While pursuing my MBA, I was called for an interview at Manpower Software in Leicester Square, London and asked why they should hire me as a marketing person and why not as a sales person. I was even told that sales people usually go out there and get the work done, on the other hand the success rate of marketing is always uncertain. This hurt the marketing fanatic in me.
I immediately shot back telling marketing people are the brains behind the success of sales personnel. They are the ones who pave the path and design things to make it easier for sales people to follow. Yes what I said was true and the interviewer was pleased with the answer but I somehow felt I didn’t do justice to the marketing fanatic in me. So in this post lets make things spot on.
A business ofcourse starts with finance, product development, operations followed by marketing, sales and customer support. All these form a part of the system which have to be in sync. Marketing, especially today’s digital marketing is predominantly all about generating leads (prospective clients). This is the most crucial part of any business. More the number of leads, more are the chances of you converting them into sales. Once you have quality leads the sales persons job becomes easier.
One may argue that why cant I just use sales person to do cold calling or personal selling. Well you could do that but at the risk of annoying your potential customer. On the other hand through online marketing you are letting your best customers find you and come to you. So all that the sales people have to deal with are the customers most likely to buy their product/ service.If marketing and sales are in sync things can operate smoothly. If you have too many sales people and very few marketing personnel then either the sales people just end up slacking due to lack of quality leads or they may have to indulge in cold calling. So its not about ‘marketing or sales’ instead it should always be about ‘marketing and sales’.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Ohhh great post…
I hate it wen m been told off by people….n wen they dont understand the difference between the 2.
this happens specially when u r called 4 interviews….