People often ask me if sales got easier with the Internet and social media. I don’t have scientific backing for the following, but what is clear to me is that in an age of lightning-fast tweets and contract conclusions via text messages, old-school business integrity has declined significantly since the rise of the Internet in the mid-1990s. Trust me on this.

Perhaps it’s because of all the time wasted and time ill spent that the Internet brings with it. For apart from the indisputably remarkable access to all manner of information that the web provides, it also facilitates a flood of conversations whose quality wanes as its quantity waxes. The reliability of one’s statements has diminished; things are said offhandedly, and when it comes down to it, people have likely moved on to the next thing. This is especially true on social media.