Send us a text In the January 1918 edition of Business Philosopher Magazine, a story by William W. Woodbridge was printed. It's the story of a down-and-out salesperson, John Bradford, who essentially fired himself! It’s a story of getting right with yourself. I fell in love with it, and wanted to share it with you. "Bradford, you're fired!" @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past @saleshistorian on X - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past...

Send us a text The beginnings of the modern sales profession (1890-1920) were associated with trust, respect, and even admiration. 100 years later, the sales profession sits at the bottom of Gallup's annual listings of ethical professions...along with politicians. What happened? Where did it all go wrong? I put my finger on it. In this episode, I diagnose the specific period where it all went bad, explore the many justifications and debates around high-pressure versus low-pressure selling,...

Send us a text Some individuals from sales history moved mountains - and nobody knows about them today! This time, I wanted to highlight one from the 1970s & 1980s - Barbara Pletcher. She noticed a void in the development of women for the boardroom, and it started with sales skills. I found her story really compelling. The way she thought about raising the bar for all is brilliant. Here's her story... @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past @saleshi...

Send us a text The way we live today wasn't defined just via the invention itself. Things like the steam engine, telegraph, reaper, highways, the telephone, the automobile...and just about every other revolutionary advancement was met with extreme skepticism. They all HAD TO BE SOLD. The incredible inventors had to be ingenious salespeople, too. Here are their stories. In this episode, which I really enjoyed researching, I take you through the stories of so many things we just ...

Send us a text The early 1900s were made up of the foundation layers for our great profession. Incredible ideas. Great Writing. Things we all use still today. However, there were a few odd ideas out there, too. Here’s a collection of ten of those odd quotes on everything from bowel movements, your thyroid, and your ability to fight that made up these fine individuals’ thoughts around what led to success in sales. @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from th...

Send us a text This episode dissects prospecting from 50 to 120 years ago...discussing five key elements: 1) The origins of the word "prospecting" as it relates to sales 2) The mindset - quality prospecting over simply focusing on metrics and scale 3) Metrics and prospecting quotes - the counterpoint of above in terms of working backwards to determine how many prospects you have to reach out to to hit your numbers 4) The use of the telephone in prospecting - some initial thoughts on multi-cha...

Send us a text We've heard it all before - the "death of" this, and the "demise of" that as it relates to the sales profession. Everything is dead, right? Well, like so many other sales-related things, this concept isn't new, either. Experts have been casting the profession and its elements to the grave since the early 1900s. In today's episode, I share multiple times when the sales profession was theoretically on its deathbed - and why it not only survived but thrived. I also take you...

Send us a text Let’s explore sales discounting…it’s history, commentary, and why we haven’t been able to break this terrible habit. It's a problem that's as prominent and as recognized today as it was in the early 1900s. @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past @saleshistorian on Twitter - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past The Transparent Sales Leader - my newest book which includes several quotes and lessons from sales' past. The Transpa...

Send us a text In 1937, Paul W. Ivey released a second edition of his book, Salesmanship Applied. Chapter 6 is one of my favorites from my collection of books from 75+ years ago. Want to be the best version of you? Instead of recreating the wheel on these ideas, let’s turn the clock back 87 years. We spend so much time on sales methodologies and techniques to be better - but how about building up the value in ourselves? Ivey nails it with these ten... @saleshistorian on Instagram - d...

Send us a text Sales - the most brilliant minds in the profession view our responsibility as "selling ideas'. Those brilliant minds date back to the 1600s and Sir Francis Bacon, the late 1700s and Benjamin Franklin, and many more throughout the 1900s. In today's episode, we'll explore the advice from Bacon, Franklin, and a couple of amazing thought leaders on selling from the 1950s - how logic polarizes an audience, along with how to think differently about your approach. @saleshistorian ...

Send us a text Our version of sales recruiting, sales training, dedicated territories, quotas, salary + variable compensation plans, even sales kickoffs all began between 1890-1920. The process designs, compensation strategies, and almost all of the selling methodologies are based on this foundational approach - which, for the most part, I’d argue has been correct. Sure, people argued for change, but the core has been the core. In today's episode, I take you through the "why", inject s...

Send us a text Salesman's "Creeds" - There was a concept that started popping up around 1905, spreading to individual companies, industries, and eventually to entire cities by the 1910s. Established to change the perception of the sales profession. these "creeds" defined a core set of beliefs every salesperson should have in taking goods to market. In this episode, we'll talk through what these creeds were, why they were developed, how they were used, and how the concept is suddenly springin...

Send us a text It's the story for so many - great at selling, promoted into leadership without training or a holistic understanding of what the role actually is. In today's episode, I share a parable written by Worthington C. Holman in 1909 about a medieval military leader named Dunderblitzen Von Shoosh. I loved this story so much, I had to share it...along with lessons for today. @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past @saleshistorian on Twitter -...

Send us a text I went digging...into the origins of email as a communication medium. Along the way, I found a ton of really interesting timeline milestones that are amazing, interesting, and in some cases pretty funny. So, in this episode, we explore those milestones - from invention to the CAN-SPAM act, and how we really haven't fixed a whole lot along the way. Here's the article I reference - with a full timeline with resources, links & pictures: https://toddcaponi.com/history-of-emai...

Send us a text Sales compensation plans - where did they come from? How did they evolve to where they are today? Are there lessons we can learn from their origins we can apply today to make our plans more of what they are meant to be? In today's episode, I take you back as far as 1914 to learn about the types of quotas, the mistakes they acknowledged in 1918, and the lessons from the 1920s about compensation plan design that are possible things to consider even today. @saleshistorian on Ins...

Send us a text Can you imagine - a profession so deplorable that those in it were rounded up and murdered? As crazy as it sounds, I found that it actually happened during the Roman Empire B.C. In an incredible find, I uncovered a sales history well over 2,000 years old where money was prioritized over virtue - in a way we still see today. In today's episode, I tell the story, with quotes from the great philosophers and poets from the final two centuries B.C. @saleshistorian on Instagram - ...

Send us a text If sales has changed so much, why haven't the #salestips? Reading a collection of the top sales tips in 1913 - and I swear I was reading a collection of the top sales tips today. There's no conflict...at all. What's presented as revelation today on all of the socials are fundamentally the same through the eras of selling, so in today's episode, I share them. Worthington C. Holman's 9 things a successful salesperson must do, from System Magazine's February of 1913 edition. A...

Send us a text There's a direct correlation between the difficulty of the selling environment and the need for optimized sales management. There was a lag between the modernization of sales and the modernization of sales management. In this episode, we track that evolution...from the 1900s through after the lesser-known depression of the early 1920s. The amazing thing - the lessons they learned 100 years ago, we still often ignore today. Let's dig in... @saleshistorian on Instagram - ...

Send us a text “It is far better that the quota be right than that it be simple.” – 1926 Something odd struck me as I was investigating the origins of quotas and variable compensation. 75-100 years ago, organizations did MUCH MORE with MUCH LESS data. Today, not sure anyone could claim that quota setting is in a good state - and I think I know why. In this episode, we explore how quotas were set back then...much more correctly...and why there's a very real way for us to fix it today. ...

Send us a text Every "greatest sales book of all time" listing has its share of "snubs", or books that should be on it that aren't. Even worse...I have yet to find a list that hasn't snubbed an entire era! In this episode, I highlight six of many books from 1900-1930 that should be on the lists, but aren't. @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past @saleshistorian on Twitter - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past The Transparent Sales Leader - my...