The Great Sales Irony of Prohibition

The sales profession spent the early 1900s trying to shed the stereotype of the hard-drinking, back-slapping salesman. Then came Prohibition…and suddenly, and ironically, booze became more valuable to the sales profession than ever.

This episode explores how scarcity transformed alcohol into a powerful relationship-building tool, why sales leaders were alarmed by the trend, and what their debate can still teach us about influence, ethics, and creating value over a century later.

For more, check out:

@saleshistorian on Instagram – quotes, pics & comics from the past (and can also be found @saleshistorian on X, too)

Four Levers Negotiating – Why do we change personalities at the goal-line of our deals – from building trust, to lying – and from focusing on the customer’s outcomes to focusing only on our own? It’s no longer sustainable. The book lays out a simple way to build trust and add deal value, with many lessons from sales history throughout.

The Transparent Sales Leader – The book on revenue leadership includes several quotes and lessons from past sales.

The Transparency Sale – the first book, (ironically) named one of the top 100 sales books of all time.