Defining Sales and Marketing
Sales include “operations and activities involved in promoting and selling goods or services.”
Marketing includes “the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.”
These statements highlight two aspects of the sales and marketing relationship:
- The responsibilities of each group are closely linked.
- Marketing has a vital role in supporting sales.
In practice, the marketing department tends to bear responsibility for raising awareness about a product and generating high-quality leads for a sales team. A “marketing-qualified lead” is a lead that meets certain criteria set forth by a marketing department. A “sales-qualified lead” adds to the initial stipulations set forth by marketing to help find the highest value prospects.
At times, a sales department may complain that marketing leads do not meet the standard set forth by the sales team. However, the potential for conflict also represents an opportunity for collaboration. The more effectively the two teams can share ideas, the better aligned their definitions are likely to be.