The highly respected management consultant and writer Peter Drucker writes in his book People and Performance, "Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two�and only these two�basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are �costs.�"

In a life insurance company all of the marketing function and much of the innovation function are the responsibilities of the marketing department. It is here that all activities designed to attract new customers and retain existing customers are performed. These activities include the eight specific functions listed below: