Sales and marketing are crucial pillars of every business. They are closely linked and act as a catalyst for generating revenue (profit). While marketing is about building awareness about a brand and organization, sales turn that viewership into profits by converting the potential customers into actual customers.
Put simply, marketing attracts leads to your business and Sales convert those leads into paying customers. Businesses need to use a holistic, collaborative approach that involves both working together to reach common goals.
Sales vs. marketing
Sales and marketing may overlap in some of their goals and responsibilities, but there are several important distinctions between them.
Scope
How they’re similar: Marketing and sales strategies each work to target prospects and convert them into paying customers. Sales and marketing share the ultimate goal of selling, which increases a business’s revenue.
How they’re different: A sales team’s and a marketing team’s scopes can differ regarding who owns which part of the funnel. Traditionally, B2C and B2B marketing strategies focus on the upper portion of the funnel, and there’s a handoff to sales somewhere in the middle of the funnel. Sales then handles the bottom of the funnel.
Tactics
How they’re similar: Both sales and marketing appeal to customer wants and needs.
How they’re different: Sales tactics often involve one-on-one contact with leads, including in-person meetings, product demonstrations, or conferences to engage with new customers directly.
Marketing tactics involve wide-reaching actions like direct-mail campaigns, radio spots, search engine optimization (SEO), social media ads, or brand ambassadors to reach a broad audience. Marketing tactics may also involve automation, to allow marketers to serve content to leads more efficiently.
Tools
How they’re similar: Sales and marketing both benefit from various digital tools that organize and track data.
How they’re different: Since sales often focus on direct interactions with customers, they need tools for relationship management. Customer relationship management (CRM) software, which collects, organizes, and analyze information about customers and their journey, is a core sales tool for any company.
Since marketing casts a wider net to reach customers on various channels, they need tools to get insights, measure performance, and manage campaigns.
Gain competitive advantage by improving sales and marketing
Sales and marketing are heavily intertwined fields with their own separate objectives. Essentially, marketing is the launch pad of a sales plan, while sales is the actual execution. Aligning these can facilitate harmonious cooperation, which can help a company grow and impact its bottom line over time.
