I love sales, have been doing it all my life and have seen
so many changes over the years..
Sales has always been a game of adaptation. What worked
yesterday won’t necessarily work today.
Once upon a time, sales was all about hustling, knocking
on doors, and charming your way to a deal. Today, it’s about precision,
AI-driven insights, and multi-channel engagement.
But while the tools and tactics have changed, the
fundamentals remain the same—understand your customer, solve their problem,
and build relationships that last.
Let’s take a deep dive into how sales have evolved
over the decades, from the hard-hitting, fast-talking salesmen of the past to
the AI-powered consultative sellers of today.
1. The Era of Door-to-Door Sales & Hard Selling
(1900s–1950s)
The Birth of the Hustler Salesman
Sales in the early days was simple: knock on doors, pitch
fast, close even faster.
Zig Ziglar, one of the greatest sales trainers of all time,
built his career on the back of door-to-door selling. Back then, selling
wasn’t about understanding the customer—it was about talking your way into a
sale before they could say no.
When I started out in sales, I bought every course by Zig
Ziglar (and even became a reseller for him). It was my ambition to meet him and
boing a professional speaker, we were able to share the platform once and I
managed to have an interview with this legend, take a listen.
The Sales Cycle Back Then
✔ Prospecting: Walk the
streets, knock on doors, sell to anyone who answered.
✔ Pitching: Hit them with a pre-rehearsed
script (no deviations allowed).
✔ Objection Handling: If they said no, double
down and push harder.
✔ Closing: "If I can show you how this
vacuum can save you time and money, would you buy today?"
Real-World Example: The Encyclopaedia Britannica Sale
Picture a Britannica salesman in 1955 arriving at your door
in his best suit, carrying a sample volume, and armed with a proven script.
Within minutes, he's sitting in your living room, demonstrating how these
encyclopaedias will give your children an educational advantage. He shows off
the quality of the binding, the clarity of the photographs, and the depth of
knowledge within. His closing technique? "If I could show you how these
encyclopaedias cost less than a dollar a day and could help your children get
into college, would you be interested in starting their journey to success
today?" Two hours later, you're the proud owner of a complete set, having
succumbed to a masterclass in persistence-based selling.
This was sales at its rawest—a pure numbers game
where resilience and charm were the only tools of the trade. These were master
sales people, they had to meet you cold, develop rapport, do a fact find and
close the deal all in one go (I nearly said appointment, but there were no
appointments then, just knocking on doors).
2. The Rise of Cold Calling & Telemarketing
(1950s–1970s)
When the Phone Became the Ultimate Sales Weapon
As phones became more common, salespeople saw an
opportunity: why knock on doors when you can hit hundreds of prospects in a
day with just a phone?
This era was all about volume—the more calls you
made, the more deals you closed.
The Sales Cycle in the Cold Calling Era
✔ Prospecting: Grab a
phone book, start dialing.
✔ Pitching: Stick to the script—deviation
equals disaster.
✔ Objection Handling: Push through
resistance—persistence wins.
✔ Closing: “What will it take for you to sign
today?”
Example: The Insurance Cold Caller
Insurance sales became one of the biggest industries for
cold calling. Salespeople were trained to overcome every objection—whether
the customer needed the policy or not.
Meet Sarah, a life insurance sales representative from 1975.
Her day starts at 8 AM with a fresh stack of phone numbers and a well-worn
script. She knows that out of every 100 calls, she'll reach about 20 people,
and one or two might buy. Her pitch is rehearsed to perfection: "Mrs.
Johnson, what would happen to your family if you weren't there tomorrow?"
By day's end, she's made 200 calls, gotten 15 firm "no's," scheduled
3 appointments, and sold one policy. Pure numbers game, pure persistence.
I know this to be true as I started selling insurance in
1980. I would get into the office at 8 every morning and make 20 calls where I spoke
to someone. The law of averages worked that for every 20 calls I made 4
appointments. If I saw 4 people a day, one would not be there, one would not
know why I was there, two would see me and one would buy. That way I hit my
target of 5 sales a week.
I always try to meet the best people, learn from them and
buy all their resources. At that time Allan Pease was a legend in the cold
calling world (still is) and I bought every course (and also became a reseller)
and he is now a close friend and we have also shared the international stage
speaking together.
Take a look at my
interview with him on body language..
But the problem? Customers got fed up with aggressive
pitches.
3. Solution Selling & The Shift to Value
(1980s–1990s)
Less Pushing, More Listening
By the 1980s, customers had had enough of the hard sell.
They didn’t want a pitch—they wanted a solution to their problems.
Enter Solution Selling, pioneered by Michael
Bosworth. The new approach? Ask questions, diagnose problems, and position
your product as the answer.
The New Sales Cycle
✔ Discovering Needs:
“What’s your biggest challenge right now?”
✔ Solution-Advantage-Benefit (SAB) Model:
Instead of pushing features, focus on outcomes.
✔ Objection Handling: Address real concerns
instead of steamrolling them.
✔ Closing: Let the customer feel like they’re
making the decision.
Example: The Office Equipment Salesperson
Instead of pushing the features of a new photocopier,
a great salesperson would highlight how it saves time, increases efficiency,
and lowers costs.
Consider Tom, a Xerox sales representative in 1988. Instead
of leading with copier specifications, he starts his meeting with a law firm by
asking about their document management challenges. He discovers they're
spending hours manually collating court documents. Rather than pushing
features, Tom demonstrates how the new Xerox system could reduce document
preparation time by 75% and ensure perfect collation every time. The sale
becomes inevitable because he's solving a real, costly problem.
This was the start of consultative sales—less
"sell, sell, sell" and more "how can I help you?"
4. Consultative Selling & SPIN Selling (1990s–2000s)
When Sales Became a Two-Way Conversation
The 90s saw another big shift: customers expected
salespeople to act as advisors, not pitchmen.
Neil Rackham’s SPIN Selling model became the gold
standard:
- Situation
Questions – "Tell me about your current setup."
- Problem
Questions – "What challenges are you facing?"
- Implication
Questions – "How is that impacting your business?"
- Need-Payoff
Questions – "Would a solution that does X help?"
Sales reps stopped talking and started listening—and
sales skyrocketed.
Real-World Example: The Enterprise Software Consultation
Picture Michael, an enterprise software consultant in 1997.
He's meeting with a manufacturing company's management team about their
inventory management system. Instead of launching into a feature-heavy
presentation, he starts with simple situation questions:
"Could you walk me through your current inventory
tracking process?"
The client describes their manual spreadsheet system.
Michael then moves to problem questions:
"What challenges do you face with this approach?"
They reveal delays in order processing and frequent
stockouts. Rather than jumping to his solution, Michael digs deeper with
implication questions:
"How do these stockouts affect your relationships with
key customers?"
The client admits they've lost two major accounts due to
fulfillment delays. Finally, Michael asks need-payoff questions:
"If you could reduce stockouts by 80% and cut order
processing time in half, how would that impact your business?"
By letting the customer discover and articulate their own
needs, Michael creates a powerful case for his solution. When he finally
presents his software, it's not about features – it's about solving the
specific challenges they've discussed. The sale follows naturally because the
customer sees the direct connection between their problems and his solution.
By letting the customer talk, the sale became inevitable.
This was a massive jump for me in sales. Once again I
invested in Allan Pease’s Priority Selling program which I still use right now
and it is probably the best questioning method I have ever seen.
5. Inbound & Digital Sales Revolution (2000s–2015)
Customers Start Coming to You
Then came the internet, and suddenly buyers were in
control. They could research, compare, and even buy—all without talking to
a salesperson.
The response? Inbound Marketing. Instead of chasing
customers, companies started attracting them through content, SEO, and
social media.
Key Innovations
✔ Inbound Marketing:
Blogs, ebooks, webinars—educate first, sell later.
✔ CRM & Email Automation: Lead nurturing
at scale.
✔ Social Selling: LinkedIn became the new
sales playground.
✔ Trust Over Transactions: Customers valued
relationships over quick wins.
Example: SaaS & B2B Selling
Instead of cold calling, companies like HubSpot built entire
businesses by offering free value (webinars, whitepapers, and free trials)—letting
customers come to them.
Real-World Example: HubSpot's Growth Story
Consider Emma, a marketing director at a growing tech
company in 2010. Her traditional outbound marketing efforts (cold calls, trade
shows, print ads) were yielding diminishing returns. Then she discovered
HubSpot's approach.
Instead of making cold calls, she:
- Created
a series of educational blog posts about digital marketing
- Offered
a free ebook: "The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Automation"
- Hosted
monthly webinars on marketing best practices
- Built
an email nurture sequence that provided value over time
The results transformed her business:
- A
prospect reads her blog post about email marketing
- They
download the free ebook, entering their contact information
- The
CRM automatically enrols them in a nurture sequence
- They
receive personalized emails with more valuable content
- They
attend a webinar about marketing automation
- When
ready to buy, they reach out to Emma's team already educated and convinced
This approach generated three times more qualified leads
than traditional outbound methods, and prospects entered sales conversations
already understanding the value proposition. The sale became less about
convincing and more about consulting on implementation.
I still use this approach today. I create free eBooks that
tell the clients exactly what to do (the how to do it is what they pay me for)
and I use Kajabi for my landing
pages.
Here is
an example of a free giveaway.
6. AI, Data-Driven, and Predictive Selling (2015–Present)
Sales Becomes Smarter Than Ever
Now, AI and automation are changing the game again. Sales is
no longer guesswork—it’s about data, precision, and
hyper-personalization.
Key Tools & Tactics
✔ AI-Powered Insights:
Gong.io analyzes sales calls to improve win rates.
✔ Predictive Lead Scoring: AI ranks leads
based on likelihood to buy.
✔ Multi-Channel Outreach: LinkedIn, video
messages, email, SMS—it’s all integrated.
✔ Personalization at Scale: AI-powered tools
craft tailored outreach automatically.
Example: The Modern Salesperson
A BDM today doesn’t just cold call—they use LinkedIn
Sales Navigator, Lusha, and AI-generated scripts to send hyper-personalized
messages, increasing response rates dramatically.
Meet Lisa, a modern B2B software sales executive. Before her
first contact with a prospect, she's already used LinkedIn Sales Navigator to
understand their business, Gong.io to analyze successful pitch patterns, and AI
tools to predict their likely pain points. Her outreach starts with a
personalized video message referring to the prospect's recent company
announcement. She follows up with targeted content based on their interaction
with her company's website. When she finally gets on a call, she's armed with
AI-generated insights about their industry challenges and specific ways her
solution has helped similar companies. The entire process is data-driven,
personalized, and focused on delivering value before asking for the sale.
This is what all modern sales teams should be doing on a
daily basis, if they are not, drop me an email at frank@frankfurness.com and let me come
in and work with your team.
The Future of Sales? A Hybrid Approach
Sales has come full circle. The persistence of
door-knocking, the strategy of SPIN Selling, and the precision of
AI are all merging.
Winning Formula Today?
✔ Use AI to work smarter.
✔ Build trust through personalization.
✔ Be a consultant, not a salesperson.
✔ Leverage multiple channels (LinkedIn, video,
email, calls).
✔ Stay ahead—because sales never stops evolving.
I see several exciting changes on the horizon:
- Deeper
Personalization: AI will enable even more granular personalization,
tailoring every interaction to the individual prospect's needs and
preferences.
- The
Rise of Conversational AI: Chatbots and virtual assistants will play
an increasingly important role in sales, handling initial qualification
and providing 24/7 support.
- Focus
on Value-Based Selling: The emphasis will continue to shift towards
building long-term relationships and providing ongoing value to customers.
To adapt, I'm constantly exploring new technologies and
refining my strategies:
- Investing
in AI Tools: I'm actively experimenting with AI-powered platforms like
Evy.ai and Crystal Knows to
enhance my LinkedIn outreach and communication.
- Creating
Engaging Content: I'm focusing on producing high-quality content that
educates and entertains my audience, building trust and establishing
thought leadership.
- Building
Authentic Relationships: I'm prioritizing genuine engagement,
responding to comments, and participating in discussions to foster
meaningful connections. Please connect with me on
LinkedIn for all my latest strategies.
By staying ahead of the curve and embracing innovation, I'm confident that I can continue to thrive in the ever-evolving world of sales.
The bottom line? The best salespeople today are part
old-school closer, part digital marketer, and part AI-powered consultant.
Where do you see sales going next?
Remember, in today’s rapidly evolving sales environment,
standing still means falling behind. Your competitors are already adapting –
are you?
Connect with me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankfurness or
visit www.frankfurness.com to
learn more about how we can work together to achieve extraordinary results for
your sales team.
Book me now, contact frank@frankfurness.com
