Are You Selling the Butter…Or the Revolutionary Advancement?
Imagine a convention filled with exhibits. There are two exhibits near one another:
- One displays an invention that will completely revolutionize communication for generations.
- The other is a life-sized portrait…made entirely of butter.
Yes…thousands flocked to see it! The butter…they flocked to see the butter. Nobody gave a crap about the invention.
This was the case at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.
The Dreaming Iolanthe
Alexander Graham Bell exhibited a device called the telephone. Nearby Caroline S. Brooks displayed her portrait made of butter – the Dreaming Iolanthe.
If you’re selling something revolutionary, you’ve got to hang in there!
I’m celebrating the sixth anniversary of the incorporation of my business, Sales Melon.
What I sell might not be considered “revolutionary”, but I am trying to counterintuitively advance the profession back to its days of respect and trust.
Alexander Graham Bell and his Telephone (source: Britannica)
And my five most popular programs/keynote topics are things nobody asks for. Well, they do, sometimes, but not the way I teach them:
- Negotiating (but transparently)
- Messaging & Positioning (using transparency as a superpower)
- Revenue Leadership (a science-optimized structure/framework on a bed of transparency)
- Choreographing Presentations/Formal Messaging: (like a reality makeover TV show)
- Sales Forecasting (like they did in the early 1900s…I’m actually teaching this one twice this week!)
I don’t teach the attractive butter that is “cold calling” or “social selling” or “discovery”…I probably could, but that’s not my sweet spot, so I refer those out.
Somehow, my 2024 revenue passed my 2023 revenue in the first week of August.
It’s been said that “civilization advances mainly by conquering time”. In other words, the greatest advances are those that allow us actually to live more of our lives than previous generations. However, when those types of inventions are configured, so many give up – because humanity doesn’t see it that way. They’re drawn to the “butter”.
Hang in there! Don’t get discouraged by the butter excitement – regardless of whatever you’re selling.
I’m a sales keynote speaker who also teaches revenue organizations how to leverage transparency and decision science to maximize their revenue capacity. It’s what I do…teach sellers, their leaders, well…entire revenue organizations how we as human beings make decisions, then how to use that knowledge for good (not evil) in their messaging (informal and formal), negotiations, and revenue leadership. I wrote a book Book Authority listed as the 6th best sales book of all time (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘦), and a second award-winning book (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳).
Reach out if you want to discuss The Transparency Sale sales methodology, or really…anything else (sales kickoffs, workshops, keynotes, the economy, history, etc.)! Email info@toddcaponi.com or call 847-999-0420.
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