Difference between marketing and sales

I have had several discussions with entrepreneurs as well as executives in corporate organisations who are a bit disillusioned with the difference between marketing and sales. It is very crucial for you as a business owner to know the difference as this will determine how long you will play in the business landscape.

Are you on a marathon or a sprint: In these series, we aim to educate our readers on the philosophy and practice of marketing as well as empower them to develop a marketing oriented mind-set so they can continuously create “value” for their customers and stakeholders.

When does marketing start, is it before or after the business is birthed: Marketing starts even before a product/service is identified as marketing in form of ‘needs’ evaluation, and this is what informs the business idea.

Marketing is about creating the demand, while sales goes ahead to fulfil it. The success of sales depends on the marketing. Marketing is usually done on a larger scale while sales is usually on interpersonal relationships and one-to-one.

According to the Bosche Group

•Marketing is about finding customers. Sales are about getting those customers to buy things. With marketing, you will need to find ways to reach people who are not yet doing business with you. You will need to focus on making your business as a whole seem appealing, professional, and interesting. Marketing focuses on providing the very best image of your business.

Sales will be making sure that a customer purchases a product or service when they are at your company. Sales does not focus as much on the business as a whole, but instead on the individual items or services that your company provides. Sales will have much more to do with how your employees interact with your customers and how appealing what you offer is to your customers.

•The second areas of sales and marketing have to do with how your customers see your business and then what they actually get. When you begin a marketing plan, you are trying to present an image of your business. You are trying to make sure that potential customers see your company as the very best in the business so that they will want to work with you.

Sales, on the other hand, are making sure that your customers actually get the products and services that fit within the perception that a customer has. It is the reality. If you sell sub-par items, the customer may feel that you presented a fake image.

•Finally, marketing is all about the forest and sales are all about the trees. As reflected in the old adage, a forest cannot exist without the trees. Marketing will have to do with the whole health of your company.

Sales will have to do with the everyday details, including how many customers you have, how much revenue you gain, and how many products you move each day.

On the whole, marketing and sales are interwoven as they are both dependent on each other. The importance of marketing strategy will be explored in subsequent series as we go over the 7 Ps or pillars of marketing. To illustrate marketing strategy, imagine two airplanes carrying a huge amount of money, one has $1 million in 1c coins and the other plane carries the same amount in $1000 bills. Both cargos dump the money all over the city, leaving $2 million scattered on the ground with a search party divided into two teams A and B to see which one will collect $1 million first. However, team A confines its efforts to collecting the coins while team B focuses on the notes, which do you think will reach their goal first?

That’s a strategy lesson for another day.

Olusayo Odunsi Marketing Strategist, 360Degrees Concepts “The SME Marketing Firm” Please, send your marketing challenges to mail@ 360degreesfirm.com and we will proffer solutions you can start to implement straight away.