I am a Sales & Marketing Manager in Huvafen Fushi and I am mainly based on the island if not traveling for business. A friend actually wanted to know what is involved in my job role. She was also concerned why I have two parts in my job, “sales” and “marketing”.

Some people think both “sales” and “marketing” have same meanings and functions. If you also think the same, keep reading. Although both “sales ” and “marketing’ functions are critical in my job, both areas involve very distinct activities.

Sales – clearly this involves selling. In my case, direct sell to clients, tour operators, travel agents or any other prospect willing and capable of buying our products or services. There can be different methods or processes of selling but here I will highlight two methods.

• Personal – efforts to sell the property or service direct to clients. This method takes place mainly in Travel Trade Fairs, Consortium or Functions, visiting wholesale/retail partners etc, etc.
• Telephone/Email – efforts to sell the property or service without personally meeting with them. This method may take place anywhere as long as you have a mobile phone and internet connection.

Some keywords in the Sales function of my job are: – Sales Training, Leads and Prospects, Sales Calls on the Telephone, Sales Updates on Emails, Selling on the World Wide Web , Building Relationships and Understanding Customers, Writing and Proof Checking Brochures, Sales Presentations, Writing Sales Proposals, Sales Negotiations, Convincing the Customer or client, Closing the Sale, Measuring Sales Performance.

Marketing – this is a tricky one as most people think of Advertising and Promotion when they think of marketing. But there are many other methods or processes in marketing. If I try to detail all here, this post will be very long hence I leave it for another time. The definition of “marketing” as per American Marketing Association reads “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Some keywords in the Marketing function of my job are: Market Research, Planning Process, Market Positioning, Segmentation, Marketing Strategies, Public Relations, Pricing, Promotions, Special Offers, Advertising, Publicity, Marketing Goals, Evaluate, Monitor and Control.

So, next time if someone tells you that “sales” and “marketing” have the same meaning…tell them they are wrong, because they are!