What is the real difference between marketing and sales in practice?

Sales function is a part of marketing - only on the paper of text books. As Philip Kotler himself says, the economics and culture of the marketing and sales departments is so very different.

Marketing is more about being attentive and listening to the customers. Sales is about talking to them and convincing them.

Marketing spends money.  Sales earns money.

Marketing is full of MBA types who are analytical and intelligent but somewhat cold - and operate in a world of excel sheets and conference rooms and consists of collecting data, analysis, creatives, messages, charts and  presentations.  Sales is full of leader types who can judge people and what they are really saying - and they operate mostly in front of their customers asking, telling, demonstrating, persuading, objection handling, closing, bonding, motivating. Marketing and sales are different worlds in reality. In fact Kotler says that it is very difficult to find an individual to become the Head of Marketing and Sales because the two functions are so different in practice.

Actually it gets much more complex than that because the exact job description of marketing and sales varies significantly from company to company and industry to industry. It is very contextual. You must read the full article to get an appreciation of how CEOs look at the marketing and sales departments.

The marketing function (In its broadest sense - as per the diagram below) is as below

The broad marketing function in reality can be broken into 3 sub-components

1. DISCOVERING AND DIAGNOSING : Collecting the situational data through market sensing, discovering what it means, bringing this "voice of the customer" to the decision makers' table. The key metric is how useful the data becomes in anticipating and becoming proactive for the people who take marketing strategy decisions. Discovery and diagnosis is a specialized / investigative / research work and needs a different mindset. Normally analytical and creative people are assigned to such jobs.
2. DESIGNING THE STRATEGY : because the company relies on the marketing strategy to take long term decisions like what manufacturing, servicing, people, structure, competencies and focus will needed. This job requires people who are senior enough to understand what the data from the previous stage means and to formulate a cross-functional strategy that can travel successfully to the next stage of implementation. Deciding long term marketing strategy has 4 (MCVG) interdependent elements
• Market : which customers and needs to target  
• Competitors : which competitors' customers to target
• Value Proposition : how to position and hence what marketing mix 
• Go-To-Market : Route to access / engage / promote / sell / service the target customers
3. MANAGING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGY : requires co-ordination with internal functions and external entities and, being a management function, it covers (A) Planning and Budgeting (B) Organizing by allocating resources (C) Managing people and directing and coordinating them (D) Monitoring and reviewing. In many practical situations the implementation happens through separate groups and committees
1. Market research department ( Discovery and Diagnosis )
   This is generally a function of the marketing department
2. Marketing Management ( Strategy )
   This is a function of senior management. CEO also may be involved!
3. Advertising ( a part of go-to-market dealing with ad agency and media)
   This is generally a function of the marketing department
4. Sales Promotion( Generally under sales department)
5. Distribution and supply chain ( Generally under sales department)
6. Sales recruitment and training ( Generally under sales department)
7. Field sales management ( Under sales department)
8. Sales administration  ( Under sales department )
9. After-sales-service ( can be under sales or a separate department)

Example 1 : In steel business the marketing mix (that which matters to the customer) may be typically grade of the steel, price, fulfillment time, and application support. This in turn depends upon the raw material used, energy source, inventory and transport, location etc and, once decided, it is difficult to change such expensive decisions. Therefore in such companies the "marketing department" essentially performs the data collection and advisory function. In such companies the strategy is decided by the CEO and the implementation is done by the sales department which is frequently called "commercial department". In such companies the marketing department is more of a staff function and is not seen as being powerful.

Example 2 : In the business of being a vendor doing OEM supply (let us say of injection molded parts to an auto industry firm) there is no need for the marketing function at all because the discovery, diagnosis and design is done by the client himself. In such a company the Key Account Manager ( who services a big OEM client) is very powerful and everyone dances to his tune. .
   
Example 3 : In consumer durables the marketing mix (that which matters to the customer) may be typically freshness of models, leading features, price, showroom experience, demonstration shown at the showroom, reputation of after sales service and advertising which drives traffic to showrooms. In such circumstances, both the marketing department (which takes new model decisions, advertising decisions and pricing decisions) and the sales department (which controls the showroom experience and availability) are equally powerful. In the long run even the sales department is powerful because good after-sales service is important in building the reputation and the brand value. 

Example 4 : In consumer service business like banks the marketing mix (that which matters to the customer) is actually co-created by the front line employees and the customer together. Under such circumstances the supervisors of such front liners and how they select, train and motivate the employees really decides the customer satisfaction. A good marketing department in the service business addresses how to help the operations to select, train and motivate employees. In addition they also prepare advertising and POS material. 


MARKETING ( DISCOVERING AND DIAGNOSING)

Normally marketing is responsible for bringing the customer to the stage where he makes a contact with the sales force or the sales channel of the company. After that, the sales function takes over

MAIN FUNCTION OF MARKETING
The primary and fundamental marketing function of any company is "listening and learning" function which enables the company to get influenced by the market. Good marketers want to study the market, select the customers they want to service, listen carefully to such selected customers to understand their needs and wants, and then try and formulate an offering (marketing mix) that meets these needs in such a way that they are better than the offerings of their competitors.

THE DESTINATION OF MARKETING
The destination of a marketing person is to create a SALABLE PRODUCT  which is in line with the policies of the company and which his company can make, sell and profit from. He creates this by looking at his TARGET AUDIENCE (Potential Customers)

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE MARKETING FUNCTION
The most important resource of a marketing person is the needs and wants of the customers in his chosen industry and the ability of his own company to compete in the industry through its own capabilities as well as the capabilities of his channels and allies. His limitations and challenges are therefore lie in figuring out :

1. What are / will be the changes in the size and location of his target audience.
2. What are / will be the trends in the needs of the said target audience.
3. What are / will be the competitive developments that need to be taken seriously
4. What needs can (cannot) be met competitively and sustainably by the company
5. What products / offerings can (cannot) be carried by the company’s sales channel

CONCERNS OF THE MARKETING FUNCTION

1. the needs and wants of various types of consumers and customers (a) which are at various stages (Latent, under-surface, on-surface, established, standard) (b) so that they can select the consumers / customers whom they can make a difference to
   and who can make a difference to them
2. the offerings (marketing mix 7 Ps) of the competitors and how much they meet the needs and wants of different types of customers so that they select the competitors whose customers they will take away from because their companies can serve those customers better than the selected competitors
3. defining their own offering (marketing mix) in the light of this information so that, ideally (a) it meets the needs of the selected consumers / customers better (b) its offering is better than that of the selected competitors
4. Regarding customers, the main concerns are
1. Customers outside the category (Can they be brought in? )
2. Customers not buying from us (Can they be brought to us?)
3. Customers not buying sufficiently from us (Can they buy more from us?)
4. Customers not buying at a higher price from us (Can they pay more price?)
5. Customers who not talk highly about us (Can they be more vocal about us?) 

SALES 

MAIN FUNCTION OF SELLING
Sales function plays an important part in the day to day operations of a company because the company relies on it to generate revenues and money collections in order to run and fund the regular operations of the company. Many inputs like sales, inventory and collection forecasts are given by the sales function and help the company run operations like supply chain, procuring short term funds and plan capacity creation and utilization.Selling is about influencing and helping the target buyers - to determine if they want any of the products or offerings that are currently being made by the company – and to generate planned revenue for the company.The main tasks are

1. Lead Generation / qualification / Nurturing
2. Customer contact to qualify, understand, present, overcome objections
3. close 
4. transact and service
5. Managing the sales force : recruit, induct, motivate, train, deploy, monitor

DESTINATION OF SELLING
The destination of a sales person is to MEET HIS MONTHLY SALES REVENUE TARGETS. He creates this  e company and which his company can make, sell and profit from. He creates this by looking at his TARGET AUDIENCE (Potential Customers)

CHALLENGES OF THE SALES FUNCTION
The most important resource of the salesperson is his own caliber and time. His biggest challenge is to spend most of his time with the customers who have BANTF

1. Budget to spend
2. Authority to purchase
3. Need for the product
4. Time Urgency for buying
5. Favourable disposition towards the company

Hence his limitations and challenges are in figuring out :

1. How to search who, in his territory, has BANTF
2. How to avoid spending time in chasing someone who may not ultimately buy
3. How to recognize at what stage is a potential buyer on his “Buying Journey”
4. What to do, what questions to ask, what answers to give : to speed up the buying journey 
5. What offer to give so that the customer will accept quickly and also be satisfied later
6. How to deliver appropriate sales messages to the right customer depending upon buying stage
7. How to recruit and train the right sales people
8. How to organize and motivate the sales force 

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Use the following with care because you must realize as stated above that each marketing or sales job is contextual - there is no universal definition !

(General ) Responsibilities of the Marketing department  

1. Establish / Justify the company's best competitive position within a market
2. Locate and profile potential markets and key DMU participants within
3. Generates quality sales leads
4. Develop effective selling tools
5. Formally analyze and track competitor's business strategies and tactics
6. Define, prioritize and justify product / service - improvements and developments
7. Promote an explicit company product or service image
8. Facilitate  information transfer from customers to the rest of the company
9. Simplify the customer's travel on his buying journey  

CMO (Chief Marketing Officer Responsibilities) 

1. New Product Rollouts:
   Strategy development, program incentives, timing and media coverage
2. Agency Evaluation:
   Selection and evaluation of outside marketing contractors
3. Customer Database Management:
   Software selection, training, maintenance of customer contact Information
4. Market Research:
   Market definition, prioritization, project management, data gathering
5. Pricing Analysis:
   Pricing as a marketing tool, initiate and analyze competitor's pricing practices
6. Product Audits:
   Establishment of a formal means to evaluate competitive offerings
7. Public Relations:
   Establishment, guidance and coordination of all areas of public
8. Relations Trade Shows:
   Definition, participation, prioritization and audit for effectiveness of all trade shows
9. Product Promotions:
   Strategy formulation, program composition, premium definition, all media coverage
10. Marketing Communications:
    All printed / electronic communication: brochures, catalogs, price lists, case histories
11. Media Selection:
    Assist in selection and prioritization of all media options: print, broadcast, multimedia
12. Internal Communications:
    Establish and maintain all inter-company corporate communication means
13. International Marketing:
    Establish company presence in targeted international markets, audit for effectiveness
14. Strategic Planning:
    Offer strategic information and alternative insights to corporate management strategies
15. Board Meeting Participation:
    Communicate and reinforce the company marketing priorities, strategies and tactics
16. Corporate Vision Statement:
    Proliferate and reinforce the corporate vision throughout the Organization Corporate Identity
    Create, maintain, improve and "manage" all corporate images and symbols

CSO (Chief Sales Officer Responsibilities) 

1. PEOPLE
• on-boarding : New hires reach full productivity faster
• succession planning : Develops 1 successor every year
• attrition of high potential : Less than 5% turnover of his  ‘A’ players .      
2. CUSTOMERS
   
• Field people under him know the customer's buying process 
• Field people can use this to state customer objectives and answer objections
• He knows how “buying journey” is divided between marketing and sales
3. PEERS  
• His peers can lean on his advice.
• His peers use him as an influence on the CEO to things done
• He helps peers get on board with new ideas quickly
4. FIELD EXECUTION
• His team follow a documented and disciplined coaching cadence
• All his first-time managers go through a development program before promotion
• He spends 50% time out of office and in the rest in the field with reps and managers
5. COMPETITORS
   
• He uses quarterly win/loss data to ensure best practices are captured 
• He regularly “mystery shops” from competitors to understand their tendencies
• His team can communicate the unique differentiators on every offer