Sales versus Marketing

I receive a phone call while driving across the Wyoming Continental Divide on a Sunday enjoying the expansive views with my girlfriend on the last day of our "getaway" weekend.

"Hello this is Mike..."

"Mike??? You don't know me but JL said he gets his insurance from you and I want to switch! Can you do that???"

::Insert Seinfelds "Yada Yada" episode:::

"Sure can... Consider it bound!"

Tuesday morning a 25% down payment on a $23,500.00 new commercial account is received.

No identifying the prospect...

No targeting the prospect...

No pre-contact with the prospect...

Prospect has never received one piece of Direct Mail, nor has he ever heard of me prior to his associate mentioning me in passing.

That's just one example.

Of course you could invoke the 'Chicken and the Egg' argument. (Which came first... The Sale, or the Marketing...) But MY bottomline conclusively proves to me, there are sales without actual "Marketing" by the solution provider.

The one thing I see with people entering into the selling profession - online or offline - is a propensity to believe paradigms as facts as they relate to sales and marketing.

Once broken free from the bonds of what "others" tell them to be true... They develop their own styles, their own pricing structures, their own attitudes, and their own set of beliefs.

If you don't believe something to be true, then it will never be a truism for you.

If you don't believe you could ever close a $122,834.45 sale in under 30 minutes... Then you will most likely NEVER accomplish it.

No one ever believed a human could run a sub four minute mile either. But once it was accomplished... Others found they could do it as well.

Sales and Marketing ARE two separate entities.

It's the "humanizing" factors - which others have thrust upon them - which have brought the two together.

If a prospects calls ME without ME initiating the process (ie: marketing). Isn't the "prospect" marketing his NEED's to me??? I may not want his business for one reason or another. Possibly his business is out of my arena. I may not even have a providable solution, wouldn't you agree???

So there is in effect - NO Marketing on my part.

Marketing as defined by my set of standards is "Identifying a group who has a need which can be solved with the application of one of your products or services."

"I" did not *identify* the prospect... He identified me. "He" is *marketing* his needs to me. I'm not *marketing* my solutions to his needs.

The answers are all within my definitions of "Sales" and "Marketing".

Accept it... Reject it... But I won't debate it... It works for me! :-)

Success and Regards... Mike


$122,834.45 in sales in under 30 minutes??? Sure can!!!