adapted from my "Sales and Marketing Minute" column for the quarterly TIVA newsletter.
Answering this can be a bit tough. It’s kind of like the question we media folks often get asked at family gatherings, “So tell me, David, what really is the difference between a Producer and a Director?"
Nevertheless, there are lots of analogies people use to explain the difference between sales and marketing. One of the marketing gurus I follow, Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing, likens the process to a baseball diamond, with marketing being the challenge of getting from home to second base, at which point the sales process takes over and further develops as one rounds third and slides into home.
Here’s another analogy that I often use: I am a history nut, so I like to present an example from our colonial heritage and our leading founding father, George Washington.
We all remember from our school days that George Washington as a young man was a surveyor and militia leader out in western Virginia and Maryland. He routinely traveled back to the colonial capital of Williamsburg to make official reports. Now, imagine the tall, confident young man at the tavern during those evenings in Williamsburg. Was he marketing or selling when he told about the fertile lands to the west with robust rivers and abundant game?
He was marketing.
Washington actually owned many tracts of that land. So when people decided to move west and were interested in settling on his properties, he then became a salesperson.
(Anyone who has studied Washington’s life closely knows that it wasn’t that simple or easy for him, but you get the idea.)
You can start to see how marketing might be more obtuse, more of a challenge to “wrap your head around.” We’ve heard it before from our CEOs, especially in this current economy: “We need to concentrate more on sales and less on marketing right now!” I can certainly understand that sentiment.
But I maintain that it is critical to continue both activities in order to be successful.
Answering this can be a bit tough. It’s kind of like the question we media folks often get asked at family gatherings, “So tell me, David, what really is the difference between a Producer and a Director?"
Nevertheless, there are lots of analogies people use to explain the difference between sales and marketing. One of the marketing gurus I follow, Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing, likens the process to a baseball diamond, with marketing being the challenge of getting from home to second base, at which point the sales process takes over and further develops as one rounds third and slides into home.
Here’s another analogy that I often use: I am a history nut, so I like to present an example from our colonial heritage and our leading founding father, George Washington.
We all remember from our school days that George Washington as a young man was a surveyor and militia leader out in western Virginia and Maryland. He routinely traveled back to the colonial capital of Williamsburg to make official reports. Now, imagine the tall, confident young man at the tavern during those evenings in Williamsburg. Was he marketing or selling when he told about the fertile lands to the west with robust rivers and abundant game?
He was marketing.
Washington actually owned many tracts of that land. So when people decided to move west and were interested in settling on his properties, he then became a salesperson.
(Anyone who has studied Washington’s life closely knows that it wasn’t that simple or easy for him, but you get the idea.)
You can start to see how marketing might be more obtuse, more of a challenge to “wrap your head around.” We’ve heard it before from our CEOs, especially in this current economy: “We need to concentrate more on sales and less on marketing right now!” I can certainly understand that sentiment.
But I maintain that it is critical to continue both activities in order to be successful.
As you work with
clients over the next few weeks, keep asking yourself,
“Is this activity marketing or sales?” Recognizing the difference is an excellent first
step.
Feel free to comment below or write me at dryan@chesa.com.
Feel free to comment below or write me at dryan@chesa.com.
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