The internet is an amazing thing. Think about it: you can purchase something online and have it delivered to your door within the next 24 hours. Selling, in particular, has grown. Some believed the introduction of the internet would reduce the need for those in the sales. This is nothing short of the truth; the internet has actually grown the need for sales jobs.
Sales before the Internet
The introduction of the movie, The Founder, shows how much slower sales were without the internet. The Founder starts with Micheal Keaton playing Ray Kroc as he sells ice cream machines across the country. He continually drove across the country on route 66 and stopped whenever there was a restaurant. Kroc faced many rejections, but keep driving because there were no alternatives. Kroc’s struggles in sales were influenced by three issues: the inability to fail faster, needing to be present with the client at all times, and extensive travel.
Sales after the Internet
One thing the internet has enabled entrepreneurs to do is fail faster. By failing faster, you can better understand what works and what does not work. This is particularly true in sales. Another benefit the internet offers is asynchronous selling. Through this, you can make sales without being present in the client’s entire journey. Your email list, blog posts, podcasts, etc, can become your main selling force.
The impact of the internet on corporate sales
More recently, the internet has transformed corporate business to business sales. Because of covid-19, businesses were no longer able to make outside sales. To still provide demos and presentations, many resorted to conferencing software like Zoom, Cisco WebX, Microsoft Teams, and more. Although the effect of covid-19 has lessened, companies are still using this software. Why? Simply, it makes selling easier. Those in sales no longer need to travel to their clients—the internet is their new meeting place.
Clearly, the internet has not hindered sales. Instead, it has given sellers the ability to understand their mistakes quicker, sell asynchronously, and reduce travel expenses.
BoweryJE22
I like how you discussed that the internet have helped sales instead of making it irrelevant. Many people think that the internet and online stores have lessened the need for sales, but it actually increases the types of sales you can do. It’s also important that you talked about failing faster. Even though it’s not fun, failing faster means you can get to success sooner. Great post!
I love how you choose to talk about the internet! You are so right in saying that the internet has changed greatly over the years! Sales before and after the internet have truly changed greatly, like how you said sales people can fail faster since people have more resources as the buyer.
The internet has definitely done a lot for sales. it has also allowed for the customer to be much more knowledgeable for almost any product. before the salesman had the upper hand because they were the ones who knew all about the product and the customer knew very little. The internet has completely changed that and now there is information about everything.
The internet has certainly changed sales (like it has changed all other aspects of life), but it certainly has not changed sales, it has merely changed the process. Being able to meet people’s needs in a different way and provide them faster solutions (with shipping and technology) are powerful tools that sellers can utilize to help them sell more products and solve people’s pain. Great article.
-Asher
I like how you pointed out the internet helps people fail faster. In entrepreneurship, learning from failure is important. But the internet has helped reduce the risk associated with failure. Failing faster also means succeeding faster.