In a jab at today’s music industry and its lack of bankable talents, a recent article noted how Frank Sinatra’s renditions, many of them from the 1950’s and 1960’s, keep ringing cash registers while sales of new musical acts are making a thud.
Sinatra isn’t “back.” He, like many other quality contributors, never went away, or at least he never went completely out of fashion.
Communications, advertising media, and sales platforms are similar in their endurance.
When television came along, it was predicted that people would stop listening to the radio and going to the movies. That never happened.
When cable and then satellite TV became popular, conventional broadcasters were going to disappear in lieu of the more permissive programming possibilities over the new transmission modalities. True, “Sopranos” was a big hit, but still, millions are tuning into the conventional over-the-air networks to get their six o’clock news.
The Internet was going to shutter most brick-and-mortar retail establishments. Grocers would be taking email orders and delivering directly to homes, and no one would ever need to speak to another salesperson, over the phone or in the flesh.
You remember these and similar predictions, don’t you?
The Internet has become important, and it changed how many retailers operate. It altered how people shop, get their information, and it informs where they buy and how much they spend. These are significant adjustments, but the Internet didn’t kill conventional retailing, and most shoppers are still trudging to supermarkets and lugging their items home.
Selling has not and will not go away. Pressing the flesh, looking into people’s eyes and hearing real voices as they explain complex, important, and expensive purchases, still quells concerns and inspires confidence.
Yet the other day, when I was promoting “The New Telemarketing” line of seminars and training products that I offer, I heard someone in higher education predict that selling by phone would be replaced by social networking sites that are currently popular on the Web.
Apparently, this individual thinks we’re going to be buying and selling through YouTube, Facebook, and similar sites.
What she doesn’t get is the fact that these media are similar to brochures, except they consist of motion pictures and sound. Brochures never went away-those that appear in your snail mail.
Just as radio, TV, and other media adjusted to new channels and capabilities, selling by phone is changing, too.
You can expect prospects to access your web site while you’re speaking to them on the phone or in-person, a fact that ushers in both benefits and burdens; and certainly distractions.
Yet by the time that educator and I and nearly everyone else who reads this article retires, Frank Sinatra will probably be crooning, and ringing cash registers, even if they don’t technically “ring,” anymore.
And business people will be smiling and dialing, having rich, real-time conversations that cost a pittance, earn handsome profits, and save a lot of fossil fuels, as well.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top trainer, conference and convention speaker, sales, customer service, and negotiation consultant, and attorney. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV, he is also the best-selling author of 12 books, more than 1,000 articles and several popular audio and video programs. His seminars are sponsored internationally and he teaches at more than 40 university extension programs, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Gary’s sales, management and consulting experience is combined with impressive academic credentials: A Ph.D. from USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies.
His web site is: http://www.customersatisfaction.com and he can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
limo rentals Anderson ..