I already know this is going to be controversial AF. I’m prepared for any backlash. I’m also ready to say “I told you so” when I’m right. You can choose to ignore my words and get mad at me, or maybe just maybe I’m on to something and you should seriously consider a back up plan.

It’s no secret the world doesn’t think favorably about salespeople. Every damn movie about us portrays us as whoremongers who rip people off and blow all our cash. While that’s the case for some of us, it’s not the case for all of us. But the news never does a feature on how well a salesman closed a deal. It’s only features about salespeople stealing, ripping people off and other fuckery.

Some of the most notorious sales positions are being phased out right now. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not jockeying for it either. I’m just pointing out the obvious facts and direction we are headed in for the near future. All I’m doing here is pointing out trends that are looming and not going away. but the sales jobs behind them are. 

Car Sales: The general public does not think favorably about car salespeople. Matter of fact, if you asked 10 people on the street what the shadiest sales industry is, 9 would say car sales. The other 1 would say stock broker. Pretty much all of us have been got by a car salesman. I used to sell cars, in all my years in sales, no one every talked down to me like the people who bought cars from me did. The public is not big fans of car folks.

With companies like Carvana in existence, more and more manufacturers will turn to that model and eventually bypass the existing dealer model all together. Look at Tesla, they sell direct from the OEM and their sales staff will soon be non existent too. Right now Tesla salesmen take clients on test drives. Now that Tesla’s self drive, that portion won’t even be needed any more. Also, I belive that in the future we won’t own cars. We will simply hail self-driving cars from Uber to pick us up. We will be able to convert our garages into livable space. 

Mortgage Sales: This is my favorite group of salespeople on this list. I did mortgages from 2003 to 2010. I made a ton of money doing so. I loved every bit of it. It’s a fulfilling job. This is why it’s hard for a lot of LOs to admit their time is coming to an end. I don’t blame them, I didn’t want to let go of this awesome job either. That doesn’t change the obvious though. 

With new technology like Rocket Mortgage on the rise, the LO job will be gone in 7 years tops. You have 3-5 good years left to take as much money as possible from the bank. They will be cutting you off as a LO soon. Let’s be real, they have already cut the commission 3-4 times now. Bankers are greedy. The banks don’t want to pay the LOs 100s of thousands of dollars in commissions each year if they don’t have to. This combination of big banker greed and technology equals a coming doomsday for LOs. 

Insurance Sales: To be honest, I’m not sure how insurance salespeople are still around. I get that the older agents have a book of business they manage, but new agents earn much less and really don’t do much. My agent, god bless him, spends more time telling me to go online and fill stuff out than he does helping me. He keeps outsourcing his job to technology not realizing it will soon replace him.

Insurance companies are among the richest companies in the world. They have the money and technology to pad their bottom line without paying commissions. We see this will Esurance and other similar companies. Matter of fact, all insurance commercials point you to a website to do business with, not a human. This should be sending the signals that the salesman is no longer needed in the equation. 

Phone/Cable Sales: If you sell B2B or B2C hardwired phone systems, your time is coming to an end. With technologies like Google Voice and the rise of smart phones, the old school phones will go away. According to Ray Kurzweil, we will be wearing all the communication devices we need soon. I seriously doubt we will be walking around carrying a big ass business phone. 

A lot of businesses these days rely on their network of smart phones instead of some overpriced, complicated phone system. It’s a lot easier to just use the phone you have on you at all times. Every time I go into a business, the only person I see using an old school phone is the secretary at the front desk. Everyone else stares at their smartphone. Plus, people are talking less and less. Email and text are the preferred communication method these days. 

Recruiting: Third party recruiters will soon go the way of the dinosaurs. Companies will use in-house technology and employees to recruit talent. Matter of fact, the best recruiters I know work for the company they recruit for. They are not third party recruiters. You can easily see the #1 complaint on Linkedin is the recruiters. The recruiters annoy the shit out of people. Third party recruiters are not seen as a necessity by high level producers. 

We live in a time that if you want a job somewhere, all you have to do is get online, apply and sell your way into the job. A recruiter and their network are no longer the only way. With companies like Glassdoor and Monster, you can go direct to the source, not have to align with a third party recruiter. This job is phasing out quicker than any of the above listed jobs too.

I’m not here to give you doom and gloom. I’m just a person who watches the trends, technology and the market all day every day. This is what I do. The people I’m aligned with at Forbes, Entreprenuer and Huffington Post are saying the same thing. I’m not just coming out of left field here with dooms day news. I’m simply reaffirming what smart people have been saying for years.

Here’s my advice. Take it for what it is. If I were in any of these 5 industries, I’d either get out or I’d work my ass off for the next 5 years and get all I can get. I’d wake up every day and act like if I didn’t close sales I’d lose my job. I’d save all my money, and I’d start plotting my next move. All I’m doing here is looking out for you, in the event I’m wrong (I’m not) you’ll have  great 5 year run. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Another thing you can do is look for side income. Residual income. You can find ways to do so and side hustles in our BFA Entourage program. Check it out at breakfreeacademy.com/entourage