The difference between Marketing & sales

                                   The Marketing - Sales dance

Marketing and sales go “hand in glove” – two people dancing together to the same music –The Marketing Sales dance.

However, each has a distinctly different function and purpose in any business.

Now, the overall, primary function of your business, “is to:  Attract, to Make and to Keep customers” – Without customers, you do not have a business! Every other activity becomes futile, if you do not have customers.

Attracting customers - is marketing

Making customers - is selling.

Keeping customers - is the quality of your product and/ or service, the value for money that you provide and your ability to make a profit, so you that can continue to serve your customers. Keeping these happy customers will in turn attract new ones because – they will want to tell others about you. And so the cycle continues……………. Attract Make and Keep. The Keeping, is too often overlooked as an important element of marketing.

“Marketing is the activity you do, that creates for you the opportunity to sell your product or service”

Marketing takes many and various forms and we do not have the space to go into those here. So whenever you receive an enquiry for your product or service, whether it be from your website, advertising, word of mouth, or the sign on your door, - your marketing department, has done its job. Marketing can now, in effect, say to sales, “we have done our job, now it’s up to you to make the sale, - get the order”.

Now, the art of converting an enquiry into a sale is vital to the existence of your business. The art of selling has process and method, requiring skills and training, - often over looked and ignored by many business owners. Again, we cannot cover all this here. But consider this, if you have not developed these sales processes and skills, any money or energy you spend on marketing (attracting) customers is wasted.

At Polaris we will show you how to develop a marketing plan tailored to your business. We will help you develop a sales process and hone your selling skills. In short, we will show you how your marketing and your sales can dance together in rhythm and harmony.

“Marketing is not just a function of business, like purchasing or production ETC.. but it is a consolidating view of the whole business process”                 Rob Chisholm. OAM