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MenuWhat is a better skill to learn for budding entrepreneurs: Sales or Digital Marketing?
I would like to know the pros & cons of sales vs digital marketing as a career. More importantly, which one offers brighter future prospects? Is 1-1 in person sales, as a profession, dying?
Answers


The short answer is both.
As an entrepreneur, 15 year seasoned professional sales consultant for 5 publically traded companies, and digital marketing strategist with Google's only global business partner, I can understand and respect the nature of your question.
In the past, before the internet was a medium that the masses used to educate themselves...companies relied on traditional media to drive inquiries to salespeople. Salespeople were trained to overcome objections and close the deal. The message that was oftentimes delivered by the salesperson was inherently influenced by their desire to close business and the consumer knew it.
Nowadays, you have an internet educated consumer that has consumed multiple websites and media and if the digital advertising and strategy are delivering the right message, they may not need to actually speak to a salesperson to make a buying decision. Many times people convince themselves without ever even speaking to a sales person, especially if there are 3rd party websites that validate the messaging you're trying to communicate on your own website.
Depending on your product or service however, sometimes it is necessary to speak to knowledgeable trusted advisor in order to finalize the transaction and a strong salesperson always pays a company more than he or she is being compensated (hence the math of commission).
If you have any follow up questions, please reach out to me and I'd be happy to work with you.


From what I've seen across many businesses looking to scale, you hire sales reps and train them on how to sell. They're not expected to innovate. More sales reps = more selling power.
You hire marketers to innovate. They're expected to be able to ideate and iterate quickly and bring new tactics to the table. Smarter marketers = more marketing power.
From what I've heard, it's much harder to find a really good marketer who knows how to grow awareness of your business, create and execute a strong lead generation strategy, successfully nurture these leads to be sales-ready, and measure and optimize every piece of the funnel, than it is to find someone who you can teach how to sell your product.
I'm not saying sales is easy. But I've never seen a company really struggle to find the right sales rep to hire. If you're going for long-term value, I'd go for marketing.


Blake offers a strong reply above, which I would follow with this: the key in any medium -- be it in-person or online -- is authenticity. Blake makes a solid point about the role of the Internet in a consumer's purchase decision; particularly for larger purchases such as B2B services, the customer will do their research. Focusing on being transparent and authentic will ensure that your online reviews match your online brand as well as your personal presentations.
Good luck!


Both. As an entrepreneur, you'll fill all sorts of roles so the more varied your background and skillset, the better.
I've always been a bit of an entrepreneur, but I have a very varied past - technical support specialist, web developer, inhouse SEO, SEO consultant, marketing consultant, head of marketing, head of growth. I also did a summer selling Cutco knives (that was an experience, let me tell you), and I've written software documentation, press releases, done press outreach, and more.
All of those skills come in use when building a business, as I am doing now.
So my best advice is to get the most varied experience you can, find what you are good at and understand the rest so that you can hire smart people who do it better than you.
Want to chat more? I have all the free time in the world.
Which foot should I learn to walk with – the left foot or the right foot?


Both, but sales is much more important. I'm somebody that can speak for this because I come from a growth background, running growth for multiple venture backed startups, but dove into the sales space.
At the end of the day, no matter what kind of business you're running, you're going to need to know how to sell. This is important. You won't be able to build the next unicorn with only sales knowledge, but it'll get you your initial traction, funding, deals or whatever you're looking for. Sales is an underlooked space and it is super important to have skills in it. Sales is an art that can be mastered just like marketing.
Learn both.
Related Questions
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What is the best way to sell to dentists?
Get specific with the "who" of your market (i.e. what kind of dentist? what is their specialty? whom do they serve? demographics and psychographics of both the dentist AND their patients?) And specific with your offer to them. What are you selling? What are they buying? And why do they want it (according to THEM... not you)? Get those factors right and they'll buy from you all day long.
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Whats the best way to find commission sales reps?
This is not my specialty, however, I have been in your position many many times -- maybe this will help. If the product is in-tangible, then look for JV partners on the Internet. Try to find an expert that deals with these JV opportunities (like me). If the product is physical, then look for sales organizations that have networks of sales people across the country. You do the deal with the organization and the independent network of sales people sells your product. It's a sweet setup if you can negotiate a margin that works for everyone. Hope that helps - Cheers - Nick
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How can a small offshore development company find companies/software sales people to sell their service in the US/UK?
My company does a lot of consulting with offshore firms who are looking for a way to generate new business, so I hear this question a lot. My first reaction is that you need to totally reverse your mindset when you talk about your own company. You mentioned that you have: a great software developers team, proven track record, passion, real value But, everyone says that. There a 10,000 companies that have those things, so a customer isn't going to notice it. You need to figure out what your company is best at (doesn't have to be technical) and present it as a solution to a specific problem that clients have. Maybe a speciality, or really good project management, really good communications, a special expertise or experience, a personality, experience with a certain type of client.. really anything.. But, there must be some thing that makes your company 'special' otherwise you will be lost in the mix. Don't worry about things like rates, or the fact that you have 'great' developers. Those are generic. Think about why a client would really choose you, and try to build on that! After you understand your company identity, it gets much easier to identify and engage marketing channels because you understand your target.
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What do (bootstrapped) startups offer to new sales hires? Commission only? What are some good examples to keep people motivated and still survive?
Generally bootstrapped startups should avoid salespeople, for a few reasons: a. they typically can't afford the base and overall comp required to attract sales people who can actually sell / or afford to support them with marketing, management, etc b. it will be very difficult to find the rare person with the right mix of sales and startup DNA along with the critical domain knowledge, consequently the startup is likely to settle c. the founders need to be very involved in the selling and customers will demand it That said, if the plan is still to hire a salesperson, find someone who has demonstrated sales success in startups and is excited by the early stage in company building. Create a comp plan heavily leveraged on sales results (unless you are in an industry where 100% commission is a common practice, would recommend against $0 base as this creates the false impression that your hire isn't passing time with one company while looking for another job with a richer comp plan - you want your rep focussed). Sell the vision and opportunity to be part of a growth story. I have written a several blog posts on hiring sales people into start-ups. You might find these useful: http://www.peaksalesrecruiting.com/ceo-question-should-i-learn-to-sell-or-hire-a-sales-person/ http://www.peaksalesrecruiting.com/start-up-sales-and-hiring-advice-dont-stop-selling-once-you-hire-your-first-sales-rep/ http://www.peaksalesrecruiting.com/hiring-start-up-sales-reps/ http://www.peaksalesrecruiting.com/startups-and-salespeople/ Good luck!
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How can I convince a client to sign up a 12 month SEO contract?
The best way to work around something like this is to map out the long-term strategy in phases. Build out a brief project map that outlines what they will receive within the 1-3 month period, the 4-7 month and the 8-12 month period. Set micro objectives for each period and this will give the client a bit more confidence in the short-term plans as well as the long. The key thing to remember here is that the client will often be worried about being tied into a contract that doesn't deliver results. As a result, you need to show why you need the time that you do. One thing that I often throw in is an extra incentive for longer contract lengths - for example, an extra PR/content campaign or some paid advertising extras. Try to assure them of some shorter term results that you can obtain as 'quick wins' and build their confidence this way - the major targets will always be longer term but if you can demonstrate that there will be progress between then they will be a lot more receptive.