Where have all the agents gone?
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/03/where-have-all-the-agents-gone.html

Key point: anonymous agents are interchangeable and virtually worthless. Agents that don't do anything but help one side find the other side in a human approximation of Google aren't so helpful any more.

Now, the best ones are paid by the traveler, not the airline. The best ones provide a differentiated service that is worth paying for. Instead of being middlemen, then, they are the front men, the attraction, a key asset to the traveler.

Where have all the agents gone? /Seth's Blog/ - Travel agents... gone. Stock brokers... gone. Real ... http://tinyurl.com/dz9uw4 [from http://twitter.com/jorgefsb/statuses/1341447525]

Travel agents... gone. Stock brokers... gone. Real estate brokers... in trouble.

To thrive in a world of self-service, agents have to hyperspecialize, have to stand for something, have to have the guts to say no far more than they say yes.