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Because the majority of mobile, online, and soon television, radio, and large, national newspaper ad inventory will be bought programmatically by artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms, a media salesperson’s biggest competition is not other media salespeople, it is the algorithms in AI applications. There are three choices today for buying advertising: (1) buy programmatically indirectly via a network of third‐party providers, (2) buy programmatically direct from publishers or buy by means of an online, automated, self‐serve auction (e.g. Google, Facebook), or (3) buy through a salesperson. If advertising buys are made programmatically or on an online auction, algorithms do the bidding, do the negotiating, complete the transactions, serve the ads, and optimize the creative – untouched by human hands…or hearts.

Media salespeople must ask themselves, “What can I, as a human, offer that artificial intelligence cannot?” Algorithms and AI are “designed to work in a rigid environment.”²⁰ Human beings prefer to connect emotionally with other human beings; AI cannot do that. “Humans are able to make analogies or recognize similarities in different contexts,” which gives them much better judgment and allows them to be flexible.²¹ AI is not yet warm or cuddly or flexible and does not know how to connect emotionally to a prospect or buyer; therefore, salespeople have an obvious advantage – they can laugh with buyers when the buyers are happy, they can cry with prospects when the prospects are unhappy, they can hug a customer when the customer needs a hug. AI can only deal with data. AI cannot give hugs…yet, although AI applications such as IPsoft’s Amelia are getting closer to connecting emotionally every day with applications such as sentiment analysis and tone analysis (see IBM’s Watson Tone Analyzer at https://www.ibm.com/watson/developercloud/tone‐analyzer/api/v3/curl.html).

In later chapters you will learn how to understand people and their personal needs, and how to connect with them emotionally.