Sales is called marketing in India – This is due to little or no awareness of what marketing is. Sales and marketing means the same thing to most people in India. You will notice that a majority of Indian companies call their sales persons as marketing professionals. Till recently, with protected markets and an economy controlled by licenses, the Indian market was a seller’s market. Companies were not required to do marketing.
Only off late, due to increased competition, customer awareness, and changing buyer preferences, companies have started realizing that increased production does not translate into higher sales. Since sales has been called as marketing in India, when a real position has been created it causes much confusion.
See what professionals do or don’t do in Sales, Marketing & Advertising Jobs.
| Job Functions |
Sales Professionals |
Marketing Professionals |
Advertising Professionals |
| Pursue prospects to buy a company’s products or services |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Personal sales targets |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Direct contact with customers /have personal sales targets |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Find needs/wants of customers |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Build new products by adding or changing product features |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Have product or segment targets & estimates size of market |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Create advertisement campaigns – radio/TV/print/web |
No |
Yes (coordinate) |
Yes (create) |
| Execute promotion plan & perform profitability analysis |
No |
Yes (design) |
Yes |