The Relationship Edge

I've added reading notes on a book called The Relationship Edge, which turned out to be about meatspace salesmanship rather than online relationship management. Given my recent rant about the lack of experience in books about Internet marketing, I decided to keep reading, and am generally glad I did.

The book is about relationship management in person-to-person sales, primarily in the business environment where the instances of contact between seller and the stream of revenue are both sufficient to enable the salesman to develop a relationship with regular customers whose accounts he will service over time.

Resource planning systems with automated ordering systems have sought to dispense with the inconvenience of face-to-face encounters - at the loss of the productive aspects of a less sterile interface between buyer and seller, as well as the competitive advantage gained by a vendor that provides a higher degree of service than merely filling orders.

But on the dark side, salesmanship has its unsavory characteristics, and the book is chock full of unctuous tactics that exploit social psychology to manipulate the client like a con-artist works his victim. Even so, the author express higher motives for doing so, though whether that's merely a smokescreen or earnest intent is a matter of opinion.

There are some concepts that lend themselves well to online relationship management, others that are entirely unique to face-to-face salesmanship, and a general weakness on the application of new media that comes with an air of luddite disdain ... and even the greasy bits are good to know for times when you find yourself getting worked over by a salesman who applies them to pressure you into making a bad decision.