May 3, 2022
I’m writing this on what would have been my father’s 92nd birthday (he passed away in 2006). It’s one day that I’ll never forget. It brings up all kinds of bittersweet memories.
Oddly enough, it also reminds me of just how much shopping has changed. When I was growing up, my frugal father would spend at least a month looking for a new car, driving to every Ford or Chevrolet dealership in the state, talking to dozens of salespeople and deciding whether he liked and trusted them — all in person. He would then wait to see what kind of a deal they would offer him.
My father was never in a hurry. He had lots of time. He never had a cellphone, much less a smartphone. He relied on face-to-face relationships when making a buying decision. Once he liked and trusted a salesperson, he would do business with them for years.
Today, salespeople often don’t even know that someone is looking at their product or reviewing their service until the decision has been made. We can buy millions of items without ever interacting face-to-face. Online shopping is here to stay — and growing rapidly.
The article read in this episode originally appeared on the Forbes Agency Council CommunityVoice™ in March 2020.
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