Wednesday, October 12, 2011

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Meet the Best 45: Tibor Shanto ~ Part Two "Death Of Salesman 2.0?"


Weekly Reminder: Live in the present moment  "Being present in the
moment opens you to the presence of inspirational people in your life!
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"


  We are pleased to present Part Two of the article by Tibor Shanto,
  and sincerely hope that you find his article resourceful.  Please help
  us welcome this month's mentor who has touched our lives and we
  are pleased to share him with you in this entry of Meet the Best
.

Introducing with appreciation and gratitude this month's "meet the best"
mentor Tibor Shanto with Part Two of his article for your consideration...

Death Of Salesman 2.0?













By Tibor Shanto

As for the statement: "Gartner, a research organization, predicts by 2020,
85 percent of interactions between businesses will be executed without
human intervention.  It is likely that of the 18 million salespeople in the
United States, there will be only about 4 million left." Gartner quotes
interactions not sales.  EDI has been around for a long time facilitating
interactions between business, with the victims being more inventory
clerks than B2B sales professional.  Even when you look at concepts like
Vendor Managed Inventories, the reduction in bodies have been related
to warehouses and accounts payable staff than in the sales people who
sell the service to begin with.

While we are all impressed with Watson's success, that is a long way from
creating demand, generating leads, dealing with all variables that human
interactions involve when it come to risk, money and emotion.  I am not
sure Watson answered complex questions as much as to chew through
reams of data with breakneck speed.  Dealing with a buyer afraid to pull
the trigger on a change that is good for the company.  Or responding
and managing to emotionally based "objections", are the same as searching
a database at any speed.  For an interesting examination of this read a
Slate.com piece: Jeopardy, Schmeopardy, Why IBM's next target should
be a machine that plays poker
(http://www.slate.com/id/2285035/).
By Chris Wilson, Feb. 15, 2011

Another puzzling aspect to this is that the same people who seem to harp
on relationships, and "people buy from people", seem to be the ones
supporting the disappearing sales person view.  I don't claim to be an expert,
but how does Watson fit into the social selling world of the future?

An altogether more practical view of the issue was presented by Jeffrey
Gitomer, in a piece in his July 5th edition of Sales Caffeine, in a piece titled
"Death of a Salesman! How alive are you?" (http://www.gitomer.com/articles/
ViewPublicArticle.html?key=ajcdMibak3ORljorhuHgig%3D%3D
)   He not only
distinguishes between retail and B2B, but expands on the impact on the
economy should all these sales people disappear.  Rather than discussing
how we will be replaced by machines, he outlines the advantage and
opportunities presented to B2B sales people in the future.

The reality is that computers will continue to replace transactions, order
fulfilment, and other commercial interactions between companies; they
will continue to bring efficiencies to selling in many forms, but when it
comes to B2B sales, both for mission critical and discretionary offerings,
they will remain a companion not a replacement.  It is true that sales
people, like the products/solutions they represent will need to continue
to add increasing value if they are to remain in the profession.  But for
those who do, the future is more than bright, and more importantly
rewarding.  For should it come to pass that our ranks are reduced by 75%,
the remaining 25%, to quote a friend "will not only be in great demand,
but be filthy rich due to our abilities".

I know that as pundits it is our role to deal with issues in an exaggerated
fashion to make an important point.  To do that, perhaps the question
leading to the premise of the article should have been: "How many
conference sponsors have bought sponsorship online; how many of you
have done that without speaking to a conference rep?”

What’s in Your Pipeline?

Tibor Shanto – Principal - Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. is a recognized speaker,
author of award winning book Shift!: Harness The Trigger Events That Turn
Prospects Into Customers
and sought after trainer; his work has appeared in
numerous publications and leading websites.  Called a brilliant sales tactician
Tibor helps organizations execute their strategy by using the EDGE Sales
Process
to create the perfect combination of strategy, tactics, skills to ensure
execution.  Tibor can be reached at info@SellBetter.ca or + 1416 822-7781.
You can read [Tibor's] blog, The Pipeline with new material three times a week,
and follow Tibor on Twitter @Renbor

Read more about Tibor >>>

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