Sales managers are a dying breed, but sales management is not. The reality is that automation isn’t just here to stay—it’s booming. That’s a bit disconcerting to anyone not building our digital replacements. Then again, that’s the superficial perspective. Digging deeper reveals another: automation frees us from one-dimensional management.
The threat of technology replacing human labor has been around as long as labor itself: during the Industrial Revolution, mechanized looms replaced the need for artisan weavers, and in World War II, Alan Turing invented the first computer that could process data millions of times faster than a human ever could. Self-improvement is no longer an option to outpace the rapid increase in artificial intelligence, as we carry the burden of being restricted by organic matter. Instead, we can expand and improve computers by infinite degrees to perform tasks we could only dream of our own brains performing.
What a strange practice it is… that a man should sit down to his breakfast table and, instead of conversing with his wife, and children, hold before his face a sort of screen on which is inscribed a world-wide gossip.
Sociologist Charles Cooley on the rise of newspapers, 1909
Although the increasing presence of technology in our lives may conjure up dystopian images of our future selves wired into virtual reality simulators, the reality of the exponential development of mobile technology is not something to fear, but to anticipate with excitement at the coming of each new innovation.
We have grown more intertwined with technology in the past 5 years alone, than in the past 50. We are the pioneers of understanding what it means to be human in the digital age. Constant progress and innovation push humanity to coexist in challenging new ways. Over the past few years, we have learned to incorporate technology into nearly every aspect of everyday life.
A company's values and corporate mission statements are fundamental to any organization. But how relevant are they for your salesteam, day in and day out? Inspiring as they may be, do these values and statements contribute to your team's inner sense of purpose?
Quotes mean more coming from people who’ve lived them. From Google’s cofounder to Apple’s CEO, age-old wisdom is empowering cutting-edge leaders. Read, post, and build goals around them to inspire your team week by week. By the end, you’ll be writing your own.
Week 1
“Have a healthy disregard for the impossible.” —Larry Page
We drive to the office in a 2017 sedan, whip out an iPhone 7, and settle into work like our grandfathers. While tools and technologies have come a long way since the 20th century, the mindset to maximize them has not. For the most part, companies are going about business as usual. The biggest contrast you’ll find is often the color palette on the break room 4K TV.
These additions are useful, but without a greater transformation for context, they remain just that—useful. Pair them with cutting-edge management, however, and your employees thrive. Most unproductivity can be traced back to a lack of motivation, which in turn traces back to mismanagement. That’s a good thing: the path to record sales starts with you.
KEEP IN TOUCH
