One of the interesting observations in Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human is this: we have moved from the long-lasting warning “caveat emptor” to the new warning, “caveat venditor.” From buyer beware to seller beware.
From the book:
Joe Girard is a reason why we had to live by caveat emptor. Tammy Darvish survives—and thrives—because she lives by caveat venditor.
When the product is complicated—credit default swaps, anyone?—and the potential for lucre enormous, some people will strive to maintain information imbalances and others will opt for outright deception. That won’t change.
When the seller no longer holds an information advantage and the buyer has the means and the opportunity to talk back, the low road is a perilous path.
He describes how we now live in a time when the average person with an iPhone can now walk into almost any purchase with as much information as the person on the other side of the negotiatyion. Thus, many more purchases are closer to a true negotiation.
One real world consequence of this is that over the recent holidays, Best Buy and Target had to offer to match any on-line price for the same item, which a buyer could show the salesperson or clerk by holding up the Smart Phone. Instant price comparison, instant price match. Such stores will surely have to make this a permanent policy, or lose more and more sales to on-line stores like Amazon.
This sea change has ripple effects. And we are getting close to a genuine Tipping Point. Here’s what I mean.
In the book, Mr. Pink describes those arenas where it is still “buyer beware” (see above – “credit default swaps, anyone”). But the pressure will grow and grow until anyone and any company in any arena continuing to withhold important information will pay a price – the price of lost customers.
We are getting closer and closer to a world where transparency is the default position. Transparency regarding prices, transparency regarding every detail of a product’s quality and reliability, transparency regarding the trustworthiness and credibility of the firm or store or agent. Companies with something to hide will face a harder and harder time. And, I think, this is a good thing.
But for those who want to keep information close to the vest (what a phrase – “close to the vest” – who wears three-piece-suits anymore?), this is a transition they will hate.
First Friday Book Synopsis 