Brick walls weakened with the power of technology

“The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” – Randy Pausch (1960 – 2008)

A while ago I was speaking to a group of physically challenged individuals in their late teens on the functions of a sales unit within the company and also the life of being a sales person. I started the presentation by posing a question, “Who plans to be a Sales person when they grow up” – nobody raised their hands.

I thought to myself, what may be the reason for this? I mean sales was never a popular choice amongst my peers when I was younger, but to get a “Zero” response was too much. Then it occurred to me that one of the possibilities was that they felt their disabilty may be a hindrance in this career path.

Seeing this response, I then completely overhauled my presentation and began talk to them about how technology has enabled us to sell even without having to meet with the prospect, the power of web presentation tools, and the willingness of consumers in these days to use self-serve tools (web videos, community forums) and purchase online without a physical invoice, and the willingness to do business on the phone.

Likewise, in the old days, regional expansion was limited by the capital a company has to build regional offices or for business travel. Right now with VOIP, the Web, Cloud Computing Applications and so much more, technology has reduced greatly the need for such expenses and global domination is no longer a dream that Fortune 500 companies can pursue.