In traditional business, marketing is what brings your prospect to your door, gets them to call, send an email or in some cases actually buy. Sales is everything that happens after the prospect has contacted you.

Traditional business is still with us though it has clearly been evolving very rapidly in recent years. Although the general definitions of sales and marketing still apply, business evolution has expanded and radically changed both concepts.

And that evolution appears to be accelerating.

The most obvious difference is the blurring of the lines between sales and marketing. Most low consideration sales involve an emotion, impulse or unmet need. The prospect or customer either buys ‘on the spot’ or they do not buy at all, just like the grocery store. Almost everything we buy falls into this category.

» Read more: What is the Difference Between Sales and Marketing?

Sales and marketing is best done without selling or marketing.

Think of something that you do very well. Now ask yourself, “what am I thinking during those times?” Regardless of whether you are good at tennis, flower arranging or having a conversation, I bet that most of the time you do not consciously think about it or are even aware of doing it. So it is with the best sales and marketing which is natural and effortless.

Zen has a principle called doing nothing which follows the same approach. Doing nothing does not mean staying in bed but rather doing nothing to hinder the natural evolution of a given process or life itself. It is like a fine balancing act where your role is simply to guide the process as it unfolds without committing any forced or extraneous actions.

This may sound a bit abstract and so I have boiled it down to 3 concrete principles for you to apply to your everyday (non) sales and marketing:

» Read more: “Do Nothing” Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing techniques can sometimes fail when you are trying to sell a product or service that is similar to those of your competitors. Try this technique that actually uses that similarity in a way that makes your product stand out from the rest.

You can use the ideas here to make your products and services look more impressive than the competition on all your marketing literature, mail-shots, and all electronic mail-outs. The technique will make your sales appointment and cold calls more effective by giving you a really great reason for calling a prospect that will help you keep them listening. When it comes to your sales pitch you can use this selling technique to sell the benefits of your product while being positive about the buyer’s current or past purchases. And all the above sales and marketing techniques work even though your products and services are very similar to those of your competitors.

Start by identifying all the benefits that your products or services have that your competitors do not have. If your competitors sell similar products to you, the benefits unique to your products may be small and very specific. That doesn’t matter, list them all, they will be very useful when putting this technique into action.

Your sales and marketing literature should highlight how good both yours and the competitor’s products are. You cannot be negative about a product or service that is very similar to the one that you sell. You may have heard the sales rule: Do not be negative about your competitors. I agree with this and your marketing should point out the positives of your product without directly criticising competitors. You can do this by sounding positive about the competition and saying how good it is. Then show how much more your product will do for the buyer.

» Read more: Sales and Marketing Technique for Selling Against Competitors That Have Similar Products to Yours