Out of the Box

Marketing and Sales: Perfect Together

By Menachem Lubinsky on April 13 2010

It occurred to me that some businesses may actually be making a choice of sales over marketing. They believe that marketing may be too abstract, certainly when compared to sales that have a more immediate result. Hire a salesman, the reasoning goes, and you will soon count the successful “hits.” Invest in marketing and you may end up throwing “bad” money after “bad” money. This is particularly true when a company works with limited funds.

A food company client looking to boost sales was engaged in just such an exercise. The president of the company was being pulled from both sides. A senior marketing consultant opined that his company would be far better off investing in long term branding and marketing while a fiscal adviser retorted that he “always had time to risk money in marketing.”

In an ideal situation, there should never be a situation where a choice has to be made. Sales are a function of marketing and a company seeking to build a profile or brand a product needs both sales and marketing. A veteran salesman in the fashion industry shared some of his experiences with sales and marketing. In his view, the two are inseparable. He couldn’t fathom selling products that were not properly branded or marketed.

An insurance salesman made it clear that selling products that were properly marketed can make all the difference between success and failure. To sell products that are not known means that the salesman will not only have to make a pitch for the sale but will also have to educate the potential customer about the product or service. The insurance salesman says that a sales call for a non-branded product can add as much as a half hour, cutting into the number of pitches, potential sales, and ultimately commissions.

On the other hand, with a well marketed product, the sales pitch comes down to highlighting some specific features like cost or service. The customer may already be convinced about quality, integrity, and benefits of buying the product or service, which makes a huge difference.

The same holds true for fundraising professionals who without branding have to sell an institution or cause, but when properly marketed it comes down to the pitch for money. One fundraiser told me that if the prospective donor does not know anything about the cause, “I first have to sell myself and then go on to sell the institution I represent.” What the fundraiser said about selling himself is what makes the challenge of relying purely on sales even more daunting. Not only does the salesman have to make a case for the product, he must also establish his own integrity.

The best marketing and sales efforts need to always be in sync with one another. The effective salesman requires well crafted materials that will help in the sales effort. The fundraising professional needs great descriptive material to properly sell the institution or cause.

The food company client had no intention of investing in marketing materials even as he decided that hiring a salesman would take precedent over a marketing program. He seriously believed that the salesman would use his experience and what he called “gift for gab” to win him many accounts. But the salesman soon realized that in a changing world that was increasingly focused on marketing and technology, even the best salespeople needed to somehow take advantage of marketing opportunities. This was particularly true in the highly competitive food industry.

The insurance salesman actually had some additional insights into the synergy between marketing and sales. In working for one of the large insurance companies, he had the advantage of having the marketing done for him. He pointed out that “knowing that I will have all the marketing support I need enabled me to focus on the quality of my sales efforts.”

It is extremely important that when a company has both a marketing program and a sales effort that the two work hand in hand. Eli, a salesman for medical equipment, used materials that were developed by the parent company. Over time, he found that the materials did not exactly fill his needs and he began to develop his own material on his Apple computer. When the company learned of his actions, he was sharply reprimanded for deviating from “the look we project throughout the country.” Eli fired back, pointing out that the materials did not address common questions of doctors and other personnel. He pointed out that competing materials were far more concise and had better graphics. Fortunate for Eli, the bosses listened and eventuality consulted with him prior to developing new materials.

In the final analysis, anything that helps move a product from manufacturer to end user is part of marketing and that obviously includes sales.

Out of the Box is a collection of strategic marketing articles that Lubicom has published on various topics, trends and ideas in the marketing world. The articles have been published in the Hamodia weekly newspaper circulated on three continents to a readership of well over 100,000.

The name, "Out of the Box" is a term used frequently in business nowadays to describe creative thinking that is not the norm. It is meant to help a business pull away from the pack or separate oneself from the competition. It is to some extent fraught with risk, simply because it is not the run of the mill thinking, but it is at the same time the key to reaching the next opportunity.