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The Difference Between Transparency and Honesty in Sales
The Difference Between Transparency and Honesty in Sales Quick, deep thoughts with…me. I know, super cheesy. But here goes anyway... In the sales world, individuals often conflate the words "transparency" and "honesty", and I believe there is a significant...
Ditch the Pitch Deck: Sell Like a Reality Makeover Show
Ditch the Pitch Deck: Sell Like a Reality Makeover Show Have you ever watched any reality makeover TV shows? Queer Eye, Restaurant Impossible, Extreme Makeover, Bar Rescue, or The Biggest Loser. The host (aka the “expert(s)” or “consultant(s)”) is invited in. Those...
The Man Who Invented Sales Training: Arthur F. Sheldon’s 1902 Legacy Lives On
The Man Who Invented Sales Training: Arthur F. Sheldon’s 1902 Legacy Lives On Today, I speak and teach sales organizations how to optimize their messaging for the buying brain, the choreography of their formal messaging, deal values and trust in negotiations, and...
Sales Reps as Educators – The Origin of the Profession
I recently had an exchange with a sales professor at an Illinois university who was asked to contribute to a research paper on the role of "salesperson as educator". The premise, to his dismay, was the idea that the salesperson acting as an educator was a new...
#FindDigger – Ten Years Later
#FindDigger - Ten Years Later My wife & I have always been big into rescuing pets. We currently have two dogs and three cats. Ten years ago, we had three dogs. Our kids were 4 and 2 years old, plus an older stepdaughter. One of our dogs was Digger. He was...
Negotiating in B2B: Establishing a “Sound Basis”
Negotiating in B2B: Establishing a "Sound Basis" Consider this for a moment: You get in line at your local coffee shop. When it's time to commit and pay, would you inform the attendant that you have a budget constraint and need a discount to proceed? Or, when...
Selling Transparently – Better To Fail Being Honest Than Succeed Via Lying
It was twenty-five years ago this spring. The dot-com bubble was bursting, but nobody knew it yet. After a successful run at SAP in the late 1990s, I, along with a few of my SAP buds, all chased money, taking wildly overpaid sales jobs at an overfunded procurement...
Four Myths of How The Sales Profession Has Changed
Four Myths of How The Sales Profession Has Changed Can we dispel some myths about how sales has changed so much? Here are four of those myths. Let’s see how far back we go… Myth 1: Buyers know more nowadays “Buyers know more nowadays.” - Thomas Herbert Russell,...
Best Advice For The Newly Independent
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...
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