This is for Forbes:

 Every day, people ask me what they think about the incoming influx amount of what we’ll call robots for the sake of this article. Robots are starting to take over the workforce everywhere. If you go to a bank, there’s rarely any tellers in the bank anymore. Most of the transactions are done through an ATM machine. If you go to drive-throughs in the area where I live, you don’t interact with a real person. You just punch your stuff into a computer that then orders your food. You don’t go to places to rent movies anymore. You push a button in a computer, AKA a robot, delivers it right to your TV. 

Many jobs have been replaced already by artificial intelligence. We’ve seen the fast food worker and a lot of low entry jobs, low paying entry jobs that are being replaced by artificial intelligence and robots. But what nobody’s talking about is there’s a huge revolution happening right now and this artificial intelligence and the robots are replacing a lot of mid-level producers, too. They’re working their way rapidly through the low-level jobs, but they’re also increasingly making a presence in the mid-level. 

If you work in sales, now’s the time to step your game up in a major way because here’s what I do know. Companies are investing billions, that’s right, I repeat, billions, of dollars into technology to save them from paying commissions to salespeople. I know as a salesperson, it makes me think like the Illuminati’s plotting against me but the truth is, your company believes that you’re overpaid. If you’re a salesperson, you’re probably making six, seven, or eight figures a year and the company believes that they’re paying you too much money, they’re going to fire in robots to replace a lot of you. 

Now, listen, I’m not here to give you good news. I’m here to give you the truth. Here’s what I see in the wave of the future. Those that know how to program the technology, those that know how to operate with the robots and work within the robots, the artificial intelligence, the computer programs, the algorithms, all that stuff, those will be the salespeople that remain in their job, because you’ll not be able to say, “Oh, well, people expect service, you know? They want me to answer the phone when the phone rings or they want me to” … All that stuff will be automated. You know what answers the phone at 3 o’clock in the morning? A robot. You know what doesn’t answer the phone at 3 o’clock in the morning? A human. 

So, we can expect a wave of these robots to replace a lot of mid-level income earners. A lot of salespeople that are making six and seven figures a year will be replaced, no matter their skill level and sales. That won’t matter anymore because artificial intelligence is way stronger than the natural intelligence that we’ve been blessed with. 

But take this as a fair warning. I’m telling you that you working in the sales industry, you need to start learning artificial intelligence, you need to start learning these computer programs, you’ve got to step outside of your comfort zone because in the next five to 10 years, those that chose to strictly rely on their sales skills and not get focused on automation, artificial intelligence, and computerized memory will be left behind. 

There was a time when factory workers for the automobile industry said that, “There’s no way a robot can do my job. I have to put every single bolt in this transmission, I have to make sure that this is there, that is there, the tires on, the wheels are checked, the human element will never go away.” We saw a revolution in the late-80s and early 90s that put thousands upon thousands of autoworkers out of business. The ones that stayed behind, because history repeats itself, the ones that stayed behind and kept their jobs were the ones that learned to work the robots. The rest of the mid-level and low-level producers had to go into a mass exodus.

Now, here’s the good news. Anytime one thing shuts down, something else opens. When the factory shut down, the oil boom, the shale boom, if you remember, the gas boom I guess it was, started to pick up. So, a lot of the people left the factory and they become landmen. The mortgage industry picked up, so a lot of people left the factory, then they became mortgage people. 

So, where one opportunity closes, one door for opportunity closes, another door for opportunity opens. I’m telling you right now, the future, the opportunity for the future of sales is learning the automation, the tech side, and the artificial intelligence, so that you can work among the robots. But just know as one sector of the industry close down, there’s always another door opening up, so keep your eyes out for opportunity, keep your eyes out for the next big thing because as a salesperson, I hate to say it, but if you don’t focus on learning this new technology and embracing in working with it, you will be replaced by it.