What's the difference between marketing and sales?

Someone asked me recently: "What's the difference between marketing and sales?"

My answer: "In a nutshell, marketing is the education you do to create desire for your product or service in your prospect. Sales is the process of converting prospects into customers."

Marketing sets up sales by educating prospects about the benefits and features of a particular product or service. It’s an introduction of sorts that is intended to generate interest.

Marketers and sales people are very different animals. Marketers love using various techniques to get a message distributed to its constituency. They love educating and crafting messages.

Really good, successful sales people typically love the close more than anything else. They thrive on it and live for the high. Remember Richard Gere’s character’s famous line in Pretty Woman when he punched Stuckey at the end, “It’s the kill you love, not me?” That perfectly depicts a great salesperson. They love to be out selling and can barely stand the monotony of being cooped up in an office.

So, marketing is education and sales is closing business. Many companies confuse this and combine these departments. I think that’s dangerous. Now, marketing and sales must work closely together, but a marketer and a sales person are not necessarily the same.

If you have sales people in your organization, and leads are a little thin, maybe it’s time to talk to a marketer. Just sayin’.

 

- Christine Pilch Mancini 

 

Comments

[Bill Marley]

WOW!! - thats the best explanation i've heard about the differences between sales and marketing. couldn't argree more!! Nicely done Christine!!

[Shel Horowitz - Green/Ethical Marketing Expert]

Reading your note, Christine, I was reminded of this section from my book, Guerilla Marketing Goes Green (co-authored with Jay Levinson, and thus in the 3rd person):

Shel spoke on a panel of six people discussing sales and marketing for solo entrepreneurs. One of his co-panelists was a “Sales Jerk” who monopolized about 70 percent of the panel’s time, and was thoroughly aggressive, rude, and arrogant. His advice to others was that they, too, should be aggressive. He went on and on about how you just have to pick up the phone and cold call, hour after hour, day after day. His theory seemed to be that if you were a thorn in the side of enough people, one or two of them would do business with you, just to get rid of you.

You probably won’t be surprised that we disagree, strongly. With his approach, everyone loses. He’s going to have to work 14 hours a day at alienating people, in order to make a decent living. He’s wasting a lot of effort that could be spent far more productively, and he’s destroying the chance to build the long-lasting, positive relationships that turn prospects into customers voluntarily. What sales he gets will be in spite of his approach, not because of it—but eventually the numbers do add up to a livable income. We think he could sell a lot more and work a lot less if he followed our methods.

When Shel finally got his turn, he said, “Now, here’s the difference between marketing and sales. I never make cold calls. I create marketing that has the prospect calling me. When I get the phone call or the e-mail, they’re already convinced that I can help them. If I don’t screw it up, I have the account.”

[Christine Pilch]

Thanks, Bill.

[Christine Pilch]

Funny how that happens, Shel! ;)

Thanks for the comment.

[Marketing bureau]

Yet so simple, but very well explained. Thanks!

[Jake Alexander]

This is a very clear cut explanation. The two term are easily confused with one another. Thank you for clearing it up. I am always looking for marketing and advertising advice.