Sales And Marketing
Distinguish between the marketing concept and the selling concept.
The selling concept strives to turn products into cash for the business, while the marketing concept strives to meet customer needs through the product itself.
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The marketing concept asserts that businesses are required to focus on the consumers' needs and wants so they can offer products or services that will satisfy these needs better than the competition. The marketing concept brings to the fore the principle of competitive advantage and superior offerings. This concept was developed because with time, consumers grew to be more discerning and selective about their purchase decisions. In this regard businesses invested in strategies that would provide them with information about what the consumer needs prior to product development.
The selling concept, on the other hand, asserts that consumers need to be influenced in order to buy the products on offer through promotional campaigns. The focus of this concept is directed towards turning products into cash for the business.
In summary, the differences between the two are;
- The selling concept focuses on the needs of the seller while the marketing concept focuses on the needs of the buyer
- The selling concept works to turn products into cash while the marketing concept works to satisfy the customers' needs through the product
- In the selling concept, competition is predominantly centered on sales while in the marketing concept the competition is centered on consumer satisfaction
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Selling concept is used when a company wants to get rid of its inventory, irrespective of customer needs. To achieve this, the company will use aggressive marketing, discounts, strong publicity, etc. A good example is insurance. The emphasis is on getting the sale volumes, rather than building long term customer relationships. The company generates profits by selling the commodity and the price is determined by the cost incurred by the company. Generally, the company will use existing technology and services and sell them by aggressive marketing. This approach is a short term method to achieve targets.
Marketing concept, on the other hand, relies on customer needs and emphasizes customer satisfaction, thereby hoping to build long-term relations. Here, the product is manufactured as per the needs of the customer and the company tries to be as innovative as possible (to stay ahead of competition). The customer decides the price (how much money is the customer planning to obtain this product or service?, etc.) and this price will determine the cost of the product. This long-term strategy relies on innovation. All the departments of the company work in conjunction to bring out a product that will, hopefully, satisfy the customer, unlike selling concept, where departments work in isolation.
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The best way to distinguish between these two concepts is to say that the marketing concept is more oriented towards helping the customer whereas the selling concept is more oriented towards helping the seller.
In the selling concept (which was a more popular concept a few decades ago), the idea was to take a product that already existed and figure out how best to sell it. This meant that the firm's only real goal was to persuade customers to buy whether the product really fit their needs or not.
In the marketing concept, this is reversed. The firm tries to find out what customers wants and then goes out and attempts to provide a product that will fill the need. This is, as you can see, much more beneficial to the customer.