They have been selling for as long as humanity has existed. People were selling and bartering before the business of selling existed. From the time the cities emerged around 1000 AD, trade also came in the form of itinerant peddlers. The personal sales as we are used to now did not emerge until the industrial revolution that began around 1770.
From this period, one had to forced to sell, because through the use of machines, more was structurally produced than was sold. Selling the surplus became a serious matter. Due to this development, the sales department of companies quickly increased in size.
In America, sales was rapidly professionalized with the arrival of John Henry Patterson in 1844. Hij wordt na anderhalve eeuw omschreven als: ‘Sales Pioneer’, ‘Father of Professional Selling’ en ‘the greatest salesman of all time’. Every right-minded salesman should be able to dream up his biography. Do you attend sales meetings? Think of the ‘Father of Professional Selling’ before every meeting, because he is the one who introduced sales meetings. Do you do direct mailing? Think of the’ sales Pioneer', because that is also the work of John Henry Patterson. Do you place ads, work on publicity, and use customer references on your website? Dit alles is ontwikkeld door ‘the greatest salesman of all time’!
Typical of Patterson is his clear vision of sales. He firmly believed that at least half of failed sales opportunities are caused by account managers simply not being able to communicate. On the other hand, according to him, sales people are not born, but made. That is why he trained his staff at a school founded by himself. His company National Cash Register Company has become successful through its trained salesmen.
Now, almost a century and a half later, many sellers and marketers are using his ideas without being aware of them. A few even dare to say that today no one has mastered selling as well as Patterson at the time. The modern salesman can learn a lot from him, his message seems clear to me: a missed sales opportunity is up to you, but you can improve yourself, because real sellers are made and not born. Good luck!
