Are sales people being replaced by technology?
Sometimes you can feel totally overwhelmed by the demands of learning and using not only the technology, but the up line pressure that forces us to use that technology. Unless you are really tech-savvy and a super-fast learner you can soon start to feel inadequate in your role, even though you are the best closer in Australia.
There are upsides and downsides of this argument but one thing is certain: you can get completely distracted with today's ‘tools of trade’.
Let's take a realistic view of what happens to sales people with all the technology available.
OK, we all have a mobile phone, and maybe you have been issued with an iPad or similar which runs all the latest apps and CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) and so on. So here you are as a sales person trying to figure out how to sync your calendar to your other devices, find your way around a CRM and various portals that you have been granted access to (as they are imperatives that you need to use daily), and it goes on and on and on.
You may spend days or weeks learning all this super important use of technology but every hour spent on this is an hour less to be doing your job as a sales person.
The upside of technology is that if you can get your head around all this stuff, it will eventually pay off for you as your daily activities will be recorded in a CRM, leads will pop up on your iPad or mobile, and your appointments will automatically populate in your calendar to remind you of where you need to be. Therefore, nothing gets missed or forgotten.
But it can get confusing as we with the different types of technology available - from iPhones to iPads to Android devices - and some apps work with one operating system and not the other.
To complicate things further, we now have banner advertising here there and everywhere and all this ‘cost per click’ or ‘cost per impression’ is irrelevant to your day to day, so just go out and do what you do best – close deals.
Anyway, the simple truth is that technology alone will never close a deal – and that’s a fact. People sell to people – it’s simply a transfer of enthusiasm to your prospect no matter wether you are selling widgets or oil rigs. It has always been, and forever will be the way it is in sales.
So don't let technology distract you from what you are there to do - and that is: close deals to get revenue for your employer. If you have an experienced sales manager he or she will help you, and if that’s not the case - you may be in the wrong job.
Sale’s is the best profession in the world! If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Happy Selling!
For more information about sales and technology, please contact the expert contributor.
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North Sydney
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