Will Computers Replace Salespeople? Disney Provides Answers...

Will computers and artificial intelligence replace salespeople? I've heard this for decades. Every time there is a technology change or economic event. Each of these challenges actually made salespeople better, more responsive and more transparent. Clearly, there is still a very long way to go with our industry's sales processes. Deep down, I will always be a salesperson at heart, and I do not see computers replacing people in car dealerships. I do believe that massive change is long overdue in our marketing, branding training and culture...and we must change before we're forced to change.

In the early 1980's, Walt Disney Animation employed Tim Burton and John Lasseter (whose father was a Chevrolet dealership parts manager), among many other "high-potentials". The tenured staff of animators were reluctant to empower the new generation, and were unwilling to adapt to the new technology being introduced. An example of this new technology was the $135,000 Pixar Image Computer. The veteran animators perceived computers as a "less expensive" option to replace them, and eliminate their jobs.

The veteran animators at Disney Studios were a driving force of Disney's success spanning multiple decades. As a result, leadership felt a strong loyalty to them for the work they did over those years (referred to as the "dark years" of Disney animation. This loyalty also deterred them from having the hard conversations about the declining quality of their movies. A good example is the The Black Cauldron, with a box office gross of $21.3 Million, with a budget of $44 Million. Rather than confronting the brutal facts about deteriorating animation quality, ruffling the feathers of veteran team members, John Lasseter was terminated.

John Lasseter was seeking the solution through the customer's lens, rather than through the company's lens. He wanted to innovate and reinvent the business. His co-workers at Disney (at that time) perceived technology and change as a threat, rather than powerful tools. The pain of remaining the same was not yet painful enough to force the change that would be necessary to adapt, and ultimately survive.

John Lasseter found a team of like-minded people in Ed Catmull & Steve Jobs. These three passionately embraced change, and founded the animation startup Pixar. No longer burdened with, "that's the way we've always done it" mental block, their team reinvented everything we knew about animation; and continue to do so today. Animation leadership should have had the uncomfortable conversations with those veteran animators, because the conversations that followed in 2005 were significantly more uncomfortable.

Disney Studios, who previously enjoyed absolute domination of the animation industry for the last 60 years, was faced with paying $7.4 BILLION to acquire their biggest competitor. A company (Pixar) that was built with technology they already had, and was led by their former associate (John Lasseter) who never wanted to leave the Disney Studios in the first place.

Key points to remember:

• Culture eats technology for lunch. Like Disney discovered with the $135,000 Pixar computer, many of us may have the technology; but we do not have a culture that embraces it. Some associates may not be receptive because they perceive the DR tool as a threat, rather than an accelerator for innovation that provides a true competitive advantage. Digital Retailing is 20% technology and 80% culture & process.
• Digital Retailing doesn't mean giving away more profit. The brutal misconception that halted progress was the perception that the only reason you would use computer animation was to do it faster & cheaper. They failed to realize that instead of being afraid of becoming obsolete, they had a tool to innovate and allow them to tell even more amazing stories using the technology to help them tell it.
• Resist clinging to the past. Preferring to discuss past wins, to avoid dealing with today's opportunities. Not facing the brutal facts prevents acknowledging how much more opportunity still exists to improve. No one wants to hear about how, "it's different here because (FILL IN THE BLANK WITH GENERIC EXCUSE)." The last person that needs to, or wants to hear about it is the customer.
• Looking at the business through OUR lens, instead of the CUSTOMER lens is what allowed Edmunds.com, KBB.com, etc. to get build multi-million dollar businesses. There business model was to simply provide information that we had, but did not want to share with the customers. The next phase of this is happening now with Carvana and Vroom. There is nothing they currently do, that we are not able to do. It's a choice we make to pay too much at the auction rather than provide an ACV number via unseen virtual appraisal. We can scoff at Carvana's over-valuation of their share price, or we can dig into their business model and execute their gameplan at a higher level. Right now, their innovation is like Pixar was in 1995.
• Empowerment of our teams, and culture of trust. The foundation of digital transformation is speed, elimination of friction/pain points and lean-efficiencies. We have to be comfortable providing enough clarity that we trust our customers AND our associates to take risks and do the right thing, without fear of retribution. Don't penalize the early adopters because a few team members are reluctant to move forward.

Here is the bottom line, I personally do not believe that salespeople will be replaced by computers in my lifetime. What will be replaced is some of our antiquated processes, word tracks and spending excess time in our dealerships. These inefficiencies should have been replaced long ago, are being eliminated now. Like any other time when we have dealt with unpredictable events, Darwinism is forcing those reluctant to change to change, or become extinct. I am also currently seeing an extremely motivated, refreshingly proactive group of sales associates entering this business. I also see veteran salespeople at our location embracing change. They are marketing themselves in innovative ways on social media, following up through Chat, Facebook Messenger, Text, Video and other innovative methods as they reinvent the way they do business to adapt to today's modern retail environment.

This new generation does not know how it used to be, and they don't care. They see the opportunity in the problems, not the problems in the opportunities. When they get an opportunity in front of them, and they are crushing it.