Monday, December 29, 2008

Getting a Grip on Both Sales and Marketing - - Profit Pointers=?ISO-8859-1?B?gSAgIA==?=Curriculum, Issue 26


            Christine Harvey is the Author of 6 Business and Leadership Books published in 25 languages by 48 publishers worldwide,
                including international best seller ‘In Pursuit of Profit.’


(For application of these principles to:  business, real estate, network marketing, personal development, see APPLICATION TIPS below.)

Hi All,

First I want to wish you all the best of holiday joy!!!

    Here it is – almost 2009 and time to start thinking of your income goals for next year.

Where better to start than mastering Sales and Marketing? In my 30 years of consulting in this area, with large companies and small, one of the biggest misconceptions is in this area. Directors, managers and business owners alike, misunderstand the difference between Sales and Marketing – thus are unable to get the results they need.

Let’s look at the differences, then see how to approach them for success.

See if you can spot what differences in mentality are needed to do both jobs successfully...

SALES Functions:
1. Presenting to Customers
2. Closing the Sale
3. Getting the Order
4. Controlling the Sales Force if any
5. Giving product development input

MARKETING Functions:
1. Market Research
2. Identifying Customer Groups
3. Generating Leads
4. Advertising, promotion, developing the presentation material & website promotion
5. Giving product development input

When you browse the two lists above, you might notice two distinct differences:

First, the Sales list involves more interaction with the customer, ie more verbal skills, whereas Marketing involves more desk research, design and numeric calculation.

Second, the Sales list requires an ‘Act Now’ approach, whereas the Marketing list requires a longer term strategic approach.

What if you, as the boss, tries to combine both into one job? Are you likely to find one person who has the personality to do both both?

Or if you are doing both, does it help you to break down the job as above.? Perhaps by doing so, you’ll be able to look at the task differently, and send some of it off to a freelancing specialist. Thus you’ll attain much higher success.

APPROACH FOR SUCCESS...

3 MINUTE ACTION TIP:  Break down the 2 functions in your mind. If you manage employees, think about their personalities and see where you can shift functions to suit their personalities better. You don’t have to assign tasks strictly as in the lists above. You can ‘mix and match’ to suit the skill set you employ. If you are doing it all yourself, fine. But see where you can hire freelancers in your area of weakness until you can learn those functions. Or do a trade with a business acquaintance who has expertise you need.

All best,
Christine Harvey

APPLICATION TIPS:

Business and sales, Do this to increase your business.

Real estate investment, Do this to improve your results.

Network marketing, Do this to bring in more team members and improve team results.

Personal/ leadership development, Do this to improve your results on any goal.

REFERENCE RESOURCE: Chapter 20, Pages 169-176,  In Pursuit of Profit, by Christine Harvey - an international best selling training tool, used by corporations around the world to improve results instantly.

About the Author: Christine Harvey is the author of six international marketing and leadership books now published in 25 languages by 48 publishers, including ‘In Pursuit of Profit.’ She was the first woman and first American elected to Chair a London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a business start-up initiative launched by Prince Charles. She served as Director on the International Board of Zonta, with 36,000 members in 62 countries, as well as two venture capitol boards – one in the UK and one in the US. She’s been honored to address two Parliaments of the world on the ‘Privatization of Industry,’ and ‘Policy for the Growth of Private Industry.’ She has been interviewed by the media in dozens of countries. Her company trains people in sales, motivation, management and presentations with persuasion - in America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Contact ChristineHarvey@ChrisitneHarvey.com with any questions you might have or ways we can serve you.


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