the evolution of sales tools
TRANSCRIPT
Back in the day, “sales & marketing” meant announcing what goods you had for sale. With the invention of the megaphone in the 1600s, salespeople gained a louder voice.
With the arrival of the first newspaper advertisement in 1704, salespeople no longer needed to rely solely on shouting in order to get their messages across.
Ding-dong! (door opens) “Hello there, have you heard about this amazing new product ...” The invention of the electric doorbell in 1831 made it easier for door-to-door salespeople to get our attention.
Patented in 1837 by Samuel Morse, the telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication. In 1864, a dentist used it to send unsolicited, promotional telegrams—history’s first spam.
Today, the direct mail industry brings in around $12 billion in revenue each year. But it all started with Aaron Montgomery Ward, who produced the world’s first mail-order catalog in 1872.
For more than a century, the telephone has been a salesperson’s best friend. It was patented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. (The hands-free headsets came later.)
In 1895, John Deere launched the first-ever brand magazine, The Furrow. Today, salespeople the world over use branded content as a way to educate and win over customers.
Invented by Danish engineer Hildaur Neilsen in 1956, the Rolodex was instrumental in helping salespeople stay organized in the pre-CRM days.
The first email was sent in 1971. The first spam email was sent just 7 years later. Today, email is an important tool in a salesperson’s tool belt. However, a new technology—1:1 messaging—is beginning to replace it ...
In 1986, the first customer relationship management software application, ACT!, was released, forever changing how salespeople keep track of customer data.
Meet the modern salesperson’s best friend: 1:1 messaging software. Originally developed in the 1990s, a new wave of 1:1 messaging software is now sweeping the globe.
For billions of people around the world, 1:1 messaging is now their preferred mode of communication. And 9 out of 10 consumers want to be able to use messaging to talk to businesses today.