subject: Role of Sales & Marketing in International Business [print this page] Role of Sales & Marketing in International Business
Any corporation, industry, an organization is totally based on 14 letterswords that is "Sales & Marketing". In today's scenario market competition has given beginning point to many industries, types ofbusinesses, the art of strategic management, creativity etc. The process of sales & marketing differs from product to product.
Prior to any discussion on marketing & sales concepts, it's significant to clarify and understand the differences between the functions of Marketing & Sales.
Marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prediction. The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. Both are necessities to the success of a business. You cannot do without either process. By strategically combining both efforts you will experience a successful amount of business growth. However, by the same token if the efforts are unbalanced it can detour your growth.
When a person comes to the table with the designation of Sales and Marketing in his or her title, many tend to think that the two are one in the same. However, sales and marketing are separate functions, each entailing unique activities that set it apart from the other.
Defining the Roles
To gain a better understanding of the role of sales and the role of marketing, the below points provides a brief review of their activities.
A sale is process to increase current volume & meet sales targets, but Marketing is to increase profitability through appropriate volumes, products and customer mixes.
Sales are interaction with the individual customers to focus on factors relating to current events; however Marketing is focused on developing strategies for the optimum rotations of products in market.
Sales is to focused on short terms relations i.e. today's products, today's customers & strategies, though Marketing is concerned with long terms issues which gives shapes the business after 5-10 years down the line.
Sales are consists of works in the field or by calling on customers, rather than Marketing is consists of office works, research and developing plans and methods of implementations.
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, whereas sales talks, marketing are all about listening.
In a company with a true understanding of marketing, it is marketing that guides and controls the entire operation, with manufacturing play the role of a service activity and supplying the products needed by the customer as relayed to it by advertising.
When you're writing a marketing plan, you need to develop an Advertising and Promotion plan. The next page of this article provides details on how to do this. Essentially the Advertising and Promotion section of the marketing plan describes how you're going to deliver your Unique Selling Proposition to your prospective customers.