That's Marketing!

As an international marketing and advertising professional, with an accumulated US$4 Billion in new sales accredited (in writing) to my efforts over 35 years, it saddens me to daily watch otherwise competent products, services, and companies fail or languish because they haven't figured out sales is not marketing.

Pure marketing is far more scientific and detail-oriented than sales; it's where you first think. Then you sequentially stage growth events to cascade one into another to produce sales. This creates value within heart of the customer-- a warm feeling of security-- who is then more willing to transfer money to you.

An overblown example perhaps, but to illustrate the differences between marketing and sales, say that you put a simple notice of your garage sale in the local paper one week prior (Advertising). Then you post 10 or 20 Day-glo signs-- all the same color-- with big letters and large arrows around the neighborhood two days earlier (Branding and Crowd Flow). Your items are laid out on waist-high tables, grouped, clearly marked color-tagged and ready for sale (Ergonomics). You might hand out fliers with layaway or financing for your bigger-ticket items like jet skis, cars, or furniture (Separate Business Units). Same-color Day-glo nametags would show who is in charge (Safe Passage) and empowered to negotiate (Admirable Organization). It wouldn't cost too much to offer small cups of lemonaide or a small cookie to everyone (Obligation Psychology), and it would cost nothing to play targeted music (Neuro-Linguistics) and post signs warning that everything must go at a certain time but reduced 30% during the last 30 minutes (Fear of Loss), or will be picked up by the Salvation Army in 30-minutes (Community Service and Public Relations).

"Sales" (strictly speaking) is just the moment you negotiate the price, close terms, and exchange money for the service you offer. Everything else is marketing, and market planning. With marketing planning you engineer the experience to be smooth, comfortable, reassuring, and rewarding. You know how one action will cascade into another, multiplying your efforts and maximizing your sales.

People respond to those things-- and they'll respond to your product or service, too.

(Not the point of my illustration, but I'd bet that your "take" at the end of the day would far exceed expectations, earning perhaps as much as 30% or 80% more than just your junk dumped on a lawn with a foreboding gaggle of vultures.)

I daily explain this difference to our advertising agency clients who say they want more... but often see sad faces. They don't want to do more than instantly jump to the money-taking. They want quick results-- piles of cash suddenly dumped into their hands-- and are focused on liberating dollars from their customers. Their interest does not extend to the longer process of creating value, follow-up or satisfaction maintenance, nor to creating relationships or repeat sales. They just want the money... NOW. "Pay me and then go away," they say.

Of all the tools in my 35 years of sales and marketing experience toolbox, creating a marketing plan that creates long-lasting value with the customer is the sharpest tool of all. That's marketing.

Cheers!