Best Advice For The Newly Independent (Or Those Considering It) Considering ever going out on your own? Seven years ago today, I received the most impactful piece of advice I received as I did. I was in downtown Chicago. I had just informed my CEO of my plans to...

Selling With Purpose - Selling During World War I When we do anything with purpose, we tend to do it better. We find another gear. We’re more precise. We bring more enthusiasm and energy to the task at hand.  Whether or not you are a fan of ice hockey, in February...

The Tendency Toward Better Salesmen Below is a selection of paragraphs from an article I found in the March 1921 edition of Specialty Salesman Magazine by Edgar J. Mills. Here's the TL:DR: As a sales profession, we are reliving the 1920s right now. We have relived...

Arthur Sheldon: A City and Lake Named After a Sales Philosophy Yes. This happened: Imagine developing a sales philosophy you love. Then, you buy 800 acres of land, incorporate it as its own city, and name the city after the philosophy. Then, you dam a lake on the...

The Sales Profession Has Not Changed Years ago, I entered the sales profession in what many would deem to be “dramatically” different from its current state.  I wore a suit daily - one of the two I could afford. I was given a company car - a baby blue Chevy Corsica...

Combatting Misinformation in Sales “This whole idea of traveling via locomotive is silly. Everyone knows that when the human body reaches a speed of 30 miles-per-hour, blood circulation will stop.”. This was a commonly held truth in the early 1800s. If you were...

The Sales Profession in 5 Years This week, I was interviewed by a prominent analyst firm in their effort to predict what the world of sales will look like in 5-10 years. Here’s my attempt to summarize the perspective I shared. At its core, I believe the sales...

Sales Travel Challenges, A Troll, And The Realization of Modern Comforts I got lit up by a troll…and in hindsight, maybe he was right.  I’m right in the middle of a travel binge, flying to a city, speaking, flying to the next, doing it again…six times in less than...

Do We Need Salespeople?  “Salesmen are an economic waste in industry, and, therefore, as such, should be eliminated.” - Herbert Hoover, 1923 While serving as the United States Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover believed that salespeople were an unnecessary...