Feeling very “techie” today? Instead of calling your customer, you’re into texting. Have some news to share about a new client or product? No boring emails for you. You’re the master at Tweets, and are building a following on Twitter. Your iPad is never far away from your fingertips. No bulky laptop with cords to drag you down.
In the sales business, you have to be proficient at all things digital You’ve got to have a social media presence. Customers communicate through social media, texting, phone and email. You’ve got to be involved and online to catch customers’ inquiries from a variety of sources.
You may feel like you’re on top of the latest sales and marketing trends, but think again. Randy Gage, motivational speaker and author of the book, “Risky Is The New Safe,” predicts some life-altering changes that smart business people can turn into opportunities.
In a Forbes article, “The Most Disruptive Marketing Trends of 2013,” author Christine Hall gives a countdown of Gage’s seven most disruptive changes that will affect sales and marketing. Mobile apps and social media are predicted to be the most disruptive. We are already seeing the effects, since both have substantially changed the way everyone makes sales and markets their business.
Number Seven on the list will change the way we shop, more than QVC or the Home Shopping Network or online sales. Picture people with Smartphones congregating in what becomes a “virtual mall.” No need for expensive real estate like shopping malls or discount retailers in warehouse-like stores. These malls will pop up wherever people congregate—restaurants, coffee bars, living rooms.
Tablets, and anything that downloads and serves as a reader, will become the new advertising and sales medium. Larger screens, portability and access to the world through the internet will make it easy to present information, close a sale, complete the necessary documents or process a sales transaction with credit card readers.
Gage predicts currency will become obsolete. Mobile wallets will replace money, credit cards, checks, debit cards and even banks. Who needs to drive across town to go to your particular bank, drive through or park the car, stand in line to make a deposit or get some cash? Tomorrow’s customers won’t put up with the wait.
The biggest change is the explosion of mobile apps for everything. People are on the move. As exciting as the newest laptop is, it still keeps you tethered to a charge, plugged into an electrical outlet or stationery at a desk or table. Mobile apps are customized to customers. When planning a major purchase or just shopping for the best price, consumers will turn to their phones and mobile apps to do the research before making a purchase.
Streaming TV and social networking are two other changes that will influence entertainment, interaction, sales and communication. Have a new product? You’ll need a corresponding mobile app so customers can access the product, research service questions or get updates that will keep them buying. Have an innovative idea to make things faster, cheaper or make you more productive? Content won’t be tied to a network, newspaper or a single provider. It becomes part of the social network or some cloud-like resource. These changes could affect the mainstream media just as the Internet has changed shopping and reading. More and more, traditional ways of selling and marketing will fade away in the face of world-changing virtual methods that put sales online and in the clouds.
Photo Source: jannoon28 / freedigitalphotos.net
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