What is the difference between marketing and sales?

This is a very basic question every marketing or sales guy face at college level and interview, but due to their regular work pressure maximum time forgets to refresh the same as basic knowledge and leads to confuse directions and suffer the business growth.

Without marketing we would not have prospects or leads to follow up with, but yet without a good sales technique and strategy our low closing rate may depress us.

Remember the key to success for any business growth lie balance in marketing and sales activity.

Marketing is everything that we do to reach and persuade prospects/enquiry. The sales process is everything that we do to close the prospects/enquiry and get a signed agreement or contract. Both are necessities to the success of a business. We cannot do without either process. By strategically combining both efforts we will experience a successful amount of business growth.

Your marketing will consist of the measures you use to reach and persuade your prospects that you are the company for them. It's the message that prepares the prospect for the sales. It consists of advertising, public relations, brand marketing, viral marketing, and direct mail.

The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction. It is often done by a one-on-one meeting, calls, and networking. It's anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance.

Your marketing efforts begin the process of the eight contacts that studies show it takes to move a prospect or potential client to the close of the sale. If marketing is done effectively you can begin to move that prospect from a cold to a warm lead. When the prospect hits the warm" level it's much easier for the sales professional to close the sale.

There are many definitions of marketing. The better definitions are focused upon customer orientation and satisfaction of customer needs

Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others

Kotler.

Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably -

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price -

Adcock.

Marketing is essentially about marshalling the resources of an organization so that they meet the changing needs of the customer on whom the organization depends -

Palmer.

Marketing is the process whereby society, to supply its consumption needs, evolves distributive systems composed of participants, who, interacting under constraints - technical (economic) and ethical (social) - create the transactions or flows which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption.

Bartles.

The marketing concept is a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all business activities. It is driven by senior managers, passionate about delighting their customers.

Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer's point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise.

Drucker.

This customer focused philosophy is known as the 'marketing concept'. The marketing concept is a philosophy, not a system of marketing or an organizational structure. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires.

Barwell.

Now that we have been introduced to some definitions of marketing and the marketing concept, remember the important elements contained as follows:

• Marketing focuses on the satisfaction of customer needs, wants and requirements.
• The philosophy of marketing needs to be owned by everyone from within the organization.
• Future needs have to be identified and anticipated.
• There is normally a focus upon profitability, especially in the corporate sector. However, as public sector organizations and not-for-profit organizations adopt the concept of marketing, this need not always be the case.
• More recent definitions recognize the influence of marketing upon society.

 As we can see in explanation above it takes multiple contacts using both sales and marketing to move the prospect from one level to the next. That is why it is import that we develop a process that combines both sales and marketing. This will enable us to reach prospects at all three levels; cold, warm, and hot enquiry. It's all about balance.

• Cold Lead Strategy - Send out a direct mailing or offer them a special promotion
• Warm Lead Strategy - Try a follow-up call, send out a sales letter, or schedule a special seminar or training session to get all of your warm leads together.

Once you've moved your prospect to the "warm" level it's time to proceed in closing the sale. This will be easier to do if you somehow engage the prospect. You can do this by conducting a one-on-one call, make a presentation, or present a proposal, estimate, or contract.

The achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition.

Jobber.

Implementation of the marketing concept [in the 1990's] requires attention to three basic elements of the marketing concept. These are: Customer orientation; An organization to implement a customer orientation; Long-range customer and societal welfare.

Cohen.

This is just to refresh our self which we all know but maximum time forget to implement in focused way and get confused when it comes for to work our action plan and strategy.

Disclimer :This is totally writer personnel Views only. You may have different opinion. The name and place changed to protect the Persons Identity.