What IS the Difference Between Marketing and Sales?

There seems to be a never ending argument among marketing andsales professionals as to what really is the difference betweenmarketing and sales functions. More often than not, bothbusiness activity terms are used to describe any businessactivity that is involved in increasing revenues. For smallbusinesses, with limited resources, there often is no practicaldifference in marketing and sales functions, all revenuegenerating activities are typically implemented by the samepersonnel.

As a company grows in revenues and number of personnel, ittypically follows a logical business function progression of"specialization", a process where the lines between moregeneric, departmental descriptions and functions became muchmore definitive and associated functional responsibilitiesbecome much more focused. Marketing and sales functions are noexception.

Marketing and sales functions are diverse yet veryinterdependent. Typically "sales" cannot exceed revenueobjectives without an effective marketing planning and support,and "marketing" directives ultimately becomes useless withoutsales to implement the plan.

Like many complex business issues, it is sometimes easier todefine something by what it's NOT as it is to define it by whatit is. Let's take a closer look at marketing to better definewhat sales is not.

Simply defining "marketing" as the "Four P's", product, price,place and promotion, based on your Marketing 101 class incollege is not practical in today's global markets. In ageneral sense, marketing is more theoretic than sales, focusedon purchase causality and is more prescriptive in purpose thandescriptive. Marketing involves micro and macro market analysisfocused on strategic intentions where sales is driven more bytactical challenges and customer relations. Let's take a closerlook at how marketing is truly different from sales:

Marketing responsibilities are distinct from sales in thatmarketing:

* Establishes and justifies the company's best competitiveposition within a market

* Initially creates, helps sustain, and rigorously interpretscustomer relationships

* Locates and profiles potential markets and key participantswithin

* Generates quality sales leads

* Develops effective selling tools

* Formally analyzes and tracks competitor's business strategiesand tactics

* Defines, prioritizes and justifies new product or serviceimprovements and developments

* Promotes an explicit company product or service image

* Facilitates information transfer from customers to the rest ofthe company

* Simplifies the customer's product or service procurementprocess

A full time Marketing Manager would be responsible for thefollowing tasks:

New Product Rollouts:
Strategy development, program incentives, timing and mediacoverage

Agency Evaluation:
Selection and evaluation of outside marketing contractors

Customer Database Management:
Software selection, training, maintenance of customer contactInformation

Market Research:
Market definition, prioritization, project management, datagathering

Pricing Analysis:
Pricing as a marketing tool?initiate and analyze competitor'spricing practices

Product Audits:
Establishment of a formal means to evaluate competitiveofferings

Public Relations:
Establishment, guidance and coordination of all areas of publicRelations

Trade Shows:
Definition, participation, prioritization and audit foreffectiveness of all trade shows

Product Promotions:
Strategy formulation, program composition, premium definition,all media coverage

Marketing Communications:
All printed / electronic communication: brochures, catalogs,price lists, case histories

Media Selection:
Assist in selection and prioritization of all media options:print, broadcast, multimedia

Internal Communications:
Establish and maintain all inter-company corporate communicationmeans

International Marketing:
Establish company presence in targeted international markets,audit for effectiveness

Strategic Planning:
Offer strategic information and alternative insights tocorporate management strategies

Board Meeting Participation:
Communicate and reinforce the company marketing priorities,strategies and tactics

Corporate Vision Statement:
Proliferate and reinforce the corporate vision throughout theOrganization

Corporate Identity and Image:
Create, maintain, improve and "manage" all corporate images andsymbols

To a "pure" marketer, the marketing role in a company is notjust a business function, but a business philosophy. Aneffective marketer truly believes "dominating" their targetmarket is "owning" their market. The more a marketer can do tomaintain market leadership the more effective they areperceived within the organization and within the industry.

As customer retention has become more of a business priority inour intensifying competitive markets, the marketing functionhas evolved from influencing potential customers to involvingthem the company's business planning and advancement. Effectivemarketing also has blurred the distinction between product andservice and continues to apply more influence on the company'ssales representation priorities.

In conclusion, marketing and sales functions are deeply rootedin each other's purpose and revenue growth intentions. Thereare few functional areas in business that relate more to eachother. So the next time you hear someone say the word "sales",when the appropriate description would have been "marketing",or vise versa, think of this article and choose from any one ofthese documented business functions to make your point ofdistinction!

About the Author:

Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, theFIRST international business buyer directory of its kind.Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means forproactive business buyers to locate businesses for saleworldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.