Traditionally, the reason that firms have employed and put such a large emphasis on the roles of salespeople is because they add value to a transaction. Before computers and the Internet became a necessity, knowledge of different products was conveyed through salespeople as the only medium. However, Tema Frank argues in her blog post, Death of a Salesman … Let Prospects Sell Themselves, that the utilities of a human sales fleet can be duplicated and refined by computers, and at a lower cost too. She uses the company Calgary’s Optimum Energy Products Ltd. as an example, and outlines the profitability and growth of the company over the last decade despite lack of any outside sales staff. Her main arguments are outlined below:

• Humans make more mistakes than computers do. By automating the boring tasks you free up staff to spend time on things computers don’t do well, like understanding and solving unusual customer problems.
• Make sure your website provides information relevant to both the end user and the person who’s going to pay. These may not be the same people, especially in the B2B world.
• Make everything SEO (search engine optimization) friendly. That includes your catalogues, photos, videos and web pages.
• What customers really want is: knowledgeable staff, speed, convenience, and a good flow of information between you and them. Automation can help you deliver all of these well.

I argue that it does not make sense for every business to eliminate an outside sales staff, and depend its business operations solely on e-commerce and sales automation. The benefits of human personal selling are often intangible. Sure, you can measure the sales revenue generated by each salesman individually, but a lot of the benefits reaped from personal selling is difficult to measure on paper. While the educating and providing advice, and increasing convenience for customers aspects of personal selling can be replicated through computers, the aspect of salespeople building long-term relationships with customers is difficult to reproduce. Not only do salespeople in stores improve convenience for customers by assessing inventory, setting up displays for visuals, and writing orders, but their most important contribution by far is relationship selling, which is focusing on maintain a relationship over a long-term horizon and investing in mutually beneficial opportunities. Without the human element, there is nothing enticing consumers to be loyal to your firm. In terms of generating leads, and the pre-approach process using CRM systems, there is definitely value in incorporating computers. However, sealing the deal is best left to Homo sapiens.

The Importance of a Sales Pitch: