PM reporting to Sales

I found out this week that my company posted a job for director of product marketing for another business unit. The thing is, it reports to Sales, not product management! This company direction worries me. I (mostly) like the sales team and they're critical to success. But Sales and PM often have a conflict of interest, and that check and balance is really needed to keep ourselves honest that we're building a product to address a market problem, instead of always chasing that elusive "killer product" that Sales is always pushing for.

I guess I have a slight case of fear of abandonment from some personal and previous work experience, and as I am just getting to enjoy my job, I hope this is not a sign that my boss is going to throw me over the fence to Sales boss!

From the 2010 Annual Product Management and Marketing Survey:
Reporting to Department

• 29% directly to CEO or COO
• 31% in Product Management
• 20% in Marketing
• 14% in Development or Engineering
• 7% in Sales

And here's why PM should not report to Sales:
"Very few product managers find themselves in a Sales (or Sales & Marketing) department. It seems clear product managers in Sales will spend all of their time supporting sales people with demos and presentations. The product managers become the sales engineers. In effect, subordinating product management relegates it to a support role for the primary goal of the department." (Source: Where does PM belong?)

And I think actually I wouldn't mind trying that, it's just I like to continue in my current role a bit longer as there is still a lot to learn here.