Marketing & Selling are so interrelated that we may think of the 2 activities as one in the same. Marketing professionals will quickly inform you that Marketing is not the same as Selling and Sales professionals will tell you that Selling is not the same as Marketing. One of the early lessons that new entrepreneurs learn (including yours truly) is the difference between Marketing and Selling.
Marketing is the set-up. Selling is the execution of the set-up. Marketing informs prospects of the value and benefits that can be realized by purchasing from You, Inc. (hiring or promoting you). Regardless of how well you adhere to the 6 Ps of Marketing that we addressed in our last edition, you must convince prospects to purchase (in other words, hire or promote you). New entrepreneurs discover the importance of Selling when they realize that they have no customers or contracts to do business despite great compliments on their product concepts and presentation of their marketing materials and websites.
C.J. Hayden, a popular speaker and business coach who helps business owners build their customer base, recommends a 4-step process in her book, Get Clients Now! This process, Universal Marketing Cycle, links Marketing and Selling as a continuous process.
- Fill the Pipeline
- Follow-up
- Present
- Close the Sale
Filling the pipeline is often referred to as prospecting by Sales professionals. For You, Inc., filling the pipeline is the identification of opportunities to sell your capabilities and skills to people who can hire or promote you. Sources of opportunities include:
- Networking
- Search firms
- Career Builders, Monster.com and other job listing websites
- Employment sections of newspapers and other publications
- Internal job postings within your company
- Job postings on the websites of other companies
Follow-up is the actions that you will take to connect you to the opportunities (e.g. applying). Networking may be the most time consuming means of identifying opportunities. However, networking is the most common vehicle for filling positions. Over 60% of positions are filled as a result of networking (Allison Doyle, Your Guide to Job Searching).
A key thing to remember is that networking is not effective without the follow-up that converts a contact into a connection. Connections move a contact established through networking along the path to a relationship. When you establish a relationship with someone, they are more likely to commit to help you. This help could include referrals to opportunities or to people who may know of opportunities and even recommendations to hiring decision-makers. George Fraser, well-known expert on networking, stresses the path to effective relationships in his book, Click. That path is Know, Like and Trust. Knowing you is a prerequisite for being comfortable with you (liking you). When people like you, they trust you. When they trust the association with you, they will help you.
Presentation includes informing people who can refer or recommend your personal brand (what you stand for, the value you can provide and what makes you unique), to decision makers or individuals who can influence a decision maker to consider you as a candidate for a position. (Personal Branding was addressed in the January 14 edition of From the Field).
Closing the sale is the interview with the decision maker and the follow-up to the interview. The successful outcome of the job interview, the decision to purchase your product (hire or promote you), will be based on how well you relate your capabilities and skills (your value or what you bring to the table) to the requirements and expectations of the position for which you are interviewing.
Another component of closing the sale is the follow-up to the interview. Follow-up can be a key factor in the hiring and selection decision. Many candidates miss the opportunity to sharpen their competitive edge versus their competitors (other individuals who interviewed for the position) by not executing follow-up actions such as sending a note thanking the interviewer for the opportunity to interview as well as thanking the person who served as the point of contact to coordinate the interview. The point of contact is often an administrative assistant to the decision maker. Administrative assistants are usually high in the trust zone of the Know, Like and Trust Path to executives and other decision makers. They often have more interaction with the decision maker than anyone else. People like to be recognized. The recognition (expression of appreciation) of the administrative assistant can result in a favorable comment about you to the decision maker, a drop from his/her cup of trust with the decision maker that may land on you.
Personal Marketing:
Having it (skills, qualifications and attributes) do not matter if the prospective buyer (people who can hire and promote you) is not aware of it.
Personal Selling: The prospective buyer will not purchase if your product is not presented directly to the buyer so that he/she can make a decision.
Linwood Bailey
Principal
Fields of Success
Career Management Partners
