What is sales? What is marketing? How are sales and marketing inter-related? What’s the big difference between marketing and sales? Well, I will advice you read on to find the answers you seek.
Do you know that marketing and sales are one of the most important components of a business’s survival in the market? While both are dependent on each other, many people confuse marketing with sales and vice-versa, which is a very big mistake.
In this article, I am going to draw a line between marketing and sales; for those who desire to know. I won’t go into the definition of marketing or sales because I believe you can look that up in a dictionary. Now what’s the similarity or difference between marketing and sales?
The inter-relationship between marketing and sales
The only big inter-relationship I see between marketing and sales is this: they are both aimed at fulfilling one objective; “Increasing business profits.” Marketing and sales is a game of numbers but their workability in the field is quite different.
Marketing and Sales: What’s the Difference?
Marketing involves designing a product according to the needs of a market and the targeted customers. It also involves promoting the product through advertising, setting up a competitive price for the product and so on. Marketing is the platform on which sales is driven.
On the other hand; the sales process is what you do to successfully sell a product and fetch a contract. Sales and marketing together is a part of selling and one cannot do without the other. They can also be called activities. The success of a business is critically proportional to the success of these two important activities.
Another critical difference between marketing and sales is this; marketing is carried out through a system while a sale is conducted on a personal level, one on one.
Marketing is the backbone of a company’s future and a launching pad for sales. While the marketing process encompasses the design of the product, planning, advertising and so on, the sales process is the execution of all the efforts which involves direct interaction with the customer either by in-person meeting, cold calls or by networking.
However, there is always an ongoing rivalry between marketing and sales; one claiming supremacy over other. The marketing people say they have an upper hand because of the feeling that they planned, designed the products, lay down the strategy and also develop essential tools for sales. They believe sales is the outcome of marketing and thus should follow its directions.
The sales people might not agree to this view and may be completely opposite in their opinion. They believe it is the sales people who actually sells a product and bring money to the business.
But many experts believe that marketing plays a pivotal role among the two. A successful marketing campaign makes sales easier and makes people believe that it is actually the sales people who are the dominant leaders.
More difference between marketing and sales
The most important role of the marketing department is to create opportunities for the sales department. Marketing drives sales and sales drives companies’ success. Marketing is like a life support for sales; just like one who is constantly backing up the sales department and enabling them to successfully deliver the end product. However, there shouldn’t be a race to gain supremacy over another department but a race to win the market and customers working together.
Many businesses combine sales and marketing together but in reality they have different targets. While the sales department is interested in fulfilling the requirements of what the customer asked for, the marketing department is actually busy studying what the market demands.
The goal of the marketing department is to foresee how the market will shape up in future. They envision their product to cater for the need of the market in the next few years and they are ever ready to make design changes on the product accordingly.
It is very important that a company integrates their sales and marketing department in a well fashioned manner. It is the correct integration of these two important entities that fuels the growth of a company. The sale people should not be merely treated as the cash collectors. Each department has its own role and should go hand in hand in selling the product of the company and should be the foremost important criteria.
In conclusion, no matter your opinion; what the entrepreneur needs is results, which will in turn yield profit. So regardless of what you think; the business must grow, I don’t care if either the marketing department is more important than the sales department. All I care about is the satisfaction of my customers, profit for the business and dividend for the investor.