The Yin & Yang of
Marketing & Sales—Part I
NoSpin Debunker
#39: March 4, 2002
For years I’ve heard
business people debate those key business functions, “Marketing” and “Sales.” My
own opinions on both have definitely evolved over the 25 years of my business
career, and I’m going to spend the next few Debunkers talking about the Yin
& Yang of Marketing &
Sales. I don’t know about you, but I
still hear comments and questions like:
q
I don’t get it—what’s
the big difference between Marketing and
Sales?
q
Why the heck would I
need Marketing if I already have a (feet-on-the-street)
Sales force?
q
My business is dependent
totally on “relationships” and I don’t see how promotional (aka, “marketing”)
stuff can help our business.
q
We can’t afford to do
any more than a little PR, a monthly newsletter, and basics for our trade show
booth--and why would we want to anyway?
q
How should my company
best organize its Marketing and
Sales functions and people? Who
should be in charge?
q
I know that we probably
should do more Marketing but where do I start? What should I avoid to get the
best results?
q
I can’t even get my
Marketing and Sales folks to talk together, much less cooperate on
anything. Why—and how do we change that?
q
How do we use
Marketing AND Sales to better grow our sales and profits in this tough
economy?
q
And sure, we’ve got a
web site—doesn’t everyone—but I don’t really see what that has to do with
selling anything since we don’t sell products that anyone would buy
online?
Complementary Selling
Forces
Part I of the Debunker
series, the Yin & Yang of Marketing & Sales, will discuss what “Marketing” and “Sales” are all about—and then move on to some of the above
questions in subsequent weeks. Before we start I will state, unequivocally, my
bias--that I’m more of a marketer type than a “sales” type. That being said, I
not only market my NoSpin services but also “sell” them—and have also done a lot
of direct Sales, as well as “Marketing” over
the years.
Marketing and
Sales are complementary, but also,
often rival siblings—a phenomenon which we will examine further in subsequent
debunkers. Most importantly, both are about the same thing: selling more products or services at a
profit to new customers and existing customers. Both Marketing and Sales are endemic to Selling and forever intertwined as the
critical components of the “selling’ process—with direct Sales being one
important vehicle to actually get goods and services sold—especially critical in
the world of selling B2B services, software, and other complex products.
Marketing & Sales—boiled
down
As a business function,
Marketing determines the right products/packages to sell, finds
the right markets and targets, crafts the right messages, and implements the
best communications vehicles at the right frequencies—all with the single intent
of getting more people interested, opening doors, and paving the way for more
Sales to happen—in mass, on a regular basis. Marketing is
about leveraging resources to increase Sales.
The Sales
function—that is, “feet-on-the-street (and/or on the phone, etc.) direct
sales—convinces folks to say yes: to sign on the dotted line, to the write
checks, and to close deals that then directly result in additional revenues and
profits for the company. Direct Sales is the
one-on-one work to bring in individual accounts.
Different
animals
Typically, Sales pros get
turned on by the “close“ itself and the direct feedback from a commission,
bonus, etc. They impart lots of information and use their skills of persuasion
to actually “make the final sale.” They are primarily focused on that next
couple individual sales at the top of their sale funnel that will bring the next
(and hopefully biggest) financial reward. They tend to be very short term
focused, action-oriented and people-oriented.
Marketers, on the other hand, get more turned on by the
leveraging of strategies, tactics and resources—to help create lots of potential
customers in bulk—over time. The good ones tend to be strategic and tactical,
analytical, and creative.
Marketing and (direct) Sales are
different disciplines and take different skill sets and interests of key people.
But even though they are different animals—perhaps they are still related
breeds. Any really good sales person must have some Marketing
skills—to be able to prioritize and hit the right targets, emphasize the right
messages provide the right level of information, write a proposal, and match up
products and services with the prospect’s needs--at least for that next
individual sale.
And contrary to popular
belief, any really good Marketing person
can make a pitch and close a deal. Marketers understand the prospect’s thought
process as well as anyone--but are best suited for figuring out and
experimenting with new, concrete ways for the company to close multiple deals in
the short term and longer term.
If you’re lucky, you have
both skilled Marketers and
Sales people (we’ll talk about
organizational issues and options in a future debunker) in your business. In two
weeks we’ll address a thorny one: “Ours is a “feet-on-the-street” company. and
we get business through our
“relationships.” What’s the point of (spending money on)
Marketing?
PS. Take the revised NoSpin Poll! My original question about “Workplace Honesty” was obviously not phrased very well (results are available on my web site). Please take the 5-second revised poll, Top Management Honesty.
If you would prefer to be removed from this email list, let me know.
Tom Ranseen
NoSpin Marketing
615.383.7157