Sales Vs. Marketing  
by Santosh Pania

From a view point of person not involved in sales or marketing , sales & marketing are considered as one function. But the deeper you go in this field you will realize how different this two functions are and how bitter these personnel can become on each other even though they serve a common purpose to the organization .

Every Sales man hates the marketing guy because

1.) the guy in marketing sitting in the office gives him a useless leads and always ask to follow up on a non-consequential customers.

2.) He is not involved in the reality of the situation how the sales actually happens, all he think is that creating beautiful brochures and creating a prospect list would result in a sale.

3.) Sales is actually doing the hardwork of meeting people and convincing them , it requires convincing ability, good presentation skills and lot of going around and a minimal of ego. Listening to all the criticism for the company even though its not their fault and bearing the brunt of all people- the customers, the management, & the so called helping hand called marketing.

4.) Marketing is field where the people who are the bosses favourite get recruited in that position. In sales the result are in black and white..Whether you achieve the target or you have not achieved your target. The bosses are only looking at the sales figure. Most of the sales professionals would agree that they do tend to think like that. Well lets see what does the marketing guy thinks

A.) Marketing people think that with proper planning and execution major sales could be achieved. What makes the sales happen is 1. proper information and 2. good response and 3. a good brand image.

B.) Inspite of providing such a good brand the sales people are coming out with excuses of not making a sale saying that our products are priced higher, or that our service is not to the standard .

C.) These sales guys are not planning their visit properly, most of the time wasting their time with the existing clients sitting in their office for a cup of coffee or tea.

D.) They don't think the customer might not give an order now but a major deal will come through in 2- 3 months. Every time the lead is given, they half heartedly goes to the customer and respond that they don't have any requirement. So that the sales credit doesn't go the marketing guys.

E.) They only close deals which they have generated the leads on. They expect the lead given to them to turn into sales in the first visit. Inspite of doing so much campaign and getting good leads the sales people response is always lackluster.

F.) They think reporting is waste of time, they don't understand the importance of database.

Hmm well it can go on and on like this. ..So you see if the sales guy says go east the marketing guy would say go west or vice versa.

Firms which have been able to synthesis sales & marketing guys they will achieve tremendous results.

Sales is the today guy, his main concern is achieving his sales target for the day or for the week or for the month. Marketing is the guy who think about the future and they way the sales would happen in the near future, the market share, the brand development, the customer. So there is always a conflict between generations and conflicts will always exists between Sales & Marketing.

Technically speaking... most of you would know that sales is the actual process that happens when the product is bought. Sales guys are there to make more transactions possible. Marketing is the process the preceeds sales and is present after sales. The product awareness to image building so more guys come to sales is what the purpose of marketing is.

Here are some tips to get a common ground between sales & marketing so that complement each other , instead of playing a blame game.

1. Get them together, place the sitting arrangement together. Don't make the sales & marketing team sit separately

2. Conduct Monthly informal presentation by each of the department on the difficulties being faced by them or ways to improve the functioning.

3. Create a cross functional team for each product, a marketing guy, a sales guy and a technical guy to be responsible for a particular product (if possible...depends on the hierarchy and current organization structure).

4. Make the dialogue and interaction active between these two functions...Weekly review meets to be held along with marketing & sales team.

5. Tie the benefit of sales to both the teams.

To sum it up make it possible for the salesman to view the point of the marketing guy and vice versa. Many companies think training are waste of time but actually they really help in building a spirit of comradeship between each other.

Santosh is an Experienced Sales & Marketing Professional, currently based in dubai. Visit www.marketingbufff.blogspot.com for more details.

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