Marketing: The Anchor for Sales

This article identifies and determines how to access the market and other relevant environments, and how to develop a strategy to succeed in the market. It identifies and examines six marketing imperatives—the tasks that marketing must accomplish—and four marketing principles that act as guidelines for making marketing decisions. The market strategy is a key output from marketing's efforts, and the sales strategy must implement the market strategy. Accordingly, the sales force must understand how the firm develops a market strategy so that sales can creatively work within that framework to...

This article identifies and determines how to access the market and other relevant environments, and how to develop a strategy to succeed in the market. It identifies and examines six marketing imperatives—the tasks that marketing must accomplish—and four marketing principles that act as guidelines for making marketing decisions. The market strategy is a key output from marketing's efforts, and the sales strategy must implement the market strategy. Accordingly, the sales force must understand how the firm develops a market strategy so that sales can creatively work within that framework to design and implement an effective sales strategy. Sales managers must know what marketing is trying to accomplish, since they have an important role in helping marketing to be successful. Moreover, successful marketing helps the sales force succeed. This article provides a comprehensive examination of what every sales manager needs to know about marketing.