Sales vs. Marketing… Bad Words?

Written by HeatherO on July 27, 2010 - View Comments
Categories: "Biz Soup"


When you are in business mode, marketing is a word that ‘speaks to you’. If you not, it also speaks to you…although maybe not in a good way.

The words ‘marketing’ and ‘selling’ are now seemingly on the ‘bad words’ list, and perhaps rightfully so. We all know there are ‘those salespeople’ who give all a bad name. We have all been marketed to when we didn’t ask or want to be. We have TiVo’d our way out of commercials, “Do Not Call listed” our way out of cold calls. If someone knocks on our door we are likely to slam it in their face.

Marketing and selling are not bad things. We all need stuff, and we need to know which stuff is better, and in some cases, we need a salesperson to help us buy it. The trouble is in the manner in which it is done. Sadly, the manner in which both are done have become ‘bad’. The intention is often bad, the definitions are often bad, and therefore the words are even “bad”.

Sales vs. Marketing

First let’s look at sales, or selling. The word selling comes from the Old English word “sellan” which means “to give”. If you read the current definitions however, you get things like:

to persuade or induce (someone) to buy something: The salesman sold me on a more expensive model than I wanted.

to persuade or induce someone to buy (something): The clerk really sold the shoes to me by flattery.

If you think about the word ‘marketing’, it comes from back in the days when people purchased items ‘at the market’. In fact, if you check dictionary.com, NONE of the definitions are what most of us think of marketing to be. They refer to ‘the act of buying and selling of goods’. Even these descriptions from dictionary.com define it differently than many would:

The activities of a company associated with buying and selling a product or service. It includes advertising, selling and delivering products to people

Many people believe that marketing is just about advertising or sales. However, marketing is everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them

Or, how about this explanation from Allbusiness.com:

Theodore Levitt, onetime lecturer on business administration at the Harvard Business School, aptly described the difference between sales and marketing: “Selling focuses on the needs of the seller and the need to convert product to cash. Marketing focuses on the needs of the buyer and the need to satisfy the customer through the products produced.”

To put it another way, it’s sales’ job to influence the customer to buy what the company has produced. It’s marketing’s job to influence the company to produce what the customer wants. Both are concerned with the customer but, while sales talks, marketing listens.

“while sales talks, marketing listens…”

When you are marketing, are you listening?

Marketing focuses on the needs of the buyer and the need to satisfy the customer through the products produced

Are you focused on the needs of the buyer, and the need to satisfy the customer?

The truth is, if we had that focus, if we actually were marketing and selling as described above, they wouldn’t be bad words!

Unfortunately, we have MADE them bad. Our intentions and words have created the perception and the aversion that many have to sales and marketing.

Think about it. As Bob Burg, author of The Go-Giver and Endless Referrals points out, think about the term ‘sales pitch’. Think about baseball and what the intention of a ‘good pitch’ is? It’s striking the other guy out! It’s making the other guy lose, so that you can win!

Think about marketing terminology:
Tactics
Strategy
Targets

That doesn’t sound like listening to and satisfying the needs of anybody. It sounds like war!

Now don’t go getting all cranky because I said that, and you use those words. We all have, if we do any marketing at all. Those are the words of the industry, and we use them without a thought.
(Just like we say “kill two birds with one stone” with no intention of kill anything ;)

What I am suggesting is, that you give it all some thought. That you shift your focus from what everyone else says marketing is, or should be, from what you have thought sales is or isn’t, and consider how it used to be. Consider how it could be…

Shift from ‘the way it’s always been’, or at least what you thought it was. Consider the points above:

sellan = to give
marketing = to listen

I know it’s not the way that everybody else does it. But, do you want to be like everyone else, or do you want to be remarkable?

(Need help with the shift? Contact me! I will be happy to help)

  • Bob
    Hi Heather, thank you for your mention of John David Mann's and my book. With regards to your article and what "is and isn't" and, just as importantly, what is "thought to be something"...it all comes down to definitions, or premises. To paraphrase Ayn Rand, "even the best logic, if based on a false premise, can never lead to a correct conclusion." If one defines sales as something you do "to" someone, they will think of what they do differently than if they define sales as something you do "for" someone. Thank you for a very interesting article.
  • Thanks Bob! I love your point about sales being 'something that you do for someone' not 'to them'. I appreciate you taking the time to read and to comment.
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