If Sales and Marketing are Different, Why Do We Treat Them the Same?
I was having a conversation with an experienced CEO and executive last week when he asked me this question.
"Why is it that there is so much confusion about sales and marketing? Why is it that when I walk into a board room we are forever arguing about whether or not they are the same. They are NOT the same! I'd really like for someone to create an easy to understand explanation of why sales and marketing are NOT the same thing."
There are nearly 10,000 articles about the "difference between sales and marketing" on Google today. That tells me that quite a few people already understand the difference and have explained it in myriad ways. So why are people still confused?
Rather than pontificate on what I think the difference is, I want to get your answer to these two questions:
- If Sales and Marketing are different, why do we treat them the same?
- In your opinion what's the difference between sales and marketing?
Give me your answers and I'll use them in the article.
Wayne Snyder wrote:
Ivana, you know better than that! Sales and Marketing are NOT the same. Marketing is a service to SALES, you know to provide tools for the SALES professional to do their job. Marketing is to SUPPORT to SALES! That is unless you are a MARKETING professional and then SALES is the organization that implements all those carefully develop marketing plans.
Seriously, it depends on which side of the fence you stand. You know me, I come from a sales background so Marketing is there for my benefit. You are a Marketing person, thus, sales does your dirty work.
If someone believes that SALES and MARKETING are the same, they just do not understand.
Wayne Snyder
Sales Professional (who appreciates Marketing support)
The goals of sales and marketing are distinctly different. The goal of sales is, as the name implies, to get you to buy – to make a sale. The goal of marketing is to get you aware of a product and interested enough to consider buying. Think about a car ad. What is the objective of the ad? To get you to walk into the showroom and buy a car? That’d be nice, but no, the goal is to get you to come to the showroom, take a test drive, and THEN buy the car.
Restaurants advertise which piques the interest of their customers who decide to come in. The sales force then takes over – the menu, the servers, etc.
Some companies somehow manage to generate sales without doing proper marketing, but they are the exception. Some companies market themselves well but have no sales force, yet they survive. Again, they’re the exception.
Successful companies market themselves well – their target market knows about them and has enough awareness and interest to go to them when they are ready to buy. The sales force greets them, listens, determines need and asks for the business.
Nancy Pierce, Chief Zealot
ZEAL PR, Inc.
http://www.zealpr.com
Ivana:
At least in consumer products, marketing is concerned about providing the consumer with a product that they desire at a price that they see as a bargin and will demand in enough volume to make it profitable to produce and take to the market place.
Sales is concerned about selling the product to the customer ie. merchant, on terms that the merchant can meet it’s profit per foot of shelf space goals and make a profit for the producer.
Hi Ivana,
I think this is pretty simple. In my world Marketing is the generations of leads and sales is closing them.
People who started businesses typically have nver been trained in sales and marketing and hence, confuse (or do not understand) sales and marketing. It is all about the money. They really don’t care where the deal came from they just want to close it.
I frankly didn’t know the world was confused!
Wondering what is going on in the board rooms this person is part of. Perhaps the issue is something different. Does the conversation occur because they need to cut budgets? Do board members feel like marketing is a waste of money? It might be that board members view marketing as “brand advertising” where huge sums are spend building the product name etc. I don’t have research to back this but I would guess the average biz is marketing to put money in the cash register. Maybe boards need a refresher of what Marketing is and what it does and why it’s so important to the client acquisition process. Better yet, tell the board to go ahead and cut Marketing for the quarter and let them know they will be responsible to find the leads the sales force can close.
I frankly didn’t know the world was confused!
Wondering what is going on in the board rooms this person is part of. Perhaps the issue is something different. Does the conversation occur because they need to cut budgets? Do board members feel like marketing is a waste of money? It might be that board members view marketing as “brand advertising” where huge sums are spend building the product name etc. I don’t have research to back this but I would guess the average biz is marketing to put money in the cash register. Maybe boards need a refresher of what Marketing is and what it does and why it’s so important to the client acquisition process. Better yet, tell the board to go ahead and cut Marketing for the quarter and let them know they will be responsible to find the leads the sales force can close.
In some respects, I believe Sales and Marketing are treated too differently, and this conflict interferes with the process of producing leads for the sales team.
Obviously at the core they ARE different. Salespeople sell, and Marketers market. What is important to remember that their ultimate Goal is the same – increasing revenue. One could argue that most employees have some influence in the company’s bottom line, but none so must as the Marketing and Sales Teams.
I see the following areas as examples of areas where Sales and marketing should be brought closer together:
Measurement: Marketing needs to be measured (and marketers compensated) by the revenue the help generate, along with their sales counterparts
Messaging: Sales needs to be more involved in learning and executing the corporate message, to increase the effectiveness of their communication with prospects and customers, and to maintain core messaging and branding initiatives.
Lead Generation: Sales needs to involve themselves in the lead generation process along with marketing, taking responsibility for their part, and work closely with the Marketing team on the analysis side as well.
I see Sales and Marketing as two individuals working on the same team for a common purpose. While their day-to-day jobs may be completely different, to be effective, they rely on each other, and must do everything in their power to help their teammate succeed.
I wonder if it comes from many small business people who have to wear both hats. They do not have a budget for both and since they have to do both, they become integrated.
I have to agree with Don Philabaum, some of this integration may need to happen even in larger companies so there is an understanding on both sides.
keep going, this is an age old argument,. From my prespective it is 99% marketing – 1% sales and the next day it is reverse. Marketing and Sales are ying and yang and have to help each other.