The Future of Sales & Marketing.

History is littered with visions of the 21st Century that never came true. But big companies still employ futurologists to make radical predictions about the next few years. The latest technology time-line released by futurologists suggests hundreds of different inventions for the next few decades including:

• 2012: personal “black boxes” record everything you do every day

• 2015: images beamed directly into your eyeballs

• 2017: first hotel / resort in orbit

• 2020: artificial intelligence elected to an international government post

• 2040: robots become mentally and physically superior to humans

• 2075 (at the earliest): time travel accomplished

But what is the future for sales, marketing and business and how will it differ in the years ahead from how it is conducted today? Naturally technology will play a large part, but how large and which skills and competencies will replace outmoded processes?

Email and text messaging will not completely replace face to face and telephone communications but will be the primary mode of communication over the next few years and those that struggle to influence and stimulate action through use of the written, albeit abbreviated; word will encounter challenges to access and mind-share of their intended audiences. You had better learn to get peoples attention and hold it with bullets of information that are targeted, relevant and high value to the recipient. Learn to write effectively or get dumped into voice mail hell is the mantra of the protectors of time and bandwidth you are likely to encounter.

The Internet. Simply put the internet will become the primary source of information and means to qualify and filter intelligence prior to making any business decision. If you and your business do not maximize the opportunity and presence on this medium you will face a hoard of challenges that will be difficult to overcome.

Time will become the most precious commodity. Those that learn to maximize and manage it effectively will leapfrog over those that waste the precious moments. With the ever increasing array of stimuli that compete for your attention relevant and personalized priorities will demand the lion’s share of available funds. Market share will gravitate toward those that produce a return on investment that is meaningful to the audience. It is no longer about price but about price that is relevant to my needs. Commoditization tends to be generic and the future is about personal customization – this bodes very well for focused marketing and relationships that build upon being relevant rather than price sensitive.

This brings us to the greatest and most gratifying part of the future:

Human interactions and trust will rule over technology as people become more focused on the differentiator – The human element, the illogical, altruistic and soul defining bridge that technology has yet to cross. When it all comes down to it technology will serve those that learn to maximize the efficiencies it offers to enhance our quality of life but when all is said and done we will still search out a few people we trust in order to conduct business and build relationships.