Executive Sales and Marketing Jobs

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Marketing and sales professionals focus on retaining existing customers and gaining new ones. Learn about expectations and opportunities in these careers.

While sales and marketing are sometimes overseen by one professional in smaller business organizations, sales professionals generally focus on closing the deal, while marketing professionals have a broader perspective. involving the development of the overall strategy for sales, advertising and public relations.

Marketing and Sales Executive Jobs

“The objective of marketing management is to set a strategy that identifies customers and brings to their attention the company's goods and services,” states Michael Harkavy, author of 101 Careers: A Guide to the Fastest Growing Opportunities (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999).

Marketing departments attract a highly motivated team of professionals. Marketing professionals research and monitor customer preferences and provide strategies on product development.

They are charged with processing large amounts of information and making sound judgments to position products and services in a favorable light. Interpersonal and communication skills are vital assets for these executives.

Sales managers are generally charged with instituting sales strategies. They focus on setting sales goals, defining sales territory and overseeing sales representative staff. They manage a company's direct sales and telemarketing efforts. Like marketing managers, they travel to attend industry conferences, participate in a number of meetings, and work long hours to meet business goals and deadlines. Executive vice-president and general manager are a couple of the professional titles that attract both sales and marketing professionals.

Sales and Marketing Careers: Skills, Education and Certification

Those interested in entering the executive ranks of the sales and marketing professions should consider earning a bachelor's or master's degree in business administration with a specialization in marketing. Degree programs include courses in areas such as accounting, business law, economics, finance, management, mathematics and statistics. A science or engineering degree combined with the business administration degree is appropriate for tech industry marketing career paths.

Sales & Marketing Executives International, Inc. (SMEI) is one professional organization that offers marketing and sales certification programs. These certification programs generally involve part-time self study and an examination. Completion of such programs provide an additional professional designations. Prospective marketing and sales professionals should also become familiar with the American Marketing Association's (AMA) membership benefits and offerings.

Pay Scales for Marketing and Sales Professionals

While regional differences impact salaries, according to the AMA's 2010 Marketing Salary Survey, marketing executive salaries can range from $50,780 to $133,744 annually. The higher salaries tend to come from larger companies. According to PayScale.com, a general sales manager's pay can range from $46,883 to $98,744.

“There is a growing trend nationwide to contain the base salaries of executives and tie a larger percentage of their earnings to the risks of the marketplace,” according to Harkavy. As a result, salaries may also be, in part, incentive-based using bonus pay system models.

Domestic and international competition fuels the need for professional sales and marketing managers. Marketing professionals focus on market research and developing overall corporate strategies for sales, advertising and public relations. As a subset of marketing, sales executives are more focused on direct sales efforts. Both professions offer executive management opportunities for outgoing individuals with the right training and interpersonal skills.

About the author

Vanessa Cross is a freelance writer who writes about international trade, business law and small business development issues. Copyright 2013.