Difference Between Marketing & Sales

Marketing and Sales are both activities aimed at increasing revenue. They are so closely intertwined that people often don’t realize the difference between the two. Indeed, in small organizations, the same people typically perform both sales and marketing tasks. Nevertheless, marketing is different from sales and as the organization grows, the roles and responsibilities become more specialized.

Comparison Chart

	Marketing	Sales
Approach	Determines future needs and has a strategy in place to meet those needs for the long term relationship.	Makes the customer demand match the products the company currently offers.
Process	One to Many	Usually One to One
Focus	Fulfill customer's wants and needs through products and/or services the company can offer.	Fulfill sales volume objectives
Horizon	Longer term	Short term
Scope	Identifying customer needs (research), creating products to meet those needs, promotions to advertise said products.	Once a product has been created for a customer need, persuade the customer to purchase the product to fulfill her needs
Strategy	Pull	Push
Priority	Marketing shows how to reach to the Customers and build long lasting relationship	Selling is the ultimate result of marketing.
Identity	Marketing targets the construction of a brand identity so that it becomes easily associated with need fulfillment.	Sales is the strategy of meeting needs in an opportunistic, individual method, driven by human interaction. There's no premise of brand identity, longevity or continuity. It's simply the ability to meet a need at the right time.