Without getting into the details, in this episode Dunder Mifflin launched their very first website and e-commerce platform. Much to the chagrin of the Sales team.
Not to be out-shined by this new e-commerce enabled website, Dwight decides to attempt to beat the machine by out-selling the website on the initial day of launch. Truly a business battle of human versus machine.
However, Dwight was fighting a losing battle. Not because the machine was superior, but because the fight was unfair. It was unfair because it actually wasn't human versus machine but, because it was a battle between the impact of being proactive versus reactive in sales and marketing.
In business, specifically marketing or sales, ready to receive attention is different than actively attracting attention. Depending on your business, the difference between these two can be enormous in volume and scale.
In Dwight's case, he is representing proactive efforts to reach a customer on a 1:1 scale and the Computer represents the reactive efforts, where customers reach the business on their own on a 1:Many scale. This should not have been a battle. This needed to be a cooperation. With the right cooperation, brand affinity, and business momentum, this cooperation yields much higher results than the battle that might ensue.
Just as it didn't need to be Dwight vs The Computer, it doesn't need to be outbound versus inbound efforts. Grabbing attention and receiving attention are different, but should work together.
Go team!
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