Sales versus Marketing

ikram nouri
6 min readApr 29, 2021

Majority of the world get confused when they heard these terms , and most people think that sales is the marketing .

I think it’s time to stop this misunderstanding . So i’m about to clear this mud by showing people what’s really are marketing and sales and how these help in businesses .

Pic from Pexels

Yes, you are right if you guess that both marketing and sales impact lead generation and income . But , they do have some differences and this is the reason why i’m gonna guide you through some general information about them.

let’s see first what is Marketing and sales .

Sales

“sales” as term , refer to the activities involved in selling an offering in exchange for something of value . Many look at sales to be the fuel that business need to survive in a long run .

Basically , sales is a process that effects in a transaction between two parties . the seller gets the money and the buyer receive the offer .

Marketing

When you start getting customers interested to your products or services , well then your are doing some marketing , including some market research and advertising . It’s usually include working with the 4'ps which are :

1. Product

The first of the 4'Ps . In fact, it’s When your brand develop a product or service that fixes the struggle or the need for a consumer .

2. Price

Pricing strategy is an art and a science , in that it requires both market data and careful calculations , and as well as knowing the balance between the too high price and too low , also taking into account that skewing either way might harm the brand .

This P is based not only on the fair monetary value of the product/service , but need also to remember the overall supply costs .

3. Place

The number one goal for Marketing is getting customers to see your products , so you have to already know where are you gonna sell items/product ? is it physical store ? or online?

Marketing through digital, means putting the right product in the right place, at the right price , at the right time .

Bear in mind that ,“place”also refer to where the product’s being marketed , email, social media , website etc.

4. Promotion

The promotion is how your product/service is introduced to the public, and the marketing communication behind it.

These communications include channels such as advertising, direct marketing , public relations , sales promotion , social media Marketing.

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Let’s Bring the real question in here and answer to these people who still baffled up between marketing and sales .

Does Marketing differ from sales ?

For too long , Many people have been fooled into believing that “sales” lives under marketing directive . Also for too long , So many have been calling selling “Marketing ”,which is not .

Okay , First of all you have to understand that sales and marketing are two different disciplines with different charges and processes .

Marketing covers strategies to use to reach new leads and creat interest in your business . It requires to have a measurable benchmarks so that you can decide which marketing options are cost-effective and produce results .

Sales on the other hand ,actually is the action to convince someone to buy from your business . It usually encompasses some level of interpersonal interaction so that influences people to become your customers.Most of the time , this process go through marketing efforts .

Here’s why majority of the public suggest to differ Marketing from sales :

Sales

1- Sales is the place where the business get real for the clients . It is where the stories and brand come life .

2- Sales deal with the vagueness and details of each person . It cannot be averaged .

3- Sales looks after individuals.

Marketing

1- Marketing gives the stories about the products or services to a lot of people

2- Marketing analyses big data .

3- Marketing looks after brand’s reputation .

Which is better sales or Marketing ?

As your already see, there is some differences between marketing and sales , but that doesn’t mean that one of them works much better than the other .

In Other term , Each of Marketing and sales are effective and each of them has its own role for growing your business .

Both Marketing and Sales are important in every Movement that generate some money.

Every company or small businesses seek to maintain the dominance in their given sector , and that happen within a relationship between sales and marketing that need to be synergy .

The two work to support each other , with marketing working to promote company’s products or services , and sales ensuring the purchase of these products and services to enhance revenue .

These are both very essential to a company’s overall structure and are part of the entire business process .

Can sales and marketing work together ?

Marketing and sales collaborate effectively in a lot of ways .

Basically , Marketing is keeping onto leads much longer, and its focused on developing and nurturing relationships with leads before handing them off to sales .

It is all about balance , sales and marketing must value one another to drive more revenues .

Marketing is making it easier for sales to connect with customer .

Proper orientation between marketing and sales could lead to raise that marketing revenue . as well as , better customer retention .

To successfully align sales with marketing there is some levels for company’s and small businesses to follow :

Stage1 : organizing

On this stage , Marketing and sales must agree on definitions of the terms that are central to their work and that include leads , contacts , opportunities . It will be a nice work if the both marketing and sales teams have each other back.

Stage 2 : Execute and evaluate

When the Marketing get the idea of alignment and working as one , its the moment of the work to begin . the both teams need to incorporate metrics into an analytics dashboard and control then over time .

A major part of alignment is simply allowing for easy conversations and information sharing across the teams .

Stage 3 : Make changes

the goal of this stage is to analyze metrics and results and showing what has worked and what hasn’t .

the end goal and the important one is to convert leads and achieve sales at an enhanced rate and profitability .

Conclusion

Always remember that these terms marketing and sales both profit and both essential in your business , so after all these differences doesn't really matter if they are work effectively because the major thing is that they bring money . But , at least now you have some knowledge about them both, and you also know that teaming up marketing and sales may be a great way for your business interest .

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