The advent of the 21 st century has brought about a revolutionary change in the choice of products and services available for customers. After the liberalization of the Indian Economy in 1991, a multitude of global players have expanded their base to India, brightening up the economy along with introducing customers to a new range of products and services to a generation that had never experienced such extravagance before. Now, with the arrival of 2020, it is the millennial generation that has become the primary demographic for companies that are vying to capture a larger share in the 1.3 Billion people strong Indian Market. This has made Sales & Marketing one of the most sought after professions in the 21 st Century India.

What is Sales & Marketing?

According to the popular investment website investopedia.com, Sales is defined as a transaction between two or more parties in which the buyer receives tangible or intangible goods, services, and/or assets in exchange for money, while Marketing refers to activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product or service. Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses. So, to put it in simple terms, Marketing refers to the activities dedicated undertaken to attract potential customers towards an organization and its products while Sales is what comes after, that is exchanging the product/ service for money.

Why Sales & Marketing Now?

The millennial customer is much more aware about the products and services that are put on offer as compared to the previous generation, owing to the fact that they have an unlimited access to information via the internet. This has made Sales & Marketing activities even more challenging for the marketer as they have to provide suitable and accurate information to the potential customer who intends to buy the product. This is where the technical know-how of Sales & Marketing comes into picture. The know-how is generated from years of practical oriented education that is imparted by courses like BBA for the undergraduate level, often followed by a postgraduate MBA. These courses help future marketers understand the nuances of Sales & Marketing, customer behaviour and preferences while helping them to prepare the best suited pitch for all individual customers based on their demographics. Haldia Institute of Management has been an icon in the field of

business education in the past decade and a half, making it the best undergraduate management college in West Bengal, having been able to successfully impart business knowledge to thousands of students in the past sixteen years.

What are the possible career outcomes?

The potential for a career in Sales and Marketing is practically endless. It should be understood that the Sales & Marketing team is usually considered as the bread earners of any organization, and consequently gather a lot of respect in the organization while claiming the best salaries. Some potential outcomes of a career in Sales and Marketing might include careers like:

1. B2B/ B2C Sales: This means Business to Business or Business to Consumer Sales, i.e. selling products and services either used for further production by industries or directly to the customers for consumption.

Advertising: This is one of the most promising careers in Marketing, which

involves development of advertisement and advertising strategies that are

required for the promotion of the products/ services or the organization as a whole.

2. Digital Marketing: This is considered to be future of Sales & Marketing and one of the areas of massive growth in the coming decade. It involves promotion of products through online mediums such as Social Media, E-Mail Marketing, Search Engine Marketing etc. Since the millennial generation is essentially tech-savvy, this is the best way to harness their interest.

3. Concept Selling: Concept Selling is one of the most challenging aspects of Sales & Marketing that involves selling an idea rather than an actual product. It extends towards educating the customer about a new concept, explaining its benefits to the customer and earning the trust of the customer to close the sale.

What are the skills required?

Sales & Marketing is often considered the most challenging route a management student can choose to follow. They candidate must be presentable and have excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate in multiple languages, often English, Hindi, and one or more regional languages such as Bengali, Marathi or Tamil. The candidate also needs to have excellent analytical skills to identify opportunities wherever possible and a go-getter attitude to seek those opportunities. Haldia Institute of Management, being the best management college in West Bengal, affiliated to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, has been training students successfully in developing the aforementioned skills with

programs such as Grooming & Communication classes along with various

motivational sessions to improve the attitude of the students and helping them succeed in their endeavors in this field.