"If the prospect understood the proposition.....?

"If the prospect understood the proposition, he would not have to be sold; he would come to buy." --John H. Patterson

Interested in comments to that quote. -Gary A Boye

I agree and also disagree with this statement...Is that possible?? :) I think if the Salesperson understood the needs of the prospect you wouldn't have to sell him on the product! He would come to buy. Just a small tweak but my 2 cents! -mtgroseth

If the salesperson understood the needs of the customer.....he would be a 'marketer'

Great marketers never need to sell anything. They present a great solution to a target audience, provide an easy method of purchase....and the customer 'buys'

And d'ya know what? I'm not being ironic or trying to put a spin on anything.....it's just a fact. -helisell

Can you clarify the context of "marketer" as you use it? Do you mean a person in sales who markets effectively? Or do you mean a person uninvolved in selling and assigned to marketing responsibilities? Or something else? -Gary A Boye

Hi Gary....

Well I guessed you'd bite ;0)

I've struggled with understanding the concepts of 'marketing' and 'selling' for years and started to see the light only recently (over the last 5 or 6 years).

I think the aim of both is about the same (profitable revenue in exchange for product) but the means of achieving the aim is vastly different.

I try to imagine the world's most comprehensive, all encompassing sales presentation being dropped at the feet of a target (in terms of their needs) audience....as a pretty well one-way conversation (i.e. just us imparting information to them)......as 'marketing' and....(pause for breathe)

the other thing (i.e. a real live flesh and blood encounter with a potential customer) where they are permitted to be party to the conversation, and have the ability to answer back, object, ask questions...and generally otherwise obstruct (tongue in cheek here) us the 'person'...as 'selling'.

I think they are worlds apart (Mars and Venus) in terms of their understanding of each other.

Trouble is.....there are very few 'great' marketers. I mean so few that most people wouldn't be able to spot one....even if she/he fell on top of them.

Google are 'great' marketers. (they understand customers needs)

The guy who works in my local mobile phone shop is a 'terrible' salesperson. (I don't think he even knows what 'qualification' means....(Oh and the shop owners are no good at marketing either) -helisell

Ahh...the most underused and vitally important word in these threads--coversation.

As in "sales conversation."

A while ago I said this on my blog, only partially tongue in cheek:

I've decided to take matters into my own hands. I am now going to, once and for all, offer the true definition of marketing--something you can chew on. Mark this calendar date, because a lot of people are going to take credit for it.

• Marketing is the opening strategy of selling things, a preamble to a given sales process, with the purpose of creating differences, or series of differences, so that the sales process can be developed with these facts, and, hopefully, the differences will be favorable.

Okay, so you have to read it several times. Think of the time you spent getting an MBA.

-Gary A Boye

Sorry Gary,

That is only 'A' definition not 'THE' definition.

I 'market' regularly to around 100,000 subscribers
on my mailing list.

This is no 'pre-amble'....this is simply a marketing message.
No two way conversation.....just words from me.

What I do cannot possibly fit into the heading of 'selling' and
yet it generates 'profitable revenue'.

If that's not marketing then I don't know what it is.......
yet it doesn't fit your 'definitive' definition at all.

There is a 'branch' of marketing that fits your definition
b ut truly 'great' marketing goes a LOT further. -helisell

I can see how this discussion could spin off in a number of directions depending on the situation. For instance, in low involvement decisions (an example might be grocery items) this statement tends to be reasonable. However, in high involvement decisions (an example might be real estate) that statement does not tend to hold water. -Jeff Blackwell