Difference between Sales and Marketing

Key difference: Marketing and sales are two different things that are part of a company’s strategy. Sales is quite straight forward. It incorporates actually selling the company’s products or service to its customers. Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, so that the product or service sells.

Marketing and sales are two different things that are part of a company’s strategy. Sales is quite straight forward. It incorporates actually selling the company’s products or service to its customers. Whereas, marketing has a much bigger scope; it incorporates how a company places itself in the market and in the eyes of its customers and potential customers. It also incorporates what products the company sells. In short, marketing ensures that sales take place; that the customers are confident enough to buy from the company. Hence, it can also be said that sales is in fact a part of marketing.

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, so that the product or service sells. Its job is to attract the customers so that the sales team can sell the products. In order to do this effectively, marketing requires the 4 Ps, i.e. Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Marketing is the first and the broadest step to make sales effective.

Marketing has the goal of increasing the desirability and value of the product and of the company to the customer, as well as, increasing the number and engagement of interactions between potential customers and the organization.

Marketing includes consumer research, in order to identify the needs of the customers; product development which aims to design a product to meet those needs; and advertising the products to raise awareness, build the brand and to generate interest in the product. All of this eventually leads to a position where sales can happen. Sales is the actual selling of the product. The sales team has to directly interact with the customer and persuade them to buy the product.

It can be said that marketing is the reason that a person goes to a particular store, whereas sales is the reason that the person buys a product from that particular store. For example: I went to Burberry to get a jacket (Marketing). The sales person convinced me to buy this jacket from their new line (Sales).

	Sales	Marketing
Concept	Sales is a narrower concept	Marketing is a wider concept
Process	Usually one to one - direct activity	One to many - indirect activity
Function	To make customer demand match the company’s product – i.e. sell the product	To listen and accommodate target market and determine future needs – i.e. maintain company in market; to create products to meet customer needs. Also to promote and advertise the said products.
Scope	Short Term	Long Term
Focus	Generate purchases or orders, meet sale volume objectives	Generate leads and internet in the company
Ranking	Sales is a step or marketing	Marketing shows how to reach to the Customers
Incorporates	Directly selling the product to the customer.	Identifying customers, producing innovative products, branding, advertising, public relations, sales, etc.
Correlation	Fulfilling the demands of a product.	The process of creating demand for a product in the market.
Purpose	Selling the product on basis of the brand image.	Creating and maintaining a brand image.