A term that most of us in the industry hear and is all to familiar with and that is "Marketer." Over the course of the last couple of years I have put more and more thought into what this actually means to me and what I believe it should mean to the industry. "Marketer" defined as "One that sells goods or services in or to a market, especially one that markets a specified commodity." This is a term in the industry that I believe is outdated and ready for a new definition. Although, I will not be the one that is giving you the definition, I will be the one that is giving you a little insight into what I believe the Marketers new role should be. I believe that selling goods is a thing of the past, even in the traditional sales jobs such as Car Sales and Department Stores. Some companies including car dealerships are finally looking to sales opportunities in new ways. What are those new ways? Social Media? engaging conversations? finding out needs without immediately delivering a product that is still not what you need? Over the course of the last decade, I have learned many sales techniques that has proved to work but now as I examine those sale roles and the ideas that I had in my past sales jobs, I was ahead of the curve. My second sales role, I was a Sales Consultant in a Retail location for Verizon Wireless. On the brink of new technology (EVDO or 3G, Aircards, smartphones), I opened up the option to I.M. me directly to my phone when someone had an issue so that they could get immediate tech help from anywhere. "theVerizonGuy" was the screen name and although I only helped a few people a week, I offered an exclusive service that allowed that client to come back for more. This was in the days when Facebook had under 100K users and twitter was still unknown. Smartphone sales were under 10K and 3G was unknown to most of the USA.

Am I saying that I am the expert in the field of offering new opportunities to engage a client? No. Not necessarily. But one thing that I learned from that experience is that I found a new reason why a client would pick me over someone else. Today, its more important than ever to figure out these new opportunities. This is where the role of the "marketer" comes in. As a marketer, my job is not to broadcast a message, talk people into purchasing a product, but to have conversations with people whether its in person or online. Talk with them, find there likes and dislikes, understand their true needs and if we have a product that meets there needs than discuss it. DO NOT offer a product that meets there needs. I am the first to tell someone to go somewhere else if I believe I can't meet there needs. That's what I like to call "Respect." I bet none of my Sales Managers actually know how many times I sent a customer away to the competition because I believe that I couldn't meet their needs. However, half of those clients came back to me because I was honest and had integrity in my sales approach.

How is having a conversation now different from conversations 5 years ago. Before, we used your likes and dislikes to talk around those things and make you believe that the product that we were offering was the perfect thing for you. Starting high and going low. Now, I believe that the consumer is much smarter and research the product much better. Over 80% of consumers will research a major purchase on the internet before going to the store. They are smarter, wiser, and will not take your sleazy sales approach. So lets get back to basics and start talking with people.

The role of the "marketer" is changing and is changing all the time. Right now "marketers" or "conversationalist." Figuring out how to communicate in better ways than ever to the people that we are targeting.