Salesman Vs Machine and the Future

[axeman462]

Article below says robots will take 35% of all jobs over the next 20 years... including salespeople. Many jobs i can agree with this, but I dont believe a robot can ever be as effective as a human. Your thoughts?


Robots are going to steal the jobs of chefs, salespeople and models, researchers say as they unveil full list of likely robot professions - News - Gadgets and Tech - The Independent

 

[KidsGotHeart]

Nice article, but I think we are safe.


http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf



Social intelligence tasks. Human social intelligence is important in a wide range of work tasks, such as those involving negotiation, persuasion and care. While algorithms and robots can now reproduce some aspects of human social interaction, the real time recognition of natural human emotion remains a challenging problem, and the ability to respond intelligently to such inputs is even more difficult. Even simplified versions of typical social tasks prove difficult for computers, as is the case in which social interaction is reduced to pure text. Sophisticated algorithms have so far failed to convince judges about their human resemblance. This is largely because there is much ‘common sense’ information possessed by humans, which is difficult to articulate, that would need to be provided to algorithms if they are to function in human social settings...

Later on in the paper:

Second, while it seems counterintuitive that sales occupations, which are likely to require a high degree of social intelligence, will be subject to a wave of computerisation in the near future, high risk sales occupations include, for example, cashiers, counter and rental clerks, and telemarketers. Although these occupations involve interactive tasks, they do not necessarily require a high degree of social intelligence.

 

[Josh]

I dont believe a robot can ever be as effective as a human.

Depends on how you look at it and what you consider effective. At least some people will always want some interaction with a salesperson before making some purchases. How many sales a day does Amazon make? I'm not just talking about processing orders, but when you consider the reviews it provides, other products worth looking at, etc, Amazon sells more in an hour than probably any salesperson can in a month. Ultimately the user is just looking at a webpage and making the buying decision off that.

The direction of the sales process is heading towards think of something you want, research online, then either purchase or look for more information. With more and more folks able to feel comfortable buying online and more and more products being able to be purchased that way, it's more than just a passing fad.

I don't have the numbers, but how much premium do you think the big direct writers (Geico, Progressive, etc) write on a daily basis onpage without them picking up the phone and calling?

 

[midwestbroker]

As a huge Amazon fan, I agree to a degree.

When I am buying something where I judge I cannot get an expert opinion on (or think I don't need an expert to tell me what to buy), I go to Amazon. Example - fitness tracker. I know if I go to Best Buy, Target, WalMart, etc. I can get a sales person to give me a high level overview of them, but I want to know more. So, I went to Amazon and read reviews. If I make a mistake in the one I choose, then it is a bit of loss, but not tragic. I choose the wrong insurance, and that can be tragic.

However, insurance is more standardized (even auto and home) and I don't want to read user reviews as much as I want professional help, hence an insurance agent.

BTW - The Garmin Vivosmart is fricking sweet. Thanks Amazon reviews.