So many of our transactions now are conducted through a computer screen, through a keyboard, and in many ways it’s given us the illusion that we’ve got rid of the “old-fashioned sale”, in which you had to look your salesman in the eye.

But on the other hand, retail sales work hand in hand and are still part of our lives. Apple is perhaps the best example. They decided about 10 years ago that at a time when no computers were being sold by salespeople but were literally being sold in big-box warehouses or online like Dell, to set up retail stores and to fill them with very engaged, very excited salespeople who were passionate about their products. And much of the success of Apple can be pinned down to this decision to go with a very old-fashioned retail sales strategy that served it incredibly well.