skip to Main Content

Sales, Marketing and Networking–Differences and Similarities

Sales, Marketing And Networking–Differences And Similarities

Do You Know The Difference Between Marketing & Sales?

I recently replied to a question on LinkedIn that asked what the difference was between marketing and sales. I am always surprised by how good the answers are when posed out to a wide and diverse group of people. The replies were quite eye-opening because there were some experts who said they saw no difference. There were many more who saw a difference but the differences varied greatly.

Marketing vs Sales

Some saw marketing as the necessary foundation to build sales. Others saw sales as the most important part of the business development cycle as that is where the real relationship begins with one’s client or customer. I weighed in on the discussion emphasizing that I see sales and marketing as equally important along with the element of networking that basically glues the two initiatives together when done right.

What the answers revealed to me most is that when marketing, sales, and even networking experts have such differing opinions as to the role and importance of the strategies they suggest businesses use, how do business leaders decide how to most effectively grow revenues? One of the most important things I would suggest is to start to read some of the marketing and sales questions on sites like LinkedIn. I found I gravitated to answers that were simple, to the point, and often metaphorical. For example, one person said something like selling without good marketing to support it would be like trying to row a rowboat without any oars.

Keep your marketing, sales, and networking as simple as possible–focused on the end goal–continuously creating value for your client. The rest is just background music.

Back To Top