Bismillah arRahmaan arRaheem wa as salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmtuAllahi wa barakatuhu!
in sha Allah t’ala you are doing well and this section will assist you in your learning. It is an Absolute MUST that we understand the role marketing & sales play in creating money. Marketing plays a role in many other areas but we want to focus specifically in its role when it comes to money.
First, we must understand that we are currently involved in marketing and sales or we have have been in the past if we’ve had a job. I used to work as a CNC Machinist in a foundry and though I didn’t consider that a part of marketing or sales, it was an essential part. Think about this, every company is selling a product or service so either we are directly selling something or in support of someone that is selling something. So as a CNC operator, I machined steel parts for companies that purchased the items for the manufacture of buses, cars, and trucks. Though I was not in the ‘field’ selling or procuring contracts, I was an essential part of the entire process. Many of the layoffs that have occurred in the last year or so are due to lackluster sales amongst other factors.
So marketing is what traditionally leads to sales and every employee, even a customer service rep, is involved. A customer service rep is the face or voice of a company and people are affected by the behavior of their service which translates into more or less sales. I was skeptical when I was learning this information until recalling on how I decided to take my business elsewhere when representatives appeared to be uninterested in my business and displayed bad attitudes. I’ve left restaurants, retail stores, even hotels when the employees didn’t appreciate my business. Of course it caused a loss of my business and a loss of long term business which may not be measurable. Just think of Denny’s and their race relations issue.
Nevertheless, we are in marketing and sales, whether it be in a child selling a parent on why they need a new toy or a prospective husband being interviewed by a wali, we’re all in marketing and sales. The results with either be a new toy or not or a marriage to a certain person or not.
This leads me to mention the 3 types of business systems, keep in mind that S.Y.S.T.E.M. is an acronym for Save Yourself Some Time Energy and Money.
Most successful businesses have systems which operate according to plan and there are 3 systems we should be aware of;
- Build Your Own System – This is when you start a business and develop your own system. Either through trial and error or previous experience, but you are ultimately responsible for actually designing it.
- Franchising – This is where someone else built the system and it has a track record of working. You buy the system and agree to be bound by the Franchisor’s rules. We’re all familiar with this concept today. (though franchises beat many legal challenges and had to fight to be respected as they are today)
- Network Marketing – This is where a company has its own products/services and infrastructure. For a relatively small fee, the company contracts with you to become an independent contractor. As an independent contractor you can build a sales team and earn income from your distribution networks sales and your personal sales. (Robert Kiyosaki has a great book entitled Rich Dad’s the Business School: For People Who Like Helping People (Second Edition)
in which he discusses the 8 reasons he recommends Network Marketing)
All of the above systems can be optimized to take advantage of the tax breaks and asset protection strategies offered to large corporations depending on how they are incorporated, if they get incorporated. We’ll save that for another time.
The above are the basic 3 types of Business Systems and we are dedicated to educate you regarding them as well as providing information regarding the 4 asset classes.
wa jazakAllahu khayr,
For the MMM Team
Nadheer binNaseeb