Vincent James Giovinazzo
Difference Between Sales and Marketing by Vincent James Giovinazzo
Vincent James Giovinazzo is the Best Sales and Marketing Expert in New York. To understand the differences as we look at a strategic marketing plan, sales and marketing each have a different focus. As we work with midsize companies we sometimes hear the terms sales and marketing used as if they were interchangeable. Sales and marketing do work together hand in hand, but they are definitely not the same thing. They require different functions and different skills.
Business owners typically have a clear grasp of what operations does; they build products and services. They also have a good grasp of what accounting does; they track and manage the company's finances. They know that the sales department sells the products and services the company has to offer its target market. However, they're a little unclear of how marketing is different from sales.
The analogies we like to provide to help business leaders better understand the roles of sales and marketing are the concepts of hunting vs. farming. Sales people are hunters. Sales works on developing relationships with prospects and/or channel partners. They call prospects, knock on doors, find the right people, overcome objections, negotiate prices and terms and often work with operations and shipping to be sure their customer's orders are fulfilled according to the agreed upon terms.
The perspective of sales is from inside the company out towards prospective clients. They are essentially casting their line at external targets hoping to hook them and reel them in. Sales are focused on shorter time frames such as this week, this month, or this quarter.
James Giovinazzo say's Marketing on the other hand is more like farming. Just as in farmers have to till the soil, plant their seeds and fertilize the fields in early spring, marketers have to prepare the marketing groundwork as to what and where to plant the seeds of create great content. They then have to update the content regularly and target the right prospects. Farmers have to weed their fields of undesirable plants. Farmers must water their crop regularly throughout the growing season. Marketers have to tend to their content, updating it on a regular basis throughout the growing process. If all has been cared for and done properly, farmers can reap their harvest in the fall. If marketers have tended to their content, regularly and properly update their content throughout the growing season, they too can harvest well-qualified, targeted prospects who already know who you are, what you're all about and what they can expect when doing business with you.
Marketers are farmers. They are focused on the longer term and the bigger picture. Marketing's perspective is from the outside looking in at the company and doing everything they can to attract the right kinds of prospects they can harvest when the time is right.
An additional analogy is that of an apple tree. While an apple tree appears dormant throughout the fall and winter, in reality its roots are continuing to grow, processing and storing the energy necessary to push for a full bloom in the spring. When an apple tree comes alive in the spring there is lots of foliage and flowers, but there is no fruit yet. It is not until late spring into early summer that little green apples begin to appear on the tree. Throughout the summer and into the fall these green apples get bigger and bigger, and at some point in the fall, one of the green apples turns red while all the others remain green.
In marketing not all prospects will be ready to buy at the same time. You can't always be sure where your prospects are along the educational spectrum. They may remain green for a long time. However, just like the apples on the tree, eventually more apples begin to turn red and ripen in the fall sun. In your business, as your marketing continues to further educate prospects as to why you are the best choice to do business with, eventually they are ready to buy.
Even on an apple tree, not all apples eventually turn red and ripen. Some may never turn red. They may have not gotten enough water or nutrients and simply fall to the ground and rot. In marketing, not every prospect is going to buy, but enough of them will so that your business survives. However, we want to do more than just survive, so just like an apple tree, a farmer has an entire grove of apple trees and in your business you must have a large pool of prospects from which to gather business in order to thrive and produce a bountiful harvest. And unlike farmers who have to do it all over again every year, marketers are more like greenhouse farmers who stagger their plantings every few weeks to a month so as to create a continuous stream of fruit and vegetables to harvest on an ongoing basis.
To develop a solid strategic marketing plan one must have a firm understanding of how marketing and sales work together and how each has a different focus and approach to growing the business. Sales are tightly focused and are much more time centric. Marketing is broadly focused and is in it for the long term. They work together to produce both short and long term prosperity for the company.
In summary, sales are comprised of hunters and fishers who focus outward on prey to be caught. Marketers are akin to farmers who plant seeds and tend to their farms or orchards throughout the season in order to reap an abundant and continuous harvest over time. Farmers and marketers are inward focused on attracting their desired fruits to come to them.