The Sales History Podcast

"Bradford, you're fired!" A Salesperson's Story from 1918 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...

From Trusted - to Derided. Where the Sales Profession Went Wrong 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...

Pioneering Women in Sales: Barbara Pletcher   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...

How Founder Led Sales Changed the World 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...

10 Strange Quotes/Theories On Sales - From the Early 1900s The early 1900s were made up of the foundation layers for our great profession. Incredible ideas. Great Writing. Things we all still use today. However, there were a few odd ideas out there, too. Here’s a...

Prospecting Fundamentals - From Sales History 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...

Death of a Salesman? 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...

Discounting & Price Cutting: History, Commentary, and Unbreakable Habit? 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...

10 Mottos For Being Your Best - Circa 1937 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...