Title: How might a salesman operate in an economy that runs on cryptocurrency?
The job of a salesman is to secure the capital of customers in return for services or items on the part of their employer. It is the rare person who can be both the salesman and the engineer, especially when the nature of the work is complicated.
Adam Smith writes in the Wealth of Nations that "the advantage which is gained by saving the time that is commonly lost in passing from one sort of work to another, is much greater than we at first view be apt to imagine it"".
An engineer and a salesman are mutually useful to each other. In an economy backed by cryptocurrency the engineer provides services which relate to the secure storage, acquisition of and management of cryptocurrency. However, it is easy to sell the hardware and software online in this modern age, so why is the salesman actually necessary and what is his role in an era of online sales?
It is clear that what the salesman is selling is not actually the product or the service but rather trust in the product or service. This has been true since the beginning of time however, so why is it different today?
If a salesman is selling a service which can have immense irreversible consequences for the buyer then the customer is going to be extremely interested in whether the service the salesman is selling is up to the task, faulty or malicious.
In an economy in which losses can be covered by printing money it is simply inconvenient if a major, politically well-connected company loses money to fraud or theft. However, in an economy which is backed by a hard currency (gold, Bitcoin), losses in cryptocurrencies cannot, ever, be recovered.
Therefore, it is the job of the salesman of storage software and hardware to establish himself as someone who is trustworthy above all else. His word is his bond and he makes good his mistakes. He does not lie under any circumstances.
"Lying is cowardice - the fear of facing up to the situation" - John Glubb
Only someone who has such a reputation is trustworthy enough to handle the sale of storage software for cryptocurrency.
If the above is the case then this strongly suggests that it is unwise to buy such software online from a faceless entity which one has never met.
A possible scenario is that a salesman or representative of the company which sells the software necessary for storage, acquisition and management of cryptocurrency must, personally, be the courier of the hardware and a copy of the software.
He must build a reputation as a trustworthy courier who never lets either the software or the hardware out of his sight. Only in this way can he be trusted.
There are a few incentives for the salesman to keep his word and not aim to take advantage of his customers.
1. As Bitcoin cannot be printed a significant loss of it will likely motivate the victim to track down the person who has taken advantage of him.
a. It is very difficult to track bitcoin and therefore also difficult to prove in a court of law that the fraud took place.
b. After this has become apparent through multiple failures in court to recover the losses, the victim is motivated to either take his own revenge or recover his losses personally...
b. After this has become apparent through multiple failures in court to recover the losses, the victim is motivated to either take his own revenge or recover his losses personally...
2. Although there is an immediate reward for theft or two-faced deals it also comes with a heavy loss of reputation. This must be weighed up against the prospect of losing future business and never being able to be seen in public again.