FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

It has been said that technological advancement will mean the death of person to person selling as we know it and that sales people will go the way of the dinosaur. Granted, technological innovations and the resulting ubiquity of information available on the web have made it easier for people to research products and alternatives, e-commerce applications have automated the sales-process for certain products. But we are social creatures by nature and human contact will always be a prerequisite for many major purchases. All these just mean that the sales person’s job has become more complex and challenging.

The one on one sales relationship isn’t going away anytime soon and new technology should be looked on as an opportunity rather than a threat. Companies and sales people must embrace new ways to build their networks using social networking sites for example. They should look on blogs as invaluable resources to help them assess the market environment they are competing in and differentiate more effectively. Sales people embraced mobile phones, Blackberries and email as means for prospects to get in touch with them easily, they should look on instant messaging and soft phones such as Skype as a simple extension of this and make themselves available at every touch point their prospect could want to contact them with.

The only sales people I see becoming extinct are those slimy sales types that think the can manipulate situations and prospects and even lie to them to get the sale. Thanks to the value of information on the web these manipulators will no longer be able to hoodwink so easily.