Fair And Biased

Here's a regular vending machine selling iPod's along with snacks.  Who would trust a vending machine to deliver an $80 device without getting stuck, possibly at 2:30 AM in the morning, with no one to service the machine?  I mean... what kind of... oh!  They're students at Columbia University.

In all seriousness, should salespeople be worried?  For the last 10 years or so, there's been this fear of outsourcing in the software development profession.  In other words, one person losing their job because someone else is willing to do the same work for far less pay.  In our field, high speed networks and an educated workforce in emerging markets makes this possible.  While all this has been going on, the common mantra of business folk has been "yeah my job requires person to person interaction so I'm safe."

Hold that thought.  Business work, especially Sales, doesn't have to require person to person interaction. Agreed, the iPod vending is a minor threat.  But that's how it starts.  I know I hate talking to sales people.  Even when they know what they're talking about, and aren't generally annoying, like at the Apple store.  The reason is I usually research what I'm going to buy before I go into the store so when the sales person approaches me, it pretty obvious very quickly that I know more about the product's features, pricing differences and competitive offerings. Especially when it comes to electronics.

Amazon.com has built a billion dollar business on this idea.  It's just much more efficient to buy from amazon.  The product reviews are 100 times more informative than talking to an in-store sales person.  For the $3.99 overnight delivery (with Amazon prime), it's practically as quick as going to the store.  Oh, and it's almost always much cheaper than the store.

Sorry store sales people: you've been made redundant.

And I'll take satisfaction in the fact that when I do loose my job to outsourcing, I'll be replaced by a real human being and not a robotic arm.

[photo: nytimes]