Business Growth Series

Sales vs.
Marketing

Presented by:
Debra Andrews, Marketri LLC
Sean Galt, Thompson Networks
 SALES VERSUS MARKETING

AGENDA:
• SEMINAR GOALS
• DEFINING SALES AND MARKETING
• AUDIENCE SALES AND MARKETING ASSESSMENT
• UNBALANCED SALES / MARKETING EFFORTS
•CONSEQUENCES
• INTEGRATION OF SALES AND MARKETING
•WHY SHOULD THEY WORK TOGETHER?
• BEST PRACTICES IN MARKETING
• BEST PRACTICES IN SALES
• THOMPSON NETWORKS’ CASE STUDY
SEMINAR GOALS:

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET OUT

OF TODAY’S SESSION?
• Are you satisfied with your
return on sales & marketing?
• Do you try different marketing
tactics and sales and wonder if
any of them are working?
• Are you unable to successfully
close sales appointments?
SALES VERSUS MARKETING
DEFINED
SALES VERSUS MARKETING
• In the past, the concept of “sales” has been a
negative one, especially in the world of professional
services.

• Many firms think and talk about marketing, but don’t

consider the activities required for selling services.

• Some firms use sales and marketing interchangeably.

WHAT IS MARKETING?

Marketing is the process of positioning your firm

to ask for a company’s business, or to be asked
for help by a prospect.

Warming up the market

MARKETING INCLUDES:
• Positioning / Differentiation
• Strategy (Identifying Target Segments)
• Planning
• Execution:
•Collateral (Print / Electronic)
•Campaigns / Tactics
• Measurement
WHAT IS SALES?

• Sales is the process of listening, determining

needs, dealing with objections, asking for the
order, and closing the deal. In most cases, sales
involves face-to-face meetings.

CLOSING A RED HOT

PROSPECT
SALES INCLUDES:

• COLD CALLING (WARM CALLING)

• FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS
• PRESENTATIONS
• PROPOSALS
HYBRID ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:

• SEMINARS
• REFERRAL MEETINGS
• DIRECT MAIL
• NETWORKING
 SALES VERSUS MARKETING
DEFINED
HYBRID ACTIVITIES CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS
MARKETING AND/OR SALES DEPENDING ON
HOW THE TACTIC IS HANDLED.

Direct Mail: This can be a pure marketing activity or it

can be part of the sales process. Direct contact with the
prospect is what makes the difference. If you simply mail
a letter / brochure and wait for someone to call, this is
pure MARKETING. If you make follow-up calls to schedule
face-to-face meetings, this is SALES.

BEST RESULT INTEGRATE MARKETING &

SALES
SALES WITHOUT MARKETING IS…

…like going on a blind date:

• The prospect knows little about
you.
• You have no idea if your
product or service will be a
good fit for the prospect.
• Are you both wasting your
valuable time??
MARKETING WITHOUT SALES IS…

…like NOT GETTING A DATE:

• The perfect customer could be
right around the corner. He or
she just doesn’t know about
you and all the things that you
have to offer.
WHAT IS YOUR SALES & MARKETING SPLIT?

MARKETING SALES
WHAT IS YOUR SALES & MARKETING SPLIT?
• Do you have an in-house or outsourced marketing
professional?
• Do you have an in-house or outsourced sales
professional?
• Do you have an annual marketing plan? Sales plan?
• How consistent is your brand: logo, business cards &
papers, print collateral, Web site, promotional products
• Do you do advertising?
• Do you host at least 2-3 seminars throughout the year?
Do you follow-up with non-client seminar attendees?
• Do you send out direct mail? Do you follow-up with
phone calls?
• Do you write and distribute press releases & regularly
pitch the media?
• Do you have a brochure?
• Do you have customer / prospect newsletters?
WHAT IS YOUR SALES & MARKETING SPLIT?
• Do you attend 2-3 networking events per month? Do
you record contacts in a database? Do you follow-up
with the contacts that you have met?
• Are you on nonprofit boards? Do you reach out to
other board members?
• Do you maintain a database? Do you call at least 10
prospects per month from your database?
• Do you have 2-3 sales calls per month?
• Do you have a regularly maintained Web site?
• Do you maintain sales pipeline reports on a monthly
basis?
• Do you set goals for calls, meetings and proposals
monthly & annually?
SALES AND MARKETING
IMBALANCE
PURE MARKETING

• The short-term consequence is high brand

awareness but a low return on marketing
investment.

• The long-term consequence is to give up on all

marketing because “it isn’t working.”
PURE SALES

• The short-term consequences are:

• Experiencing difficulty in getting the
appointment because of low brand
awareness.
• Going on unqualified appointments

• The long-term consequences are:

• Consistently losing deals to marketing
savvy competitors
• Experiencing a low return on sales
investment (not meeting goals)
MARKETING AND SALES ACTIVITIES
OVER TIME

MARKETING SALES

BRANDING
NEWSLETTERS SALES CALLS

PR PROPOSALS

ADVERTISING INSIDE SALES CALLS

SEMINARS
BROCHURES
REFERRAL MEETINGS
DIRECT MAIL
NETWORKING

TIME
INTEGRATING SALES &
MARKETING
THE CUSTOMER LIFE CYCLE

The appropriate balance between sales and

marketing depends on the customer life cycle. The
four commonly accepted phases are as follows:
• Customer Acquisition
• Customer Growth (up-selling / cross-selling)
• Customer Loyalty
• Customer Reactivation
INTEGRATING SALES &
MARKETING
NATURE OF PRODUCT / SERVICE SOLUTION
The appropriate balance between sales and
marketing depends on nature of the product /
service solution. The three commonly accepted
types are as follows:
• Commodity: The product or service is
widely available, has few distinctions, and is
sold mainly on price and availability features.
• Customized: To meet the customers’ needs,
something must be done to the product or
service.
• Designed: The product or service needs to
be engineered or designed to meet the
customer needs.
 Best
Practices in
Marketing
COMMON REASONS FOR NOT MARKETING

1.
Marketing is important but not
urgent.
We don’t dare neglect it, but since
immediate results won’t follow from
our marketing efforts, it’s safe to say
that immediate consequences won’t
either.
COMMON REASONS FOR NOT MARKETING

2.
Marketing forces positioning and
focus.
By avoiding marketing and positioning,
we can still carry a half dozen magnetic
signs in the trunk, putting the most
appropriate one on the car door for
those sales meetings.
COMMON REASONS FOR NOT MARKETING

3.
We can hardly handle the amount of
work we already have.
Marketing is as much about control as it
is about growth. In other words,
marketing enables you to attract a
certain kind of work, defined as
profitable, enjoyable, etc.
COMMON REASONS FOR NOT MARKETING

4.
I don’t know how.
Marketing is a discipline that needs to be
learned just like finance, accounting &
human resources. Let’s look at how best
to get marketing resources for your
organization.
MARKETING RESOURCES
There are two types of marketing resources: in-
house or outsourced. Which resource or
combination of resources is best for your business
will depend on its industry (competitive situation)
size, goals and budget.

In-house: Outsourced
• CMO • Marketing
Consultant
• Marketing
Manager • Advertising
Agency
• Marketing
Coordinator • Web
Developer
• Graphic
Designer • Copy Writer
LEVELS OF MARKETING – WHICH DO YOU NEED?

CMO; V.P. or
Director of Strategy, Planning,
Marketing Management
7+ years

Educated Marketing
Tactics, Execution
in Manager
Business 3-6 years

Marketing
Coordinator; Tactics,
Administrator Administration
0-2 years
LEVELS OF MARKETING – WHICH DO YOU NEED?

Creative Director; Web Designer; Search Engine

Graphic Designer Programmer Marketing

Educated in
Graphics, Educated Web
Art, Design Development;
Programming; Design
 MARKETING BEST
PRACTICES
BASIC MARKETING PRINCIPALS

• Segmentation

• Differentiation

• Implementation
MARKETING BEST
PRACTICES
BASIC MARKETING PRINCIPALS

A pretty brochure without:

Segmentation... goes to the wrong audience

Differentiation... will not strike a cord with key

prospects

Implementation... will simply take up room on

the book shelf
BASIC MARKETING PRINCIPALS

Segmentation
• Who are your customers (by industry,
demographically, geographically)?
• How can you cluster your customers together
based on similar purchase preferences?
• How profitable is each customer group?
• Which customer groups should you target?

SMALL TO MID-SIZED BUSINESSES MUST FOCUS!

BASIC MARKETING PRINCIPALS

Differentiation
• What businesses compete for the same
target segments?
• How do they market themselves to stand
out from the crowd?
• What are your company’s strengths &
weaknesses?
• What are your competitive advantages?

SMALL TO MID-SIZED BUSINESSES MUST

HAVE A CLEAR POSITION; DON’T TRY TO BE
“EVERYTHING TO EVERYBODY!”
BASIC MARKETING PRINCIPALS

Implementation (or communication)

• What are the various marketing tactics that
your business can use to communicate your
value proposition to your target customers?
• Given your budget, which are the most cost-
effective methods?
• How effective have your marketing efforts
been in reaching your business goals?

DEVELOP A TACTICAL PLAN INCLUDING A BUDGET

AND GOALS; MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS AT
LEAST MONTHLY.
 Best
Practices in
Sales
 and

A Case
Study