What is Sales – Creative Salesmanship
This entry is a part of “What is sales? – A blog book“. Read more about it here.
Marketing & Sales:
In order to clearly understand the role of Sales in Marketing, it is important to know what is Marketing and what is Sales.
Marketing: For many, there is hardly any difference between Marketing & Sales and both are one on the same. So it is necessary to know the complex and versatile areas of marketing before getting on to sell.
When someone decides to start an industry or business engaged in manufacturing, trading or servicing activity, he would first try to crystallise his ideas through an initial PROJECT PLANNING and perhaps study the pros and cons of the project by preparing the project report and feasibility report to substantiate the project viability. This is where the marketing function actually begins.
When the basic project plans are ready, in most cases, an entrepreneur may like to convince himself that there would be adequate potential for the goods manufactured or traded before venturing into the project. He would then conduct MARKET RESEARCH/MARKET SURVEY in order to find the market potential for the product through DEMAND ANALYSIS and acceptance of the product or services either through OPINION SURVEY or by conducting a SAMPLE SURVEY. In the process of Market Research, one can collect several data, both published and through data banks, to get detailed information on installed capacity of other existing units manufacturing similar products, utilised capacity or actual production/output by those units, total market demand for the product to be able to exactly analyse the gap between the demand and supply which would clearly enlighten the scope for selling the product after manufacturing. Market Research would also help plan the production level in the initial stages and to prepare relevant budgets.
It would also be possible to get detailed information on competitors and competitors’ products, their prices, strategies in marketing, distribution, etc. during the Market Research programme which will help plan or restructure the company’s own strategies and plans to suit demanding market situations, implied or based on customer needs. Market Research is a continuous process and can also be performed at various levels and for different reasons. Market Research may also be conducted prior to launching a new product, to test the impact or customer reaction to changes in product attributes like product appearance, colour of ingredients, taste, smell, fragrance, packing, packaging, etc., to try customer acceptance of a new product or concept, to check brand preferences, to verify and confirm market share of the company’s or competitors’ products, etc. Market Research plays a key role for establishing customer feedback, which helps in decision making at large.
Though manufacturing is yet another key area like Marketing, Marketing plays important role in the process of manufacturing. It is Market Research & Demand Forecast that help in production planning to decide on the quantity and specifications of products to be manufactured and made available for sales. Both manufacturing and Marketing have to work in tandem since the manufacturing outfit should be in a position to meet the demands of the market and the marketing team should be able to sell the manufactured goods for faster liquidity.
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