Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Victor, I like your differentiation between what sales people do and "the real world." :-)

It used to be that as a customer, you`d actually deal with a human being who could think, examine your selections, then they`d use their specialized knowledge of the product to help you. Most of that seems to be gone, nowadays.

Where specialized product knowledge mattered in the past, now it`s just another annoying operating cost---a way to trim the expenses and make more money. The problem is it leaves all the thinking, research, and analysis to the customer.

We`re already in a world where everyone feels overwhelmed. So to give people even more choices, I think just aggravates an already bad situation.

In the real world, sales people are supposed to actually help customers with purchase decisions. I don`t see much of that happening online, or even in the "sort of real world" of Big Box stores, strip malls, and One-Size-Fits-All shopping.