I think I understand what sales is. I’m not sure if I can offer a technically precise definition, but if pressed I would say that it means direct contact with potential customers in order to encourage them to buy your product.
What exactly is marketing, though? I have seen it defined as (loose paraphrase here) everything your company does to encourage customers to buy your product or service. Under this definition it seems to encompass advertising, public relations, brand strategy, pricing, etc.
So is sales subsumed under marketing? If so, why do many large companies have a vp sales and a vp marketing who have roughly equal spots on the pecking order? Why doesn’t the vp sales usually report to the vp marketing?
Marketing creates the message and induces the desire to buy the product. Sales is the process of closing the business.
The commercial showing a sleek auto driving through the wet streets is marketing. The obnoxious, pushy guy at the dealership is in sales.
The type of person that goes into each area can be very different. Marketing types are those that can create a good message and get it out there, but might be hopeless at actually selling anything. Sales people are good at closing the deal and are often highly motivated by money - hence the commission. So, while the positions are complementary - the sales people need the marketing people to create the desire - the nature can be very different. Hence the different positions in the organization.
I’ve also heard: The difference between marketing and sales is that marketing know that they are lying.
Marketing guides the sales, public relations, pricing and so on. You can make an advertisement for a product in many different ways. The ad agency will want to know who your target market is. Male or female, age group, income level, etc… The ad is then targteted to that group specifically for best effect.
Marketing will also identify new ways to sell a product. Take soda-pop for example. Lots of different types of people drink it. Marketing will find out, through research, what it would take to sell more soda to 16 year old girls. There research shows (just an example) that they are concerned about their weight. They tell the company and the company produces a diet alternative to their drink. Marketing will then help define what packaging works best and so on (e.g. marketers found that the identical item placed sided-by-side but one in a red box and one on a blue box will sell more red boxes [true story]).
Unfortunately marketers often fudge a product to be most palatable to the ‘broadest’ audience and many times screw-up a good thing. I’ve seen this with movies and computer games to name two. Sometimes being unique or edgy sets a product apart and makes it something special but in the hands of marketers they tone it down. When this happens instead of getting a crowd that LOVES your product and others who hate it you get a rpoduct that no one really likes but don’t hate either (like elevator music).
I was in various marketing-related positions for years. Marketing people will tell you sales is a part of marketing. Sales people will tell you sales is a totally different part of the cycle.
Very broadly, I’d say that marketing includes research to learn what demand there is for a product, and where it exists; designing the product for maximum appeal (and fighting with the engineers who want to design it only for maximum efficiency); establishing the optimum price - not so much that it won’t sell, but enough so the company profits; deciding how the product will be distributed in the most cost-effective way (through retailers, wholesale only, via direct sales, etc.); and promoting it to stimulate demand.
Sales, by the way, may not mean direct contact with customers. It may include negotiating with wholesalers or retailers to accept your product; “fulfillment” (making sure the order gets processed and delivered); and can even include customer service/support.