Sales versus marketing
If money comes into a business, it is sales and if it goes out of business, it is marketing. This is one simple but a most important difference between sales and marketing. As an entrepreneur, I made a few mistakes within the first month of launching Nurture Talent Academy. We gave an advertisement worth Rs 20,000 in a leading newspaper, and guess what, just one person called as a response to seeing that print advertisement. That was the first and most important lesson I learned — you cannot throw money and get customers.
Rancho or Chatur
If you have seen the movie, 3 Idiots, you must have come across two completely opposite characters — Rancho and Chatur. Rancho is the practical, innovative and friendly guy, while Chatur believes in rote learning and is self-centered. This leads to many funny situations. For example, Chatur makes a mockery of himself when one word in his speech gets replaced (chamatkaar or miracle with balatkaar or rape). Chatur deploys all tactics to keep his competitors down, instead of trying to get himself up. Rancho, on the other hand, is there for his friends when they need him. As a student, you have to chose your path in life during college itself. Who do you want to be? Rancho or Chatur? The decisions you make now, will help shape your career and your future.
Place it before promoting it
Imagine you created a great looking website, but forgot to put a ‘Buy Now’ button or did not take that payment gateway licence required for your website. You go ahead with marketing it — make Facebook pages, buy ‘likes’, give ads on Google, write blogs and are able to get traffic to your website. Customers come to your website, are really impressed with the design, your products and want to buy it. What next? They cannot find a buy button, they do not know how and where to make a payment and leave after getting frustrated. They will never come back and even tell 10 friends that they did not like your venture. What was your mistake? You did the marketing without doing sales.
In the retail world, there is a rule: First place it, then promote it! If you are planning to start a venture, make a note of the difference between sales and marketing, and relentlessly work towards creating value for your customers as well as yourself. Remember sales and marketing are two sides of the same coin.
— amit.grover@nurturetalent.com