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, Salesmanship, Theory & Practice, 1910

During the early 1900s, the sales world proclaimed that the end of the profession was near. Buyers were going further along in their buying journey before even reaching out to salespeople due the proliferation of information; primarily catalog ordering and advertising. For complex sales, executives would have their factory workers inquire for catalogs to avoid salespeople calling them.

Hint: The profession survived and even thrived

Myth 2: It takes more touches to close a sale than ever before

“48.2% of salespeople made one call and quit. 24.4% two calls. 14.7% three calls. 12.7% four calls. Over 60% of the articles purchased were bought at the fifth call and later.”
– Advertising and Selling Magazine, 1932

Buyers have never wanted to be bothered by salespeople. Ever. They just had different lines of defense.

Hint: It’s still less about the number of touches and more about the quality of those touches.

Myth 3: Customers expect you to have done your homework like never before.

“Success is the product of foreknowledge and preparation. There is information extant about every prospect if you are willing to take the trouble to go after it. The facts you need to know about the men you call on are not sealed up in safety deposit vaults.”
– Worthington Holman, Ginger Talks, 1908

Hint: If they did their homework in 1908, when information was clearly harder to come by, why not today?

Myth 4: Unlike before, buyers are more advanced and more consensus-driven

“Rule-of-thumb buying methods are rapidly passing. Scientific buying, organized buying, group buying, bigger units of industrial buyers all point to the need of a high type of salesman to cope with trained buyers.”
– Sales Management Magazine, 1926

“Nowadays, nearly all big sales have to be passed on by a committee.”
– Eugene Whitmore, Sales Management, 1925

Hint: Enable the buyer.

“The proper action under given circumstances, as far as it concerns salesmanship, is the same today as it was a hundred years ago.”
– Norris Brisco, Fundamentals of Salesmanship, 1916

“…is the same today as it was TWO hundred years ago.” (my edit)

My name is Todd Caponi, CSP® 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 had 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.

Sign up for the newsletter for more of my nonsense in your inbox every other week, with some sales history sprinkled on top…Sign Up – The Transparent Newsletter