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Small Business Needs Sales AND Marketing

By Brad Shorr | July 27, 2007

Here’s an eloquent explanation of why companies need sales AND marketing, written by Rhonda Abrams for USA Today. She says–

“Many entrepreneurs don’t grasp the difference between marketing and sales. That’s because these two critical business functions are extremely interrelated…

“Ah, but here’s the hitch: people who are great at marketing usually hate sales, and the best salespeople are usually terrible at core marketing activities. That’s because these key activities appeal to very different personality types.”

Very true, very important statements. One thing I’m really trying to emphasize in my new (soon to be launched) Word Sell website is how we connect sales and marketing. As the new home page says,

One without the other takes you only so far. Put them together–the sky’s the limit.

Related:

  • Marketing Strategy Made Simple
  • Understanding the Difference between Sales and Marketing
  • Obstacles to Innovation in Small Business
  • CRM Interview–Tom Wieczorek, Sales Automation Specialists
  • Strategy versus Flexibility for the Small Business

    • 4 Responses to “Small Business Needs Sales AND Marketing”

    1. Says:
      July 27th, 2007 at 2:58 pm

      I’d also point out the difference between advertising and marketing. I had a boss whom I told, “We’re doing a lot of marketing, but not much advertising.” He asked, “They’re the same thing, aren’t they?”

      Our marketing was our website, our showroom, our vehicle graphics and our sales literature. That’s where we spent most of our focus. The only marketing we did that I considered advertising were our yellow pages and some direct mail.

      By discerning that all advertising is marketing… but not all marketing is advertising, it made us think more intentionally about which areas of marketing we wanted to invest in.

    2. Says:
      July 27th, 2007 at 6:10 pm

      Dustin, that is an extremely good point. Among small businesses, I’ll bet advertising is more misunderstood than marketing by quite a margin.

    3. Says:
      July 28th, 2007 at 3:39 am

      “Although it may appear at times as though marketing and sales are at odds with each other, the two business functions actually share synergy, possible even a symbiotic type of relationship. One’s energy feeds the other. One thing is for certain, both are important and neither can survive without the other.”

      At the risk of shameless self promotion Brad, that’s a blurb from my recent article about sales and marketing….
      http://ideaseller.typepad.com/idea_sellers/2007/07/marketing-and-s.html

    4. Says:
      July 28th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

      Advertising is a subset of marketing. You cannot have good advertising if your marketing house is not well-built.

      While sales and marketing may have different personalities, it is a mistake for a business to operate the two functions independent of one another.

      The sales department is the front line of the marketing message. They are like the Marines, taking the marketing message into battle.

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