Last week I asked my community of business contacts -- or "tribe" as Seth Godin describes it -- what their opinion of the difference between sales and marketing was.  The range of answers surprised me.  Some made me laugh.  Others were quite serious.

•  Sales focuses on more specific solutions. How certain products fit and answer certain situations and problems to answer specific customers' needs. Marketing focuses on more general solutions; How those same products fit and answer more situations and problems faced by groups of customers and how to communicate the benefits of using those products to meet those needs
  
• Marketing gets the word out. Sales closes the deal and brings the money in.
  
• Whether it is a sales representative and/or sales department, sales usually is the first and sometimes the only point of direct contact to establish, develop, build relationships and rapport with prospective and existing customers and decision makers. Sales is customer-driven and having skill sets and/or knowledge in customer relationship development/management, presentation, finance, negotiations, and closing the sale, just to name a few, is good to have.
  
  Marketing on the other hand support sales. Someone in this role may never come into direct contact with the customer, however, plays a major role in assisting sales in targeting and reaching customers by positioning, promoting and advertising the company and its products and services.
  
• Marketing is emotional, sales is financial.
  
•  Marketing makes the phone ring, sales answers the phone and solves the problem.
  
• Sales is the end to the means; marketing is the means to the end. The sales manager can sell widgets, but he/she won't know how many widgets to order without marketing.

To read all 54 answers to this question, check out this link to the answers to "What's your opinion of the difference between sales and marketing?" at my LinkedIn account.  If  you're trying to create more sales and hone your marketing efforts, I think you'll find some interesting concepts here with all

About Chris Brown: Since 1998 when she started her marketing firm. Chris has helped small and medium sized companies with improve their marketing to get better sales results. For 17 years prior to that, she helped large Fortune 500 companies with their marketing efforts. She likes making a difference and sharing her knowlege.