Entrepreneurs Know The Difference Between Marketing And Sales

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Read Other Articles By Art Consoli & Check Out His Author Bio

The Entrepreneurs Guide Series
How To Evaluate And Profit From A
Business Opportunity
By: Art Consoli

Entrepreneurs Know The Difference Between Marketing And Sales
The Entrepreneurs Guide Part 18

Many people don't understand the difference between marketing and sales -- even worse many don't understand the relationship between the two.

By: Art Consoli

The Sales Department can't really succeed without a well-focused and well-executed marketing strategy. And those responsible for the marketing effort can't develop the best strategy without input from the sales function.

I like to think of the two the same way I think about a sports team. The marketing people are like the coach and the sales people are like the athletes. A coach comes to the team with lots of experience, usually a proven track record and knowledge of what works and what doesn't. Of course all that history is with different athletes and in a different organization. The marketing manager usually has the same credentials and he or she must utilize that history to help make different products and different people in a different organization successful.

After evaluating what they have to work with good coaches and good marketing managers can devise a strategy that stands a reasonable chance of success. But both need input from the men and women actually doing the face-to-face work in order to improve the strategy. Think about the similarity of these comments and how the information each gives to the coach or the marketing manager can be effectively used.

"The guy can't guard me, he's too slow."

"Our competitor takes too long to ship."

"When he throws a curve, he always stands on the left side of the rubber."

"They are always trying to collect their money in as fast as possible."

I remember listening to the new Vice President of Sales and Marketing soon after he was given the responsibility for a new division of Johnson & Johnson.

"We need to share information about what's happening n the field and what we are planning to do in marketing. There should be a senior person from the sales group at every marketing meeting and a senior person from the marketing group at every sales meeting. Copies of every sales person's call sheets should be given to the marketing group as soon as possible. Help each other succeed."

Now how many times have we all read about the team talking behind the coach's back or the coach tearing into an athlete? Too many times by my way of thinking. And the scene always opens on a team that is in trouble and it most often ends with people being moved out.

In your career as a business owner you will be confronted with decisions about the marketing strategy, the plan, and its implementation. You will also have to deal with poor performance from the sales department. As you listen to what everybody is saying you will have to sort out the facts from the fiction. Doing so will not be easy. -- especially if you don't have actual selling or marketing experience.

To make better decisions, I suggest that you get directly involved. Go on sales calls or listen to sales solicitations. Call a competitor and pretend to be a prospect, listen and see how you are treated. Ask your people to comment on what you saw and heard.

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Art Consoli's unique background and skills allow him to speak and write about how someone with limited experience can do a self-evaluation which will let him decide which business opportunity is best, how to evaluate opportunities and gain control over the one which offers the greatest potential and then manage that business to success. Readers of his book call and write to tell him how much his book has helped their lives and improved their business. The author can be reached at www.businessstrategyartconsoli.com.