Too frequently companies get in a sales slump because they set sales goals without proper marketing support. Then they wonder why their sales goals aren’t achieved.
One reason small businesses get into a sales slump is business owners don’t realize the significant difference between sales and marketing. Sales’ purpose is matching a need for your product or service with prospects that show an interest. The result of a sale is a legal obligation to deliver your product or service for payment.
Marketing’s purpose, on the other hand, is to communicate your message regarding your product or service to your target market. The result of marketing is opportunities to sell, better known as leads.
Once you see the difference you understand that these are two entirely different functions, although very closely related to one another. The skills required to do each function is very different too.
A common trap that causes a sales slump is small businesses owners have the same person do both functions, usually a sales rep, business development manager, or account executive. It’s not wrong to have one person doing both functions, you just need to realize you are splitting someone’s time between two different jobs. If you only have part-time focus you can easily get into a sales slump.
Also, you need to make sure the person you hire has both skill sets. Sometimes the person that easily finds opportunities has a hard time closing the sale; while people with great closing skills can’t find a lead to save their life. Have you experience this situation yourself? I f you have it probably led to a sales slump. Share your war stories as there are many things to be learned by sharing with each other.
So before you charge off to launch a new sales and marketing campaign, clearly define roles and responsibilities for each function. Also, assign the right resources to assure you are maximizing your ROI and revenue growth potential. As a result you can avoid getting your business into a sales slump.
Copyright ©2017, 2011, 2009 Dino Eliadis
[…] owners don’t understand the difference between sales and marketing. (see my previous post Sales Slump? Do You Have the Right Resource Assigned?). Marketing is all about understanding what the customers wants to satisfy their need and […]