The Sales History Podcast

Hosted by Todd Caponi

Business Management

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Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Welcome to The Sales History Podcast, the show that uncovers the forgotten stories, ideas, pioneers, and moments that shaped the sales profession and what they can teach us about selling, leading, and earning trust today. The show is hosted by three-time award-winning author of The Transparency Sale, The Transparent Sales Leader, and Four Levers Negotiating, who has earned the Certified Speaking Professional keynote speaker designation, is a go-to-market sales trainer, and a sales nerd, Todd Caponi.

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60 recent

September 10, 202621 min

Tin Men: The Scams of the 1960s Aluminum Siding Salespeople

Send us Fan Mail In the 1950s and 1960s, aluminum siding salespeople, known as “Tin Men”, became infamous for some of the most creative and dishonest sales tactics in American history. Bait-and-switch advertising. Fake “model home” discounts. Theatrical calls to nonexistent managers. Broken yardsticks. Phony guarantees, misleading financing, fake deadlines and “free” gifts that were neither free nor delivered. Some salespeople even refused to leave a homeowner’s kitchen until a contract was signed. In this episode, I dig into the aluminum siding history and explore the real schemes that inspired the 1987 movie Tin Men , the government regulations created to stop them, and how the industry transformed the public image of salespeople from semi-trusted professionals into fast-talking, high-pressure manipulators. I may be biased, but some of them are pretty funny, really creative, and sadly, still in use in certain places today. 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. Support the show

August 27, 2026Episode 416 min

Women in Sales in the 1800s - Their Stories & Lessons

Send us Fan Mail A hundred years before many (including myself) thought women really entered sales offices in the 1980s, they were traveling America’s railroads, dirt roads, mining towns, and rural communities, selling books door to door. In this episode, I dug deep into the stories of the women who "carried a bag", literally, in the 1800s, confronting hardship, danger, sexism, and social stigma in pursuit of income, independence, and opportunity. #womeninsales 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. Support the show

August 13, 2026Episode 318 min

The Sales Genius of Benjamin Franklin

Send us Fan Mail Benjamin Franklin is known as an inventor, printer, scientist, and Founding Father. In this episode, we look at him through a lens he rarely gets credit for - and I had no idea about: sales savant. Turns out, Franklin was a master persuader who sold ideas, institutions, French support for the American Revolution, and ultimately consensus around the U.S. Constitution. Through stories from his autobiography and things I dug up from 100+-year-old sales books and magazines, we explore Franklin’s sales philosophies that you can use today. 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. Support the show

July 30, 2026Episode 222 min

The 1908 Broadway Play That Put Sales on Trial

Send us Fan Mail In 1908, Broadway audiences packed theaters to see The Traveling Salesman , a comedy built on something really familiar - the fact that nobody trusted salespeople. In this episode, I take you through the play, exploring how the sales profession went from untrusted to trusted and back again, and what this old play can teach us about buyer skepticism, transparency, and reputation. 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. Support the show

July 16, 2026Episode 114 min

The Great Sales Irony of Prohibition

Send us Fan Mail 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. Support the show

December 18, 2025Episode 1216 min

The Salesman Who Lacked Courage - A Negotiating Story from 1907

Send us Fan Mail Anxiety in negotiating is timeless. In this episode, I tell a story written in 1907 about a salesperson who lacked courage as it relates to delivering and negotiating price. It has so many lessons that are still so applicable today. This 115+ year old problem matters more today than ever. Today, we're still treating negotiating like it's the peak of the selling engagement, versus the early milestone it truly is. We are taught to defend, explain, and concede, eroding trust right at the goal line instead of negotiating on a sound foundation that builds trust. If negotiation feels like the moment everything goes sideways, this episode will help you understand why and how to change it. COMING IN JANUARY OF 2026 - Four Levers Negotiating - chock full of history quotes, too...pre-order now. @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past (and can also be found @saleshistorian on X, too) 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. Support the show

November 13, 2025Episode 1113 min

The Most Significant Sales Keynote In History

Send us Fan Mail Picture this. A sales conference featuring the then-sitting president of the United States as the keynote speaker. It happened in July of 1916. It wasn’t because the president had nothing going on that day, happened to be in town, and decided to swing by. A world war was raging in Europe. What we now know as World War 1. It was because Woodrow Wilson had an important message for the sales world that day. It was the United States' opportunity to establish itself as a world superpower…and it depended largely on salespeople to make it happen. He had four lessons he wanted every salesperson to hear clearly and embrace. It was the most significant sales keynote speech of all time… these are the lessons. @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past (and can also be found @saleshistorian on X, too) 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. COMING IN JANUARY OF 2026 - Four Levers Negotiating - chock full of history quotes, too...pre-order now. Support the show

October 30, 2025Episode 1023 min

How Legislation Has Shaped the Sales Profession More Than Technology

Send us Fan Mail This may sound crazy, but I truly believe that government legislation has had a larger impact on changing the sales profession than has technology or the proliferation of information available to buyers. Legislation changed things more significantly. Legislation changed things faster. The sales profession has consistently pushed the boundaries since the 19th century, driven by greed, and it is the government that has created the rules by which we've all had to play. In this episode, I take you through those significant pieces of legislation and how they immediately and wholly changed the way we sell. (Lots of research went into this episode...hope you enjoy it!) @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past (and can also be found @saleshistorian on X, too) 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. COMING IN JANUARY OF 2026 - Four Levers Negotiating - chock full of history quotes, too...pre-order now. Support the show

October 16, 2025Episode 916 min

225 Years of Evolving Sales Personas

Send us Fan Mail "The selling methods of any period grow out of the economic situation of the time." - H.K. Nixon, Principles of Selling , 1931 Looking back over the past 225 years, the prominent persona in the sales profession has moved from the Peddler to the Drummer to the Confidence Man, then swung back and forth between "high pressure" sales versus the true "service" salesperson. In this episode, we explore the personalities and personas since the early 1800s, understanding what drove those shifts, and how to think about the future required sales personas. @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past (and can also be found @saleshistorian on X, too) 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. COMING IN JANUARY OF 2026 - Four Levers Negotiating - chock full of history quotes, too...pre-order now. Support the show

October 2, 2025Episode 815 min

The 100-Year Sales Echo: Repeating History, and What Happens Next?

Send us Fan Mail In March of 2022, I released an episode of this podcast called "Using History To Predict - The Future of Sales", as we had been repeating the 1920s. Here we are over 3 1/2 years later, and so far, it's been right on! In an article I found from 1921, the writer describes in striking detail what was happening at the time, coupled with profound advice and guidance on how to prepare for what's to come. In this episode, I walk you through the overlap, share paragraphs from the article, and help you predict the next few years. I'm no Nostradamus, but history repeating is batting almost a perfect 1.000! @saleshistorian on Instagram - daily quotes, pics & comics from the past 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. COMING IN JANUARY OF 2026 - Four Levers Negotiating - chock full of history quotes, too...pre-order now. Support the show