THE MISTAKE TOO MANY MANAGERS MAKE

Every manager knows that the first item on the P & L Statement is Gross Revenues/Sales. The mistake that too many managers make is the simplistic assumption that if selling is the lifeblood of the business, then the entire company must become salespeople.

The reality is that while gross revenue is one of the most important measures of business success, the sales strategy and personal selling are at the lowest level of the company’s strategic hierarchy. As important as the tail may be, the tail must not wag…

THE SALES FOCUS VS THE MARKETING FOCUS

“Selling focuses on the needs of the seller, marketing on the needs of the buyer. Selling is preoccupied with the seller’s need to convert his product into cash; marketing with the idea of satisfying the needs of the customer by means of the product and the cluster of things associated with creating, delivering, and finally consuming it.” — Theodore Levitt (1960).

THE PURPOSE OF MARKETING

It was Sergzio Zyman (2000) who said: “The sole purpose of marketing is to get more people to buy more of your product, more often, for more money. You don’t make any money until you sell the stuff, and you can’t sell the stuff until you’ve gotten people to want it. And that’s what marketing does.”

Okay, so maybe you don’t know Zyman, but surely you know Peter Drucker, the father of business consulting. Here’s what Drucker has to say on the subject of marketing and sales: “Because the purpose of a business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

THE GREAT ILLUSION AND REALITY OF THE MARKETPLACE

Finally, a word from Taylor and Watts (1998) on the illusion and reality of the marketplace. “The great illusion of the marketplace is a simple one: that it is supply-based; that those who produce and those who create sustain the market; that if you build it, they will come. The great reality of the marketplace is simpler still: nobody who sells is in control. If you build it they will come only if they want to, and if they decide to leave, there is nothing – not cutting your prices, not increasing your supply, not getting on your knees and begging for sales (or offering loyalty cards). The great reality of the marketplace is that it is demand-based. Customers own it lock, stock and barrel.”

AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE SALES FOCUS

So what’s our alternative to developing the sales focus throughout the company?

1. Get the corporate and business strategies right. That should be at the heart of everything that everyone does.

2. Get the overall marketing strategy and the integrated marketing communication strategy right. Critical to this process is the pull marketing communication strategy which seeks to create initial interest among potential buyers, getting them to demand the offering and ultimately pulling it through the marketing channel. Notice how Mac Stores are always crowded? That’s because Apple pulls us in like they’ve got a magnet. And that’s what Drucker says is the purpose of marketing. Making selling superfluous.

3. Teach the customer-facing people to become micro marketers who implement the company’s marketing strategy, one customer at at time. Now that’s how you get a competitive advantage from your sales and customer service people!

Speaking of customer service and sales people: what value are they really creating for your company from their own skill and assiduity? Can we discuss that in this space next week?

Written by Herman D Alvaranga, president of the Caribbean School of Sales Management, first in the region for sales and marketing education, training, consulting and research. E-mail him at hdalvaranga@cssm.edu.jm