Bringing the brains from #saleshistory’s past to today - from @tcaponi, 3x author & host of The Sales History podcast. (also on IG)
The 20th Century
Joined October 2020
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In 1935, what were considered allowable expenses for salespeople? Here are the results from a survey taken that year. (I'm pretty sure "TEL and TEL." means telephone and telegraph, btw)
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"There he sits-this personification of all unyielding prospects-entrenched behind invisible barricades of unbudging "No's." But the man is vulnerable! ...you can devise a strategy for an attack that will blow his defenses to bits."
Sales Management Magazine, 1940
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"Unprecedented change in the sales profession!" We hear that every few years. In this episode of The Sales History Podcast, out today, we explore two underappreciated eras of massive change for salespeople. Get it wherever you listen. #salespodcast toddcaponi.com/two-underappr…
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How would this go today? In 1936, Minneapolis Gas Light held a "nudist contest".
Each salesman had a naked mannequin with his face on it. As he sold, he earned clothes, one garment for every 5% of his target. At the company banquet, he could wear only what he’d earned. 😬
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Think about the cold calling you do today. You're calling outside your own city, right? In 1940, these were the rates for a 3-minute call during working hours. $1.50 in 1940 is $36 in today's dollars...and that's just 3 minutes! You had to make every call count.
#coldcalling
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Rex Smith rants that all newbies want to know is the price and how to discount, but finishes with, “The Crescent Manufacturing Co. has spent too long a time building and maintaining a reputation for quality to have it undermined by even one salesman with a price triangle mind.”
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As you've probably noticed, I LOVE old magazine covers. This one is from 100 years ago today! October 29th, 1926. Salesology, The Magazine of Salesmanship.
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Don't think for a minute that sales contests, club designations, and awards are anything new. 90 years ago, Shell had their "Star Sales Club". A lot of inputs went into attaining it, but "an elaborate President's Trophy will be the grand prize".
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The number of air travelers rose from about 150,000 in 1931 to over 1M in 1936. Pictured: A sales kickoff where a group of reps flew overnight to Cleveland.
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Comic from a 1959 edition of Sales Management Magazine.
“Aside from the fact that you talked the other seventeen men out of applying for the job, what are your sales capabilities?"
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What was it like to sell during the Great Depression? Let's go through it in another episode of The Sales History Podcast. Get it wherever you get your podcasts, like iTunes | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music | iHeart | etc...or here:
buzzsprout.com/1798311/episo…
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“If you want to know how much you will be missed when you quit your job, stick your finger into the ocean, pull it out, and look for the hole – if the ocean is not handy, a bucket of water will do.” - Sheldon (~ 1920)
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"The salesman who realizes that his main job is to give helpful service rather than to get big orders will find that his sales record improves in direct proportion to his improving sense of service." - George H. Read, The New Salesmanship
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Great sales quote on the cover of the October 17th, 1917 edition of Business Digest.
"The super-salesman will not only study the immediate needs of his customers, but he will provide against those needs even before the customers realize that they exist." - Charles M. Schwab
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Frank Farrington, in his 1918 book The Successful Salesman, encouraged his readers to read! I'd argue that today, knowledge isn't only cheap; it's a commodity. You'd better be in a constant pursuit of it...
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In a 1955 article for "Today's Speech" magazine, Northwestern University Professor Thorne resented the idea that teaching was any form of salesmanship. Here, he rants about the sales profession. 😬
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From 1950's "Birth of a Salesman", James Quillian Maxwell wrote about how people hate to have any anxiety or betrayal of voice, and that you should always "Leave them the impression that they BOUGHT, not that you SOLD!"
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We've explored the first three on the "Sales" Mount Rushmore. Today, I bring you the story and some of the incredible writing of Worthington C. Holman, the "Ginger Man", who taught an emerging sales and sales leadership profession how to write. Get it wherever you listen.
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The sales profession lost a legend yesterday: Mike Bosworth.
From Xerox to founding Solution Selling in 1983, his books and teaching helped generations understand buyers’ problems and connect through stories.
His influence lives on. Rest in peace, Mike.
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