There are plenty of things that have changed the way B2B salespeople work. But despite the increased capacity to mine more data and broaden communications, it’s also important to remember what technology hasn’t changed.
In this regard, medical appointment setting, both on the level of patients and practices, have plenty of areas that are at risk of neglect simply because technology offers a false sense of security.
This might surprise but plenty of the staunchest advocates of marketing and sales automation vehemently discourage the idea of replacing professionals with machines. What they want are machines that only increase their innate capacity to connect with potential buyer, engage their audience, and share relevant expertise.
And while these capacities are critical to successful marketing, they’re also something that is still very unique to human beings. No level of tracking software can completely emulate a critical analysis of a sales rep or a lead qualifier. In the same sense, no advanced EMR system is going to invent the cure for cancer or determine whether a patient is more in danger of diabetes than lung cancer.
Even in the area of memory, the best that marketing automation tools can do is to store the data. It can store such data for nearly eternity. But despite the longevity of that data, it won’t change the contents by itself. It will not automatically update a prospect’s entries without the need for you to instruct it so.
But perhaps more importantly, it should not be the onus on anybody to make it so. Ironically, it only goes to show that technology has never (may never will) get anywhere without constant human input.
Here’s a quick list of other things that man is capable of and machines can’t:
- They can’t hear it straight from their mouth – You can record a phone conversation but you can’t exactly have the machine actually generate that conversation now can you? Hearing it straight requires you to actually listen.
- They can’t prioritize something without you – Your CRM system can only organize in a manner that you specify. It can’t automatically guess why you would like to prioritize appointments from prospects available during the day over those in a different time zone.
- They can’t understand changes in schedule – You can have it change your schedule so that you can attend your kid’s birthday, but you can’t expect it to care beyond that. Again, everything you jot down in a scheduler or record on a sheet somewhere is still all you.
Never forget that no matter how powerful technology can be, there’s still you at heart of it. Always remember what the machine cannot.
