Sales & Marketing Manager Job Description

by M.A.Shafeeq

Sales and marketing managers focus primarily on sales management.

Sales and marketing are two different disciplines. Sales book new business and marketing creates strategies for product development, pricing, promotions and distribution. This process is often reversed in small companies with limited product lines or target customer profiles. In this case, one person often manages sales and marketing, with the emphasis on sales strategies supported by marketing activities limited to promotional efforts. If you see a job ad for a sales and marketing manager position, the job probably focuses on sales, and marketing activities such as advertising, promotions and social media campaigns are lesser parts of the job description.

Marketing Vs. Sales

Marketing is a varied discipline that can also include marketplace analysis, brand development, advertising, promotions, social media, public relations and sales. The first phase of marketing is research, analysis and planning, with advertising, PR, promotions and sales coming afterward. If a company has been around a few years and thoroughly understands its marketplace and customers, it might not need much marketing. For example, a company making and selling one or a few industrial cleaning supplies for a while probably does not need to research who its potential customers are, how to reach potential buyers and what to charge. The emphasis is on making sales calls and expanding market share. Non-sales marketing activities might be limited to running ads in trade publications, having booths at trade shows and running pricing specials.

Sales and Marketing Manager

A sales and marketing manager is usually a sales manager who also handles the few marketing duties a business needs. He might help create, proofread and approve ads and decide which magazines the company uses to advertise. He’ll choose which trade shows the company attends, which gifts to pass out at the booth, decide if the company hosts a cocktail party or sponsors a golf tournament and develops other promotions to keep the company in front of its specific audience. This person doesn’t need marketing, advertising, promotions, social media or a public relations background, instead using contractors or internal staff to execute these functions.

Sales Management

A sales and marketing manager develops annual sales strategies for a company. This includes setting sales goals, recommending whether the company will add or drop products and determining which products the company emphasizes based on ease of sale or profit margin. The sales manager hires and fires salespeople, trains them, assigns their territories, sets their quotas and monitors their activities. He sets their compensation levels, determines commission and bonus structures and creates contests to motivate the sales staff. A sales manager is often the top-selling salesperson at the company, or was the top salesperson before being promoted to management. Because of this valuable ability, he often must keep selling as part of his job. The sales manager works with accounting and shipping departments to ensure credit checks are done quickly, orders are filled soon after they are booked and product is shipped to customers in a timely fashion.

Marketing Management

The sales and marketing manager helps the sales team by creating ongoing activities that promote the company and its products. He learns from his customers what his competitors are doing to promote their products, reads industry publications, visits industry websites and attends conventions, conferences and trade shows. He works with in-house staff or contractors to help develop any advertising, promotions, social media and public relations activities necessary. A significant area of marketing activity for these managers is developing sales materials such as sell sheets, brochures, catalogs and order forms.