I’ve always avoided calling myself a salesperson.
Visions of plain-clothed hawks who spend their days pounding the pavement or tele-vultures swooping in on unsuspecting victims keeps me from using the terms when describing our corporate responsibilities.
Sales is often seen as a starting point for young people of talent or a career graveyard for people who lack talent. Salespeople keep their minds on the money, rake in what they can, and take a nice commission once the customer signs. Sales is something someone does on their way to doing something else, right?
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
In the last few years, we have tried different methods to promote and market our business while increasing our sales and customers. In that time we have worked for many clients who were also working their various sales and marketing channels, trying to navigate the most effective means while keeping dollars in their pockets.
One of the issues between marketing and sales is that small business owners often lump them together. But there are clear differences between them. Marketing is what you do to persuade potential customers, like advertising, direct marketing, online marketing and public relations. Sales is what you do to transact with the customers through cold calls, warm calls and building leads. Marketing is done from a distance; sales is done up close.
And this is why sales is still the shortest and least expensive way to
- Get your product into the hands of your best clients,
- Communicate intimately with your clients to understand their needs and expectations, and
- Develop a strong, lasting relationship with your clients.
We like to think we know a thing or two about marketing, being professional writers and content strategists. The messages you choose to connect to your clients are often dependent upon which medium you choose to connect through them. This process can be costly in time and resources, simply because the rollout of the marketing itself takes time, and you require a team to build effective marketing.
Further to that, marketing campaigns can have several possible purposes, and acquiring new customers is but one option. Marketing is by its very nature an act of persuasion of ideas that were not clear to the reader before they encountered the work. We craft words to help companies make the case that they are a worthy choice for a new buyer.
Sales, on the other hand, can be a swift, high-yield addition to your operation that can dramatically push your bottom line upward in ways that marketing can only do in high-cost scenarios.
But sales will never cost as much.
We also understand that marketing has a magical perception to it that business owners will gravitate to, and this might be because so much talent goes into creating it. But this is marketing’s trap. It cannot do everything well, it can only do one thing well.
Sales is simple. It has one purpose and there is only one way to do it. Get an appointment, present the product, listen for the response, and move forward.
Remember, we don’t buy products just because they’re well marketed. We buy them because they sell—well. In fact, a bloated marketing campaign can sink a product if the initial sales aren’t there to prove its mettle in the marketplace.
So where am i going with this? Trust me, I am not trying to blog us out of a job, if that’s what you might be thinking. But marketing and sales should be efforts that are paired, not isolated. One bolsters the other by providing what the other can’t.
So as you prepare to roll out your next product, program or service, consider your sales strategy first, and then work it alongside the marketing campaigns you develop. Your customers and your sales will thank you for it.
If you need any ideas on how to merge your sales and marketing efforts, visit our contact page, or fill out the form on the top left of the website.
Best of luck,
Idris
Services