money to avoid spending a fraction of that on actual training.

As Dr. Debbie pointedly observed: "They could have spent a few thousand on development, but instead they'll spend another 50,000 to get somebody else to take their place."

The Academia-Reality Gap Is a Canyon

The disconnect between what's taught in universities and what's needed in the real world has never been wider. Dr. Debbie, who's been guest lecturing at William & Mary's MBA program for nearly 15 years, shared a brutal story that perfectly captures this crisis.

She brought marketing operations expert Dan Brown as a guest lecturer to her class. When Brown finished presenting—for many students, their first exposure to marketing operations—an eager MBA student asked how they could work for him.

His response? "I wouldn't hire any of you."

The silence was deafening. Despite pursuing expensive MBAs, these students simply didn't have the practical skills needed for modern marketing operations. As Debbie noted: "Every year we just blow them out of the water with what's really happening in the world of marketing."

They're learning theory from 2010 while the industry operates in 2025.

Gen Z Isn't Having It

Unlike previous generations who accepted "figure it out yourself" as career development, Gen Z expects—and deserves—real training. They're entering a profession that's more complex than ever:

  • The knowledge base is exploding - marketers need to understand everything from AI to attribution modeling
  • The pace of change is accelerating - what worked last year is already obsolete
  • The pressure to perform is immediate - despite 6-18 month B2B sales cycles, executives demand instant results

Yet we're giving them nothing but a laptop and unrealistic expectations.

The AI Paradox: Technology Won't Save Us

While everyone's scrambling to implement AI, Jeff and Debbie make a crucial point: the key to future marketing success isn't technology—it's human performance.

"The greatest promise of AI is to raise what humanity is and raise our potential to have meaningful lives, meaningful work," Jeff notes. But without proper training on how to leverage these tools, we're just adding more complexity to an already overwhelming role.

The Solution Isn't Complicated (But It Requires Commitment)

The path forward doesn't require massive budgets or complete organizational overhauls:

1. Create a Marketing Enablement Function

Just as sales has sales enablement, marketing needs dedicated resources for ongoing development.

2. Start Small but Be Consistent

Even one hour per week of structured learning can transform your team's capabilities. With AI, you can now create personalized curricula at a fraction of traditional training costs.

3. Document Your Processes

You can't train on best practices that only exist in people's heads. Take the time to codify how your organization actually operates.

4. Hire for Adaptability and Resilience

Technical skills can be taught. The ability to thrive in chaos and pivot quickly? That's what separates successful marketers from the rest.

5. Make Someone Accountable

Training can't be "everyone's job" because then it becomes no one's job. Assign ownership and measure results.

The Bottom Line: Invest or Decay

Marketing leaders face a choice: continue eating our young and watching talent flee for organizations that value development, or build the infrastructure needed to develop world-class marketers.

As Jeff put it: "We should be paving the way for the next generation so that they can grow and thrive."

The question isn't whether you can afford to train your marketing team. In today's environment, you can't afford not to.

Ready to dive deeper into this conversation? Join Jeff Pedowitz and Dr. Debbie Qaqish for Revenue Marketing Raw, where they tackle the uncomfortable truths about modern marketing that others won't discuss.