This article was inspired by Amanda Gordon who responded to a very recent article on this site by suggesting that no matter what, it always comes down to human interaction at some point during a sales transaction, regardless of the circuitous route taken to consummate that sale.  Thank you for the inspiration Amanda.

Now, I wrote a piece a while back suggesting that we can have all of the automated systems we want in order to facilitate salesmen-free car deals, but at some point we need to interact with a real person. We are a social species by nature! We do best face to face and always will,  although technologists are trying to change our core behavioral proclivity with their addictive technological heroin called a "mobile device."

Do you want to make more sales, have more return customers, have more referral business, and improve the performance of your service department?  Here are a 8 novel concepts first published 81 years ago by the one and only Dale Carnegie that are guaranteed to "boost sales." Excuse his dependence on male references, he lived in a day when a man was a man, and ...forget it (LOL).

1. Do not criticize. “Criticism is futile because it puts a man on the defensive, and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a man’s precious pride, hurts his sense of importance, and arouses his resentment.” (Do not even criticize a competitor in the company of a prospective customer!)
2. Give honest, sincere appreciation. “Dr. Dewey says the deepest urge in human nature is ‘the desire to be important."  Find something in everyone to sincerely appreciate, we all have value!
3. Get the other person’s point of view and see things from his (or her ) angle. The thing here is to give to your interlocutor what he (or she) wants, and not what you, you want or want to sell.
4. Become genuinely interested in other people. “Encourage others to talk about themselves."  Folks are generally more interested in themselves than anyone else these days...you don't have to be.
5. Smile. A smile is human sunshine (I made that up just now).
6. Remember names. “Remember that a man’s name (or a woman's) is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the English language. 
7. Be a good listener. God gave us two ears and one mouth, listen attentively and learn about what the customer needs to best serve them.
8. Make the other person feel important. “And do it sincerely”

Seems like some of these concepts overlap a tad, but for the most part, when the best practices of Dale Carnegie's book are followed, really good things happen.  Human behavior hasn't changed since the beginning of our time on earth, and all of the technology in the world cannot change our need to inter-relate with one and other. We are a social species. The bottom line here is pretty obvious; get good at interacting with real people by better understanding their basic nature and needs, and service them accordingly. Technology may be touch screen, but the human touch wins out in the end.