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Marketing or Sales; Can one exist without the other?

Submitted by Mitch Seigel on Tues, 10/21/2014

As a marketing business, months ago I was asked to attend a breakfast meeting at a local University, who was having a meet and greet with students from the marketing department. When I arrived I was told that during part of the presentation, each invited business would be asked to briefly give an overview of their company and to let the students know of job opportunities at the company.

Since I am a one man show and only hire based on client needs, the main item I had to offer the students was training, for them to become better networkers. When we got to the part of the presentation for the businesses to present, I noticed that the positions the companies were offering were not marketing positions. They were sales positions.

After the presentation, the students had the opportunity to approach the various companies about the positions being offered. While some went to the companies about the salespeople, all I heard from students was their confusion as to why these companies were there offering sales jobs, not marketing positions, for which they spent the last four years studying for in college. As a matter of support, I let the Dean of the marketing department know about their concerns.

Long story short, sales and marketing are two different animals. In many instances sales is part of the marketing department, and rightfully so, but they each have their own respective attributes. Marketing is the messaging to get the words out about products or services. Sales are more transactional where revenue is involved. Today’s business requites ROI against marketing expenses so sales discussions are regular. Unless the company has a very skeleton crew, transactional sales are performed by a separate team.

The main objective for your company to achieve, is the knowledge by every member of your team of the differences between marketing and sales. Once you cross that hurdle, strategic planning will be made easier, and the results will come.

What are your challenges when it comes to marketing your business? I look forward to hearing your comments. Until next time...