The Amazon Effect Affects Us All

The Amazon Effect is a colloquial term for being conditioned to expect instant gratification.?See. Click. Buy. Ship. But it extends beyond that and even if we are not subject to it one instance or most instances, it can still hit us… hard.

A friend of mine is in luxury goods sales.?He generally deals with high-level customers as he calls them.?They are very mindful, knowledgeable, and deliberate in their decision-making.?

Here is what I want.?

Here is what I am willing to spend.?

Do you have any suggestions and if so why do you suggest them?

Or that is how it went 2 years ago.?A new group of customers has arrived and they are impatient.?Even some of his long-time customers are impatient.

While they may understand the realities of supply and demand, they demand his attention at just this moment.?He has automated means of keeping people informed.?That worked in the past, but no longer.

Some people who demand his immediate attention are not even his customers.?He has had business meetings with paying customers interrupted by people just seeking his advice.?He was told it was an emergency, so he took the call.?It is only an emergency to the people who screen his calls and do not want to be yelled at again by some random people.

I look at that and say that is crazy.?You probably do as well.?These are high-dollar purchases.?The average transaction price is in the mid $80,000.?That is right people are paying EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.

At that price point, if you do not trust your salesperson, you look elsewhere.?And what is stopping them from doing so? Not a thing.?Many have orders in with multiple salespeople.?Whoever can deliver the goods first, gets their business.?And as I said, many of the people bothering him are not paying customers.

The non-paying customer is one of those who want their cake and to eat it too.?They want the knowledge of an experienced salesperson, but they want the expediency of being the only customer of the inexperienced.

I always thought it was odd that people would labor the point of the Amazon Effect in this situation.?I have been waiting two years, how is that the Amazon Effect??It is not the product for which you cannot wait; it is a response that signifies nothing.

I sent out an e-mail this morning seeking more information.?I am the only applicant for a role at a company.?I did not have an email address (or name for that matter) for the person with whom I needed to speak.?No corporate officers are listed on LinkedIn.?Technically, the company is not even on LinkedIn.?And the website lists no means to contact corporate.

So I sent out emails to their satellite offices in the hopes that they would either pass my information onto corporate or provide me with an email address for corporate.

They did neither.?They provided me with a phone number… to whom I know not.?

That opens up a whole new can of worms and just delays the process.?Worst case scenario it derails the process.

Then I began to think that if I have to work this hard to get a company’s attention when I am the only person interested in the role for which I am very well qualified, then what is it going to be like working there.

While I waited nearly a month after applying and hearing nothing, I was pushing for an answer in short order.

Just yesterday I discovered not only was I the only one who applied, but that the role was still open.?And I sent the emails this morning.?Maybe other people that I reached out to are working towards my exact desired goal.

I have decided that I am going to wait to do anything else until Monday.?The ball is in their court.

If I hear something before the close of business tomorrow, I will respond on Monday.?If I do not hear anything by open of business Monday then I will weigh my options.

I just found out that a role for which I applied extended their submission period by an extra month due to reasons beyond my knowledge.?By all appearances they had only a handful of candidates apply.

Another role for which I am a top contender but expects low interest is taking resumes for another 3 months.

It is only natural to grow impatient while applying for roles.?But patience will pay dividends especially when you know all these companies may be looking to interview at around the same time.?It puts you in the driver’s seat both figuratively and literally.