Vanakam Makalle
We are going to see the difference between Marketing and Sales. Let me start with an example.
Assume, you are planning to start a business with an investment of Rs.15 lakhs. What is that we usually do? We select the products for business according to our preference and interest.
However, that is a wrong idea.
First, we have to do market research and identify the customers’ needs residing in that area. Then as a brand, when the product is launched according to the customer preferences, people will buy them.
In this scenario, after extensive research of customer preferences, we start the business, hand out flyers, install banners, advertise the products, etc. The mentality of the consumers would be “Let’s peek into the shop and explore the products that have been mentioned in the flyer” or they would have got good customer feedback from the neighbours. So, they come into the shop without being directly invited by us. This is the Marketing Process.
The process of bringing a prospect into the business is where the sales process starts. Once they enter the shop, we explain about the products and convince them to buy the products. They pay the money and procure the product and a transaction happens. The process till the transaction is complete is called SALES.
Once the sales complete, we send them a thank you message, ask them to review the product, and notify them through a message if there is a new product in the shop. These are again marketing techniques.
So, a sale is a subset of marketing. Marketing refers to an ocean and a part of it is the sales concept.
Marketing refers to the PULL method- where we urge the customers to get the product.
Sales refer to the PUSH method- Where we receive the money from the customer.
Solopreneur has to take care of all the departments like sales, marketing, etc. However, once you turn into a company there will be separate departments for sales and marketing and in each department, there will be a separate head.