Marketing And Selling Go Hand-In-Hand

Marketing is not the same as selling. Selling is not the same as marketing. Knowing the difference between the two helps salespeople gain an advantage in their sales goals. Selling new clients or creating ongoing sales from past clients is enhanced by understanding how marketing and selling work together. Marketing doesn’t make the sale, salespeople do, but good marketing can help increase sales.

Marketing’s goal is to prepare the shopper for the salespeople. Marketing puts the benefits and advantages of a caterer’s products and services in the mind of the shopper in a positive way. Marketing also provides the shopper with a reason to take action and contact the caterer. Marketing is what gets the shopper to call or email your company in the first place; the shopper gets the caterer’s marketing messages before talking or meeting with you.

The goal of selling is to stop the shopper from going to other caterers. Selling happens when the shopper is in close contact with the caterer on the phone or in person. In the selling process, you give the shopper reasons to select your catering team over the competition. When a shopper gives a deposit to the caterer, it is a result of the combination of great marketing and intelligent selling.

The salespeople in your company should be involved in the creation of any marketing concepts, programs or materials. Marketers create the first messages, but salespeople touch the prospects and complete the process. Combining forces makes both more likely to succeed. The biggest mistake when marketing catering is giving information about your company without focusing on what benefits and advantages you can give the buyer.

For example: You may market your great food or your professional staff, without tying that to how great food or staff benefits the buyer. A stronger pitch is “great food that will excite your guests” or “professional staff, which lets you be a guest at your own event.” These kinds of statements make the benefit for buyers clear as they read or hear your marketing.

Nothing is more powerful in marketing catering than letting shoppers read or hear what others think of you. You can tout your greatness all you want, but most prospects will simply dismiss your statements as marketing fluff. When a prospect reads a testimonial, signed by a person who has already spent money on your catering, they view it as truth. If you use testimonials, your sales will soar.

My newest clinics – Sales, Marketing & Management!

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Ft. Lauderdale – July 16, 17 & 18

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