Sales versus Marketing

I guess I just do not see it like the rest of you. I don't see the "no marketing". However, I do not want to contest anyone's point of view.

I asked a incredibly well-known and ultra-successful direct marketer to view this thread and provide me some feedback.

He agreed with me about somewhere along the lines some marketing took place...indirect as it may seem.

For instance, why did you choose that "one gas station" as opposed to another gas station.

You needed gas of course, but...why did you decide that the gas station you saw was suitable to fill you need at that particular time?

In any event, I have learned something of value and that is more importamnt to me tha being dead-right. I gues it is like Jim Straw says...knowone is right, knowone is wrong.

Respectfully,

Taylor Trump

> I read this definition before, however I
> don't recall whether it was Dan Kennedy,
> Kiyosaki or Gerber.

> Sales occur when PEOPLE sell!

> Marketing occurs when the SYSTEM sells!

> Does anybody recall who said this?

> Duane

All of this proves is what an imprecise tool language can be.

The fact that sales and marketing are so easily confused and regarded as interchangeable explains why so many companies lump both disciplines together under a 'Sales and Marketing Director'.

Yet they are different. (And this is, I guess, just another opinion!)

Let's look at some of the cut and dried examples given.

The kid who asks if he can cut the grass is marketing himself. The moment that you say yes, he has made a sale.

The 7/11 that you drive past was passively marketing itself with a neon sign that told you it was open. Without that knowledge, you would not have sold yourself on going in the door.

The water filter that you bought way back was marketed with advertising in press and probably TV. All kinds of marketing messages filtered (ouch!) into your brain before you chose that brand and model. This particular product happens to come with a renewable income stream for the manufacturers - the cartridges. Sure, the cartridges on their own need little direct marketing, but that is because the means of using them has had tons.

The same arguement can be applied to printer cartridges or fax paper or fountain pen ink. All supposedly non-marketed items whose continued sales rely on the highly active marketing of a master product.

Ultimately, my definition of sales versus marketing is that marketing is everything that is done to create a need, and sales is the act of fulfilling it.

I am sure there are a million alternatives, though.

Martin.


BizE-zine: Success strategies that really work.

> The water filter that you bought way back
> was marketed with advertising in press and
> probably TV. All kinds of marketing messages
> filtered (ouch!) into your brain before you
> chose that brand and model. This particular
> product happens to come with a renewable
> income stream for the manufacturers - the
> cartridges. Sure, the cartridges on their
> own need little direct marketing, but that
> is because the means of using them has had
> tons.

The reason I bought the water filter was because I have no bench space for a water dispenser and I got sick and tired of buying bottle after bottle.

So the only way I know of to drink water without buying bottle after bottle was to filter my tap water - I am allergic to the substances that are put in our tap water. The supermarket has one brand only - a brand I had NEVER heard of before. So I bought it.

> Ultimately, my definition of sales versus
> marketing is that marketing is everything
> that is done to create a need, and sales is
> the act of fulfilling it.

> I am sure there are a million alternatives,
> though.

Yep. I depends on how semantic you want to get. :o)

It certainly is an interesting thread.

For instance, how much did marketing to our parents come into play? By going shopping with mum I learn which stores carry which foods. SO even if that store never markets to me, I still know what they stock because I went shopping with mum as a youngster.

Michael Ross

> He agreed with me about somewhere along the
> lines some marketing took place...indirect
> as it may seem.

> For instance, why did you choose that
> "one gas station" as opposed to
> another gas station.

> You needed gas of course, but...why did you
> decide that the gas station you saw was
> suitable to fill you need at that particular
> time?

I choose the gas station with the cheapest gas. Sometimes, in my area, gas can be 10 cents a litre different in price. The 'brand' of gas has nothing to do with it.

Then, of course, there comes times when I'm REAL low. Then it's whichever is closest. And late at night it's whichever I see open.

Michael Ross.