We must be careful with what is meant by the word "looking for what the consumer needs," which appear in most definitions of marketing. Consumers do not quite understand exactly what they need. What they really need is a better way to solve their problems, so, one of the major tasks of marketing is to understand customers and their problems in depth so that we can continue to do something that can make their lives easier.
Here are some areas that overlap with respect to marketing:
- Sales. A chief executive officer excitedly announcing to everyone at the beginning of a seminar, "We only have a narrow time to do marketing in the company until sales have increased!" Confusion between marketing and sales still remains one of the biggest obstacles to overcome.