Which Is More Important to Your Small Business: Marketing or Sales?

Which is more important, small business marketing or small business sales?
What percent of sales should marketing bring in?

The marketing department of course thinks they are the most important. Or talk to a sales person and they think marketing is a bunch of silliness and that the real work is closing the deal, or selling. Who is right?

To grow your business you need both marketing and of course sales.

Your small business marketing creates the context for sales. Marketing gets your prospect’s attention, helps your prospect understand how your products and services can help them. The better your marketing, the easier it is to close the sale.

Imagine you were in sales and you had the choice between making cold calls all day long or making follow up calls to prospects who had already indicated an interest in your product and were ready to buy. Which would you want to do? Of course following up on hot leads is far preferable to making cold calls. You’d have a lot more success and sales.

No marketing and you’ll have to work hard to close a few sales.

With effective marketing you’ll generate a flood of leads and close a ton more sales.

So which is it, marketing or sales. To grow your small business you need both!
– Charlie Cook