Has the Internet taken your Sales Offline? Part Four, Frozen by Choices
01/23/2009
While technological, manufacturing and distribution advances lead to an increase of choices it was the Internet that exploded this phenomenon by democratizing production, access and distribution.
Well defined as the “the long tail” by Chris Anderson, www.thelongtail.com, the Internet made it viable to sell items, and even produce unique products, in extremely low individual volume which could then add up to sustainable overall volume.
A “brick and mortar” bookstore could stock and sell thousands of titles but Amazon could provide access to and distribute millions.
A music store of old might stock a few thousand CDs, but via ITunes that selection stretches into an ever retreating horizon.
Even the pedestrian market of shoes is no longer restricted to a few shelves of styles and makers. Visit the uber-site for shoes www.zappos.com and scroll down their homepage to a text box that contains the following:
“1,340 brands - 132,606 styles - 685,256 UPCs - 2,132,388 total products available in our warehouse for immediate shipment!”
Yikes! And that is just one web site of hundreds.
Liberation or Overwhelm?
The “long tail” aspect of availability means that one is no longer restricted to a handful of pre-selected choices and so a new form of unavailability has been created – too much to choose from.
Social tests have demonstrated that when choices extend beyond a handful people tend to shut down, often leaning towards no choice at all. It is not the oddness or unfamiliarity of the products that shut down the ability to choose, it is the sheer volume to choose from.
In those tests the subjects only had to choose amongst a couple dozen alternatives. When the choices extend into the tens of thousands, let alone millions, it becomes impossible to choose.
The result is a double edged sword, on one side lies empowerment, individuality and a freedom to choose while on the other side lies mayhem of choices leading to frustration or apathy.
Does this create a lose/lose situation for salespeople? Do they stand a chance against so much information and so much to choose from?
There is a Key to it all
The key lies in the problem.
The problem facing most buyers today is one of too many choices coupled with the fear that somehow they are missing out on the important ones. Frightened and confused their only options are pure price shopping, sticking to the familiar or just a random choice to get it over with.
None of these play well for the salesperson.
Pure price selling is a losing battle and is much better accomplished on the Internet
Just providing the familiar will commoditize one, leaving one open to any other provider that can do the same
There is still the random choice, a great one if you are the lucky winner
Solutions lie in confronting the issues of too much information and too many choices and becoming the answer to them.
How? The first steps lie in these concepts:
A salesperson is not there to get someone to buy something or pay money. A real salesperson is a guide and comrade, they exist to discover a customer’s real needs and then match a product to those needs
Knowing your job and product goes beyond your immediate area and product. You must know much of the company one works for, of competitive and associated products or technology and know them so well that one can integrate and create solutions for customers as well as guide them
It means become a true professional at what you do. There is a lot to be gained and an enormous advantage in doing so, as mountains of data and choices continue to pile up a real pro’s help becomes more valuable than ever.
