Sales and Marketing

1. What is marketing?
People talk about the marketing mix. This consists of (= it is formed from and includes);
choosing the right product (= what a company produces/makes or offers)
selling it at the right price (= what is costs to the buyer/consumer)
using the right kind of promotion (= the ways to make the product popular and well-known; this includes adverstising)
making it available in the right place (= where you sell the product and how it reaches the consumer; also known as distridution)

2. Sales and market
There are a number of words which combine with sales and market to form compound nouns and word partnership which are very common in marketing.
sales figures: the amount you have sold.
sales target: the amount you would like to sell in a future period.
sales forecast: the amount you think you will sell in a future period.
sales representative: a person who sells a company's products; abbreviated to sales rep.
market research: collecting and studying information about what people want and need.
market share: the % of a market that a company has.
market forecast: gives you information about what people want, need and buy.

3. Competition
Ford Motors is the market leader in the UK car industry. Its main competitors (= the most importan companies in the same market) are Vauxhall and Rover, and it has had to work very hard in recent years to maintanin its market share.
Every time a competitor launches a new product (= introduces a new car onto the market), it is harder for Ford to stay in front.