There seems to be a never ending argument among marketing and sales professionals as to what really is the difference between marketing and sales functions. More often than not, both business activity terms are used to describe any business activity that is involved in increasing revenues. For small businesses, with limited resources, there often is no practical difference in marketing and sales functions, all revenue generating activities are typically implemented by the same personnel.

As a company grows in revenues and number of personnel, it typically follows a logical business function progression of specialization, a process where the lines between more generic, departmental descriptions and functions became much more definitive and associated functional responsibilities become much more focused. Marketing and sales functions are no exception.

Marketing and sales functions are diverse yet very interdependent. Typically sales cannot exceed revenue objectives without an effective marketing planning and support, and marketing directives ultimately becomes useless without sales to implement the plan.

Like many complex business issues, it is sometimes easier to define something by what its NOT as it is to define it by what it is. Lets take a closer look at marketing to better define what sales is not.

Simply defining marketing as the Four Ps, product, price, place and promotion, based on your Marketing 101 class in college is not practical in todays global markets. In a general sense, marketing is more theoretic than sales, focused on purchase causality and is more prescriptive in purpose than descriptive. Marketing involves micro and macro market analysis focused on strategic intentions where sales is driven more by tactical challenges and customer relations. Lets take a closer look at how marketing is truly different from sales:

Marketing responsibilities are distinct from sales in that marketing:

* Establishes and justifies the companys best competitive position within a market

* Initially creates, helps sustain, and rigorously interprets customer relationships

* Locates and profiles potential markets and key participants within

* Generates quality sales leads

* Develops effective selling tools

* Formally analyzes and tracks competitors business strategies and tactics

* Defines, prioritizes and justifies new product or service improvements and developments

* Promotes an explicit company product or service image

* Facilitates information transfer from customers to the rest of the company

* Simplifies the customers product or service procurement process

A full time Marketing Manager would be responsible for the following tasks:

New Product Rollouts:
Strategy development, program incentives, timing and media coverage

Agency Evaluation:
Selection and evaluation of outside marketing contractors

Customer Database Management:
Software selection, training, maintenance of customer contact Information

Market Research:
Market definition, prioritization, project management, data gathering

Pricing Analysis:
Pricing as a marketing toolinitiate and analyze competitors pricing practices

Product Audits:
Establishment of a formal means to evaluate competitive offerings

Public Relations:
Establishment, guidance and coordination of all areas of public Relations

Trade Shows:
Definition, participation, prioritization and audit for effectiveness of all trade shows

Product Promotions:
Strategy formulation, program composition, premium definition, all media coverage

Marketing Communications:
All printed / electronic communication: brochures, catalogs, price lists, case histories

Media Selection:
Assist in selection and prioritization of all media options: print, broadcast, multimedia

Internal Communications:
Establish and maintain all inter-company corporate communication means

International Marketing:
Establish company presence in targeted international markets, audit for effectiveness

Strategic Planning:
Offer strategic information and alternative insights to corporate management strategies

Board Meeting Participation:
Communicate and reinforce the company marketing priorities, strategies and tactics

Corporate Vision Statement:
Proliferate and reinforce the corporate vision throughout the Organization

Corporate Identity and Image:
Create, maintain, improve and manage all corporate images and symbols

To a pure marketer, the marketing role in a company is not just a business function, but a business philosophy. An effective marketer truly believes dominating their target market is owning their market. The more a marketer can do to maintain market leadership the more effective they are perceived within the organization and within the industry.

As customer retention has become more of a business priority in our intensifying competitive markets, the marketing function has evolved from influencing potential customers to involving them the companys business planning and advancement. Effective marketing also has blurred the distinction between product and service and continues to apply more influence on the companys sales representation priorities.

In conclusion, marketing and sales functions are deeply rooted in each others purpose and revenue growth intentions. There are few functional areas in business that relate more to each other. So the next time you hear someone say the word sales, when the appropriate description would have been marketing, or vise versa, think of this article and choose from any one of these documented business functions to make your point of distinction!