Difference between Sales Management and Marketing Management

Key difference: Sales Management mainly deals with managing a company’s sales operations. Sales management is mainly responsible for meeting the sales targets, hiring sales staff, training sales staff, preparing sales reports, order collections, stock checking, managing retailers and whole sellers, etc. Marketing management mainly focuses on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Marketing management is responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand.

 In order to address the difference between Sales Management and Marketing Management, the different between sales and marketing must first be addressed. Marketing and sales are two different things that are part of a company’s strategy. Sales is quite straight forward. It incorporates actually selling the company’s products or service to its customers. Whereas, marketing has a much bigger scope; it incorporates how a company places itself in the market and in the eyes of its customers and potential customers. It also incorporates what products the company sells. In short, marketing ensures that sales take place; that the customers are confident enough to buy from the company. Hence, it can also be said that sales is in fact a part of marketing.

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, so that the product or service sells. Its job is to attract the customers so that the sales team can sell the products. In order to do this effectively, marketing requires the 4 Ps, i.e. Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Marketing is the first and the broadest step to make sales effective.

Marketing has the goal of increasing the desirability and value of the product and of the company to the customer, as well as, increasing the number and engagement of interactions between potential customers and the organization.

Marketing includes consumer research, in order to identify the needs of the customers; product development which aims to design a product to meet those needs; and advertising the products to raise awareness, build the brand and to generate interest in the product. All of this eventually leads to a position where sales can happen. Sales is the actual selling of the product. The sales team has to directly interact with the customer and persuade them to buy the product.

Sales Management would of course be pertaining to sales, whereas Marketing Management would be pertaining to marketing. In small companies, the differentiation does not matter, as it most cases sales = marketing, and is handled by the same team. However, in big companies and corporations the distinction is quite important and necessary.

Sales Management mainly deals with managing a company’s sales operations. Sales management is mainly responsible for meeting the sales targets, hiring sales staff, training sales staff, preparing sales reports, order collections, stock checking, managing retailers and whole sellers, etc. Sales Management is an important business function as net sales through the sale of products and services is most important source of revenue for any company.

 Marketing Management, on the other hand, is even more important, as without an effective marketing strategy, it would be very difficult for the sales team to do its’ jobs. Marketing management mainly focuses on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Marketing management is responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand.

A Marketing Manager has to find prospective consumers, study the consumers’ needs and wants, develop new products, developing marketing and launching strategies, develop and manage promotions, make advertisements, develop and promote new brands, collect and analyze consumer feedback, implement feedback, etc.

It can be said that marketing management is responsible for a person going to a particular store, whereas sales management is the reason that the person buys a product from that store. For example: I went to Burberry to get a jacket as believe they are currently at the top of the market (Marketing). The sales person convinced me to buy this jacket from their new line (Sales).

Both Sales and Marketing Management teams are important. They are interrelated and interdependent on each other. It is only by successful implementation of both, will the company flourish.

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