₦airaland Forum

Marketing and sales have always been misconstrued even by practitioners. Why has this been so? I believe it is partly so because the fast paced and ever changing market space have constantly blurred the line of differentiation.The difference between marketing and sales can be likened to the difference between a vision statement and a mission statement.Just as the vision statement drives the mission statement so also does marketing drives sales. I will try to throw some light on the differences in this article and hope that it will be more visible to you the differences and similarities between marketing and sales.

Take marketing as the whole picture. Marketing involves identifying,meeting and surpassing customers' needs and expectations at a profit while sales is the actual action employed when convincing and canvassing people to buy your products and services. Sales can be achieved through direct contact with customers through the sales personnel on the field or in your offices depending on your distribution channels. Sales can also be generated through advertising, promotion and cold calls. All these activities wound up together is what is called marketing.

Marketing precedes sales and if your marketing is faulty chances are that your sales will be sloppy. When you position your products and services and locate your business offices strategically to get close to your customers' reach you are actually carrying out marketing activities. When you engage prospects in cold calls and visit customers or use direct mail services,send brochures and catalogs you are trying to make sales hoping that the whole marketing activities will eventually help generate sales. This is the symbiotic nature of marketing and sales.In today's business, understanding the customer,market environment, government regulations amongst other things can help sharpen your marketing activities. While no business survives without sales, it is important to note that marketing will lead to product development and sales will lead to revenue generation. It is also important to note that your sales team can make great inputs into your marketing activities, mostly by bringing back feedback to the organization as they are constantly in touch with the customers.

This is why it is important that every business must employ competent sales personnel that can understand and interpret marketing plans to enable them successfully drive sales activities. Market planners must ensure that the sales team are involved in developing marketing plans for developing new products and reviving existing products. Despite the seemingly blurring of the functions of marketers and sales people in today's business climate,it is important to note that they are entirely different responsibilities though both roles can be played together. Selling is the last thing done after the products have been made available. Marketing is the first thing to be done before actually selling takes place. This calls for you to get your marketing right and you can be rest assured that your sales team will bring in revenues that will make you go smiling to the bank. I see you on top of your riches.

Kolawole Kehinde is the Principal Consultant at Rosewindow Consulting and currently lives in Abuja. He can be reached on kola@rosewindowconsulting.com kolayore@yahoo.com 2348055159014 for speaking events and seminars on personal development, time management and marketing business services in the 21st century.

Guys its been over a year I started this topic and your advises were frank and honest. I appreciate you all. My marriage is over two years now and we are waxing strong.I have been tempted a lot these past years and have ran like a kid. I discovered that when two people decide to come together they do so at a great risk and also compromise. I also know that you have to daily fight temptation if you socialise a lot I.e. Drinking and partying because you will always find willling girls and guys as the case may be. Also friends should be choosen with caution because a lot of people lack morals. Above all love prevails and it goes beyond saying but also doing

Hi nairalanders,I would love to share this wonderful piece with you. This is a new article from my blog and I would appreciate some comments. Here is the direct link to my blog http://howtoinvestyourtimeproductively..com/2013/01/do-not-give-up_19.html

The article is provided below:

Do Not Give Up
Robert Donovan a writer in his very own words said “giving up is the ultimate tragedy”. This implies that most of us are likely to have tragic ends just because we give up easily on our dreams. When we are scolded, we give up. When we don’t make an interview, we give up. Even in our homes, we give up so easily on our chores, husbands, wives and even children. To most people giving up is easier than continuing heading on towards our goals. Don’t give up on your plans. It takes pain to achieve success. Don’t give up on your dreams. Develop a thick skin of resistance and know that it is the steadfast only that finishes the race and not the participants. Determine to follow through your plans no matter what.

Sometimes it is consistency and our perseverance that determine our success. Success itself does not happen in an instance but it is achieved through dint of hard work, persistence, prayer and good will. Nothing comes easy, even putting this piece together sure did come at a price. You need to be diligent and consistent in your plans and activities if you want to reach your goals. The inability to coordinate your self may likely be one of the many reasons why you probably give up on your plans. If you fail to plan, you are likely going to give up on your dreams so often because you’ve not even planned ideally. There has been no foundation so you should not be expecting the house to stand.
Don’t give up on your plans because if you did, you would have directly or indirectly affected your progress and may also be indirectly affecting numerous lives which ought to have benefited from your plans and dreams. There are so many reasons why you cannot afford to give up, chief of which according to Benjamin Franklin,is that “lost time is never found again”. Let me take a moment to shed more light why you should never give up:


Always know that success is a result of hard work. Forget about the lottery now and let’s talk about real work. If you want to make a mark in your field or calling, maybe it’s time to put in more time. Move away from the level of wishing to the level of doing. To become an expert takes consistent practice. In our age it is mostly said more like a cliché that one should work ‘smart and not hard”. You need to be smart on your job but you sincerely need to work more than the average. Working hard increases your chances of continuous accomplishment while being smart on the job makes your tasks easier. You need to develop skills that can make your hard work noticeable.

Also know that becoming successful does not come cheap. While it is important that being a success at what one does is crucial, staying successful should be paramount in your mind. This is one simple reason why companies recreate themselves. Innovation, research and development are some of the strategies companies use to sustain their edge and competitiveness in the market. Very few people will be rich while staking bets or playing the lottery. This is a fact. To become rich and wealthy you need to become diligent at what you do and take hold of opportunities when they present themselves. Most people try to wait on luck as against taking their chances. It is important to have your resources in place before you embark on your plans. It is also impossible to have everything you need to succeed in place all at once. However knowing all you need to succeed or function effectively and efficiently on a task is important so that you will be able to determine your true position and move steadily towards your desired goals.
Here are a few tips on overcoming giving up on your plans. These are tips you should use when you start to lose steam and are gradually dropping the idea of moving on with your plans.


Re-appraise your plans immediately. There is need to have a sense of urgency in self appraisal or an overall appraisal of your team when you start to notice dwindling outcomes or slow movement towards your goals. Self appraisal is the most effective form of appraisal and should be done periodically to ascertain your true position in every endeavor you embark upon. Are your plans dynamic? Do you carry your team along when developing your goals and focus? Be inclusive in information gathering and agreement with your team. It pays when all agree to the same focus and direction. While it is good to have a detailed plan, it is also important to note that times change and so does situations and circumstances. We should continually be guided with the current realities and thereon move towards our expectations. When we don’t have expectations, chances are that we will give up on whatever we do or are doing.

Revise your strategies. Strategies are coordinated action steps that are capable of taking you towards your desired goals if they are well utilized. They however are not flawless and it is on this premise that you should constantly revise them if they seem not to be achieving the desired results or your expectations. It is important to note that every action we take will either move us closer or farther away from our goals. I believe that it is time you reappraise your strategies to determine if they still meet the current realities of your situation.

Keep on pushing on. After working on your plans once again, it is time to pick up and start all over again. Remember that tough times don’t last but tough people do. Thomas Edison kept on trying with the electricity bulb until he got it right. You can get it right too, just keep on keeping on.

Develop your skin of resistance. Interestingly this will be the second time I will write about this in a single message. This shows the importance of not giving up. Boost your self esteem and confidence by doing what you have agreed to do. Take action once again and put in your best one more time. See you on top of your riches.
Kolawole Kehinde

The question has been answered earlier on but let me enlighten you more.This is how it works ;staff (mostly marketers) are laid off and the vacancies are almost immediately occupied by supposed value adding existing or new staff with promises of exciting businesses and depposits. Your survival basically is a function of 1. The profitability of your branch 2. The deposits and the portfolio you manage and 3. Your disposition towards your job. No stories,just bring money and you are free.

I have not cheated on her before at least since we have been married which is over a year now and the bar is not a brothel. Of course you and i know that there are always girls at the bar all over the world be it swanky or claasy. Secondly,I am sure she didnt know about the joint. The joint is just on the street and sincerely we just moved into the neighborhood. The catch was just that as i was locking my car and getting out so was she driving by. I have asked a few people about what transpired and to be honest with you, their responses were just like you mentioned( i Mean reassuring her that I love her to death...which I have always tried to do. Its not easy doing that all the time when your wife can be petty or blow trivia issues out of proportion). I have had my past life and weve talked about so many issues regarding being faithful and all that. Her linking me with a random woman in a car was just totally outlandish and unfair. This is actually my first topic and i appreciate your comments. However its really uncalled for being uneccesarily suspicious and using the " but you know I am a woman and i need assurance" cover to want to police a guy. Dont guys need assurances too that come what may i think you cant cheat on me? If you have the mind set that all men her cheats from day one...how can you help that kind of person change their opinions because they can reel out several instances where or how men have cheated or acted wrongly even as close to their fathers or brothers. The truth is that cheating is not a gender thing. It is a personal thing. Thanks anyways but I will appreciate more comments.

I stopped over to have a drink very close to my house. As I was packing, my wife drove by and had this funny look on her face and went off. When I got home she asked me who I was going to her house? I didn't get it because it was a bar I was going to. She insisted that she saw me park and noticed I was looking at a woman who was driving into her compound who her kids came to open the gate for. It was then that I remembered that I saw one car and a woman in the car horning by her gate. I was not even near her nor was I even looking at her. I thought it was a joke until she flared up. I wondered. If I was with a girl would it be the woman who was just entering into her house opposite the bar? She claimed she saw me enter the house with the womann that was when I got pissed threw the food away. If she said she didn't like me drinking at the bar that's one thing. Why would you accuse me of entering with one random woman who was just entering her house. I was really angry and sad. I just couldn't imagine why she acted like that or what can you say? Honest response please

I stopped over to have a drink very close to my house. As I was packing, my wife drove by and had this funny look on her face and went off. When I got home she asked me who I was going to her house? I didn't get it because it was a bar I was going to. She insisted that she saw me park and noticed I was looking at a woman who was driving into her compound who her kids came to open the gate for. It was then that I remembered that I saw one car and a woman in the car horning by her gate. I was not even near her nor was I even looking at her. I thought it was a joke until she flared up. I wondered. If I was with a girl would it be the woman who was just entering into her house opposite the bar? She claimed she saw me enter the house with the womann that was when I got pissed threw the food away. If she said she didn't like me drinking at the bar that's one thing. Why would you accuse me of entering with one random woman who was just entering her house. I was really angry and sad. I just couldn't imagine why she acted like that or what can you say? Honest response please

The Nigeria Civil Service is a shame. I helped my younger brother pick up the federal civil service form in ABuja and you could see the gross incompetence and sheer hatred the officers were exhibiting. These people would never do anything unless they are bribed and when their palms aren't greased they could make your life frustrating. The big question is how does it take the brain of a rocket scientist to disburse pension funds? It is quite sad and pathetic that these scams have been going on for a long time. Some people have vowed never to work with the civil service and stick to the private sector. I pray these looters are sent to jail. N25b can float a bank and employ at least 1000 people and you of course know the multiplier effect. These people need to do the time.

I think the situation has gotten out of hand. Move on dude. God sees you if you are good. As for the case,lets see where it ends