History of Professional Selling

1870 – Insurance Begins Role Specialization with Hunters & Farmers

Sales have existed since we were cavemen haggling. Let's go back to 1752,

when "Benjamin Franklin formed America's oldest, continually operational

insurance company." Insurance and a lot of home goods were subscription-

based at the time. A sales representative would clinch the deal and then

regular in-person visits to collect monthly payments. Successful salespeople

eventually ran out of time to prospect or sell since they spent all of their time

collecting monthly payments. The insurance business established role

specialization from an Account Executive/Hunter and Account

Manager/Farmer perspective to address this misallocation of time and

resources. "In the 1870s, the insurance industry invented the terms 'hunter'

and 'farmer' to designate 'producers' (those who wrote new business) and

'collectors' (those who collected weekly premiums)." This new sales structure

was an immediate hit, and it swiftly expanded to companies other than

insurance. The first breakthroughs in the history of professional selling are

role specialization and process enhancement.

1924 – IBM & Professional Selling

Between 1849 and 1882, 180,000 Chinese immigrants arrived in the United

States to assist in constructing the transcontinental railroad. With these

Chinese employees came snake oil, a game-changing product! Doctors and

traveling salesmen, including Clark Stanley (the original snake oil salesman),

began aggressively and falsely selling "miracle treatments" across America.

When it comes to the impression of the public sales profession, we still have

to deal with this stigma.

Because of snake oil salespeople in the early 1900s, the sales profession was

viewed as an unethical and unprofessional vocation. Fortunately for the

profession, Thomas J. Watson Sr., a hotshot salesperson, had just obtained a

new job. Thomas aimed to turn International Business Machines, his newly

renamed firm, into a sales powerhouse.

Thomas grasped the following key points: 1) As the market grows more

competitive, a sales force becomes a competitive advantage. 2) The

competitive advantage is more sustained if the sales team is well-trained,

educated, and professional. Thomas and IBM contributed to the advancement

of the sales profession by putting formal sales training programs in place,

using songs, tournaments, and novel compensation schemes to motivate

salespeople, and to recruit the finest and brightest right out of college is a

priority.

1925 – 1936: The Psychology of Selling & Dale Carnegie (Tactical

Selling)

E.K. Strong published the Psychology of Selling in 1925. Strong created

several long-lasting sales principles, such as features and benefits,

addressing objections, and inquiry style. He demonstrated that selling is a

complex skill that can be taught, learned, and studied. The success of IBM's

sales force and the discoveries in The Psychology of Selling piqued the

curiosity of organizations, entrepreneurs, and authors in the sales profession.

Dale Carnegie was one of these businessmen. Dale Carnegie rose to

prominence as a best-selling book and business consultant. Through

concepts like AIDCA, which "details how the seller works through the five

steps to acquire a purchase commitment," he helped advance the sales

industry. Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, and Action (AIDCA) are

acronyms meaning Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, and Action.

E.K. Strong and Dale Carnegie contributed to the advancement of the sales

profession by the procedure of closing sales was repeatable, demonstrating

that selling is a skill that can be learned, studied, and mastered, using

research to clarify and express hazy sales notions, and creating a playbook

for tactical and relationship selling

1988: SPIN Selling & Solution Selling

SPIN Selling evolved tactical elements such as open-ended questioning into

Solution Selling or Consultative Selling. "Customers will only be driven to

acquire anything if they identify a need" is the central concept of SPIN Selling.

And, because some prospects aren't even conscious of a problem, the

questions you ask are critical. This book reveals a vital sales process that

shows four sorts of questions that, when asked in order, dramatically boost

the chances of a lead becoming a sale."

Solution Selling was a cutting-edge sales approach that excelled at selling

complex products and services. Instead of shoving the product down the

customer's throat regardless of need, the sales representative would ask a

questions to determine if the product is a good fit. SPIN Selling ushered us

into the era of solution sales and taught us how to navigate complex sales

processes.

2011: Predictable Revenue

Aaron Ross recognized the need for more role specialization in the sales

industry while working at Salesforce.com. Because of inefficiencies in the

process, insurance companies specialized in sales positions 141 years ago.

According to Aaron, account Executives/Closers were spending

disproportionate amounts of time prospecting for leads rather than closing

new business. Following this realization, the Sales Development Rep was

created as a new specialist sales function (SDR).

Each of the three essential components of this sales process (Lead

Generation, Closing, and Account Management) has its specialist

representative. Aaron advanced the sales profession by demonstrating that

sales growth is driven by qualified lead growth. And professional lead growth

results from a sales development rep responsible for locating and qualifying

leads.

2015: The SaaS Sales Stack & Sales Hackers

SaaS prospecting automation businesses are beginning to extend their

footprint truly. Reps now have customized cloud sales apps for each of their

workflow processes. Over the next few years, the Sales SaaS Stack will

become so powerful that it will leave "old school" sales professionals in the

dust.