Please take care of yourself.

“The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of superficial online communications at a time people are hungry for true personal connection.” That’s my favorite quote from David Meerman Scott’s insightful article, “The 2020s: From the Lonely Chaos of Digital to an Era of Humanity.”

You’ve heard the same message from me throughout this century: Salespeople have become overly reliant on technology to do their jobs. This was even the premise of my second book, Pick Up the Damn Phone!: How People, Not Technology, Seal the Deal. I wrote that book because I was horrified when reps started telling me they didn’t need to talk to prospects and clients anymore. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse. Conversations have become less frequent, email spam has skyrocketed, and social media is the new breeding ground for sales pitches.

That’s not how social selling works. Answer this: Have you ever closed a deal via email without talking to a human being? Maybe, if you sell widgets. For the rest of us, people buy from people, not technology.

Digital dependence is a problem that has been brewing for quite some time. But David Meerman Scott is right—the problem seems much bigger now that the need is so much greater.

Human connection is more important than ever in these tenuous times of a pandemic and a recession. When people are stressed or mourning, most of us lean into our relationships for strength, comfort, and distraction. But now when we’re craving connection, we’re being asked to stay apart . Videoconferencing is a not-so-engaging substitute. We want to hug our kids, our friends, our parents … and we can’t.

More importantly, each of us needs to recharge and do what we love. Taking care of ourselves and finding good times are paramount in our unsettled world.

David delves deep into this topic in his brilliant article and explains that we are at the cusp of an important cultural shift. He writes:

“In a digital world where our lives are increasingly cluttered and superficial, we’re missing something tremendously powerful: genuine human connection. People are going to be most invested in that which creates a sense of intimacy, warmth, and shared meaning in a world that would otherwise relegate them to a statistic.”

Read the rest of David’s article for more on the increasing importance of human connections in business. Then, learn how to lean on your referral network during tough economic times in my presentation for the Sales Expert Channel, “How to Recession Proof Your Sales in 9 Killer Steps.”

(Featured image attribution: Keenan Constance)

Wondering how your team will keep selling in an economic downturn? Invite Joanne to lead a discussion about “How to Boost Your Sales in a Volatile Economy” at your next virtual or in-person sales meeting. Email joanne@nomorecoldcalling.com or call 415.461.8763.