Sales in the digital age looks different than sales in the pre-digital age. Though I’d argue that honesty has always been an important component in any sales process, it’s more crucial now than ever.
In this post, I’ll discuss pre-digital sales and the information dynamic that existed then. In my next post, I’ll discuss sales in the digital age and why honesty is more crucial now than ever.
There was a time when being an informed buyer could be difficult. Instead of being a couple clicks away, information was a couple blocks away – if you were lucky – at the local library. When heading off to a car dealership in the 60s, a buyer had few options to truly be informed. Sure, the buyer could know all about cars, but the nitty gritty of a new car for sale would likely only be known by the salesperson. This provided the salesperson a tremendous advantage, as the buyer would pretty much have to trust the seller’s information unless they went to several dealerships and compared the information from different salesmen.
Buying a used car could be even worse. Instead of being able to get values online, you might have to drive around to used car lots all afternoon comparing prices to become an informed buyer. Even then, there might be specific problems that the vehicle model you’re looking at is notorious for having (for instance, rusting out under the windshield). You wouldn’t have any way of knowing this unless you went and sought out others with that same model of car, a time consuming and tedious process. A dishonest seller could try to hide the problems with their car and the buyer might not be any wiser.
However, the information dynamic has shifted now in buyers’ favor. In my next post, I’ll examine just how that shift has taken place and why honesty is more important than ever in sales.
BoweryJE22
Technology has definitely changed the way that people buy and sell. It has made it easier for people to learn more about what they want to buy, but at the same time it has also made the ability to spread misinformation to spread quickly and get false sales that way. But by being honest you are more likely to get more sales and keep them, unlike the seller that tries to sell by spreading misinformation/fear.