While sales and marketing should work hand-in-hand for the success of a brand, there is plenty that make them separate fields. According to U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “The marketing team creates content about a company’s products and services to generate brand awareness and fill the prospect pipeline. From there, the sales team is responsible for converting customers in the pipeline to generate revenue.”
Sales
Sales is more than just thinking of Danny Devito’s slimy car salesman character in the movie Matilda. It’s integral to coverting leads for revenue so an organization grows and succeeds. Salespeople take the branded materials that those in the marketing department create to showcase the brand’s value directly to consumers. Those who do really well in sales are good at working with people; they understand how to present information that highlights how the organization can solve or meet the consumer’s needs.
While someone doesn’t necessarily need any schooling or specific training in sales, those who succeed generally have these traits:
- Passion
- Empathy
- Confidence
- Understanding of the brand
- Adaptability
- Self-set motivation
Marketing
Marketing is such a vague term for a department as there is so much that a marketer is able to do or focus on. There is still the traditional work that includes creating flyers, mailers, billboards, TV commericals, and radio segments. However, with the introduction of the Internet, search engines, and social media, digital marketing has seen a surge for ads, websites, online listings, and search engine optimization. Overall, all of these different parts of marketing are a tool for salespeople to use to further create revenue for a company.
Within marketing, it does include web design, copywriting, graphic design, SEO, paid media, organic content, and more across all types of platforms — both physical and digital. The best marketers are creative, innovative, and always paying attention to the newest trends. This is why it’s best to have a full team of marketers who can focus on a particular aspect of marketing and not run themsevles ragged over all of the intricacies.
When it comes down to it, both marketers and salespeople need to work together to properly represent the brand to consumers. Though, another often over-looked part is that both teams should also work with their engineering and research teams in order to fully understand products and services and not oversell on what can be offered.
In fact, open communication should be implemented across all departments. This is the best way to ensure success and recognition.
It’s true when they say “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!”
In the end, both sales and marketing are important to the success and stability of any organization.
Kendra Cornell 
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