Lead Response Management: the solution to the sales/marketing rift

Everyone complains about how sales and marketing don't quite mesh together and this causes loss in sales. I have read dozens of articles about the importance of uniting these two department in an effort to make sure leads are not lost along the way. It is true that when these two departments do not work together leads are lost along the way. But that is obvious, you always lose when any two department lack teamwork. It could be sales and marketing, or it could be support and sales; it does not matter. What we should focus on is the solution to the problem, not the need for a solution.
I believe Lead Response Management is an excellent software to remediate this rift. Unlike other management platforms or marketing software, LRM is a complete system that assists in lead generation, takes the lead through the sale cycle, and manages the eventual customer; there is no break along the way.
For the marketing mind, LRM offers web form integration, drip marketing, and mass emailing features. For the sales mind, it offers dialers for inbound and outbound calling, as well as other lead conversion and management tools. When the tools provided in an LRM system are used in concert, lead qualification skyrockets and ROI per lead follows suit.
Ultimately LRM spreads across all departments offering a seamless solution that forces all departments to work together. This is the key part of such a system because it build a stronger lead qualification machine. Lead qualification should be done by both marketing and sales, and this is where the ball is usually dropped and sales are lost. If both teams are focused on qualifying leads, then the transition from marketing to sales is seamless. In other words, the lead never notices that they were ever handed over from one department to the other.
The system also offers different reporting features that track the progress of the leads from generation to conversion. Only a system that can span both department can offer the built in reporting across leads in all stages as well as reports based on all of the methods through which those leads were nurtured, be they by phone, email, or whatever else.
If anyone has a problem in uniting sales and marketing or any other departments involving potential and existing customers, I suggest you look into LRM as a viable solution. It is not a magical answer however, even with this software it takes work, but at least you have the tools.