well taking classes on marketing in B-school apparently did not help many of my colleagues who are still plagued by the oddity of failing to differentiate between marketing & sales. Recently a friend of mine got into a conversation with me on this and I had to spend 30 minutes of valuable airtime trying to educate him on the nuances of the business world.
If I try to follow the idiom "Dummy's Guide to Sales & Marketing", then, net-net
Marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects.
Whereas
Sales is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract.
The sales process on the other hand consists of interpersonal interaction. It is often done by a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. It's anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance. The keyword here (for most of my friend interested in IT sales) is networking, networking and more networking.
It is interesting to note that without marketing an organization does not have prospects or leads to follow up with, but yet without a good sales technique and strategy the organization’s closing rate is usually depressing. Simply stated, marketing takes the long-term view of customer relationships, paving the way for sales to occur in the short-term. One feeds the other. At the end of the day, its about integration and collaboration of both expertise.
PS: This article is also influenced by the fact that apparently 90% on the people I came across & discussed my job profile earlier, had absolutely no clue what IT services marketing was.
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