The profession of selling, one of the oldest professions of our civilization, is about to experience unprecedented, revolutionary change. Historically a salesperson, or merchant as they were then called, was the intermediary who brought vendors’ products to consumers. In those days, the traveling salesman would actually carry the goods to the market, thereby serving as both the information provider and the distributor of goods. Today, salespeople act mostly as information brokers. They inform prospective customers about their own offerings, while product fulfillment is relegated to a sophisticated, distribution-channel infrastructure.

From the consumer’s perspective, the value of today’s salesperson is to provide information about the vendor’s latest offerings and to demonstrate a sensitivity to the customer’s special needs. The sales professional is an intermediary who facilitates communication, mostly one way from the vendor to the consumer. This has evolved to where the salesperson has now assumed the role of the customer’s personal emissary to the vendor, in an effort to develop a long-standing business relationship, well beyond the scope of the immediate sale. Doing business via the Internet will dramatically amplify this trend, with dire consequences for today’s sales professional.

Professions and industries evolve based on the needs of the economy, while it is the underlying infrastructure that dictates the basis of the economy itself. In the past, trade routes such as waterways and railroads were the transportation and communications channels that formed the backbone of the economies of the time. Today it is our highways and satellites that have spawned the pillar industries of our existing economy, notably those of the automobile and Hollywood.

With the advent of the Internet, we are seeing the formation of a brand new, digital-communications infrastructure that is bringing us to the threshold of a new, digital economy. This Information Superhighway promises to electronically connect us with a global, two-way, public communications network that allows everyone to become a publisher and broadcaster, with an equal voice in a international forum.

In the Digital Economy, information becomes a commodity (Disclosure). The tearing down of barriers to information dissemination will allow the truth to surface with unprecedented swiftness (Immediacy). It will become impossible to hide behind the mask of image and public relations, as was recently evidenced by Intel’s attempted cover-up of a minor flaw in their Pentium computer chip. We will have access and be contributors to instantaneous, near-perfect information, where inaccuracies are fervently challenged.

It is important to comprehend the power consumers will have to express their feelings in a global (Globalization), open, unedited, public forum of opinion. Within this medium, where self-expression is addictive and participation (Participation) is contagious, consumers will begin to congregate in communities (Community) of interest to publicly share their experiences and jointly make demands of their suppliers. Vendors will find themselves under increasing consumer and competitive pressure to customize and even individualize (Individualization) their offerings. Customers will seek to establish an ongoing dialogue with their suppliers, demanding to become involved (Involvement) in directing the future of their business relationships. Vendors will, in turn, demonstrate their devotion to customers by becoming concerned with their total (Totality) welfare, beyond the benefits provided by traditional products and services alone.

Abundant, easily-accessible information, combined with the ability for vendors to communicate directly with customers will lead to a process of disintermediation, where anyone who stands between the provider and consumer (salespeople, brokers, agents, distributors, lawyers, etc.) will need to re-evaluate the value of their services. Those who uncover a need, and begin to package relevant, valuable information for their customers will become the pioneers of new industries and careers, as “new-intermediaries” (New-Intermediation), or “digital intermediaries”. Expertise (Expertise) will become increasingly more important as the value of providing raw information dwindles.

The role of the sales professional will be very different in cyberspace. No longer will a salesperson need to qualify prospects. Prospective customers will openly identify themselves in public forums, where they will gather to obtain objective information from people who have real, personal experiences with the intended vendor’s products and services.

No longer will salespeople be expected to close a sale by persuading prospects of the value and urgency of their offer. Instead, it will be existing, satisfied customers who will, by voicing their public support and endorsement, convince prospects to give their business to a given vendor. The role of today’s sales professional will simply be to graciously accept the praise, while reinforcing the vendor’s continued, unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, and humbly accepting the order (if not submitted electronically).

In cyberspace, the sales cycle revolves around a public forum, where products and services are discussed among existing and prospective customers. The vendor’s participation is subtle, primarily to listen and provide support. This is a function best performed by a customer service representative who has been properly trained in facilitating online discussions, rather than by a salesperson, who by definition lacks credibility for being objective in any such debate.

On the Internet, the focus shifts from sales to marketing, whose role it is not only to attract and inform prospective customers, but also to spawn and nurture virtual communities (Community) of people who are committed to the organization and its offerings. The objective is to recruit satisfied customers to, in effect, become the vendor’s surrogate sales force. Although this is not a new concept, as it has long been understood that satisfied customers can be effective in spreading the good word about a vendor, never before has the customer’s opinion had such an efficient, public voice and therefore such power to influence others. Hence, the professional salesperson of today is destined to be replaced by the new, “Professional Business Facilitator” of tomorrow’s Digital Economy, whose mandate is primarily to manage public opinion.

Alexander Todd is a Toronto-based Internet strategic-planning consultant, trainer and professional speaker. His topics include: “Doing Business on the Internet”, “Marketing on the Internet”, “Closing a sale on the Internet”, “Beyond the Web: Doing business as a member of virtual communities” and “Using the Internet for your job”.