Sales and marketing are both intended to increase revenues. Both of them are closely intertwined. So, people often lump sales and marketing under the same category. However, both are very different. Sales are all about converting potential clients into real clients and making profits. Marketing is about creating awareness of your brand and business to potential clients.
What Are Sales?
Sales are the exchange of services and goods in exchange for money. The main objective of sales is to make money and increase revenues.
What is Marketing?
Marketing refers to the process of doing research, evaluating clients’ requirements, and then manufacturing products to meet clients’ needs.
This article will discuss all the differences between sales and marketing. You can even take up sales and marketing management courses if you want to pursue a career in any of these.
Sales Versus Marketing
Process
The sales process includes making a plan that describes a business’s tools, resources, actions, and goals. The sales team is created to convert those people who are aware of the brand or business into clients to make profits. They communicate with clients and reply to questions to offer appropriate information about the service or product.
The marketing process focuses on familiarizing your product or brand with new clients and the former ones. Businesses need to explain their services and products clearly, their price points, and how they solve client issues to market them efficiently. The marketing team should be able to find the people who are interested in their service or product and where to find them.
Goals
The goal of sales is to meet sales volume goals in the short term. Often, the sales goals are measured monthly. Targets and goals are defined by how much a business should sell to make enough profits to stay operational.
For marketing, the focus is to promote the company, brands, and their service or product. A marketing team is accountable for communicating how a product fills a client’s wants, needs, and pricing. Marketing campaigns span over months, and hence, their goals are long-term.
Strategies
Sales strategies can differ based on their products, industry, target customer, and market. Some famous sales strategies include:
- Solution Selling
- Spin Selling
- MEDIC
- Inbound Selling
- Customer-Centric Selling
- Conceptual Selling
- SNAP Selling
A marketing team can take a different approach based on the kind of client and campaign they are targeting. Popular marketing strategies include:
- Print marketing
- Internet Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Search Engine optimization
- Blog Marketing
- Video Marketing
Prospects
The marketing prospects are more than sales. It is because marketing involves determining a target client base and creating awareness. Marketing teams want to get new prospects, whereas sales team wants to use connections with existing clients and prospects.
Marketing and sales are different entities. Knowing the differences between them will help you in planning your career. Though sales and marketing are different entities, both give businesses the required push. Take up online marketing management courses and gain expertise in the field.
