Abstract
This chapter traces the roots of selling as a professional activity. Starting with ancient roots of how early mankind exchanged one value for another, it traces the exchange of values to include the use of a legal tender, money. The chapter illustrates how selling changed over time, and continued to change to make the salespersons more successful. The question this chapter raises is why were these changes necessary and were they permanent, or were more changes to come in a continuous process of change? Beginning with the need to sell something, sales is seen as a process that needs to find its way. As commercial sellers, business to business, differentiated from sellers of consumer goods, they developed unique professional skills. Were these skills and requirements permanent or just a bump in the road to an ever-evolving profession? Using critical thinking to evaluate the history of selling we conclude that selling is never satisfied with the current process and continues to change as technology, methods of transportation and commerce change.
TopAncient Origins
As the sun rises early one fall morning during the Paleolithic period (roughly 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 B.C.), a cave dweller looks out from his cave and searches the horizon for a furry animal to hunt. He lives a simple existence, living off the land and what he can kill. He is seeking the skin of a heavily furred animal to make a warm blanket or wrap to keep him, or his family, snug during the brutish and cold days and nights ahead. He sees another cave dweller appear from his cave, across the way, carrying a large animal skin with a full set of fur.
Figure 1. Source: Robot100 (2023) The cave dweller comes out of his home, approaches the other man, and grunts pointing to the fur skin he is carrying. The second cave dweller indicates that this fur skin is an extra one, and he would be willing to give this to the first person who offers him something he can use, something of value. After thinking this over, the cave dweller returns to his cave, grabs a large rack of meat he has stored there, and returns to the outside discussion. He does not need this rack of meat, as his hunt the prior day was very successful, it is surplus, and he has plenty to feed himself and his family. He indicates to the fur bearing cave dweller that he would give the meat in exchange for the fur. Both cave dwellers agree, and the exchange is made. The first cave dweller gains a warm fur skin garment, while the second dweller is now able to feed himself and his family for some time.
A sale was made, and the deal closed!
At that moment, in this story, the concept of money has not arrived. According to a Google source (when was money invented? 2022),
In 600 BCE, Lydia’s King Alyattes minted what is believed to be the first official currency, the Lydian stater. The coins were made from electrum, a mixture of silver and gold that occurs naturally, and the coins were stamped with pictures that acted as denominations. (para.1)
When the cave dwellers meet, things are not acquired by using some form of legal tender or precious metal. Instead, a sale of a surplus item is made through an exchange for another surplus item, and both parties consider the deal a win/win situation.
Some might argue that the first sale was made by Eve in the Garden of Eden. Gitomer (2000) suggested that,
Eve sold Adam the apple. The first sale. A sale based on ethics, values and morality. Or was it just the opposite? She had no sales tools, no power point presentations, no brochures. Eve was persuasive. She used her words and her body language, so to speak, to make the sale. (Gitomer, 2000, p. 40A)
The idea of sales and selling is based on an exchange of value for value. Only later is that exchange modified to allow for a substitute for one of the goods, in the form of money or gold or silver. Only later in history were gold, silver, and other items considered valuable enough to be used in exchange for some other item. These forms of tender are a promise that they can be exchanged later, with someone else, for another item the seller later desires.
This early activity of exchanging goods, the first type of sale, was identified in modern economic thinking:
It comes as something of a surprise, perhaps, to discover how very ancient is that pedigree. Men have traded with one another at least as far back as the last Ice Age. We have evidence that the mammoth-hunters of the Russian steppes obtained Mediterranean shells in trade, as did also the Cro-Magnon hunters of the central valleys of France. In fact, on the moors of Pomerania in northeastern Germany, archeologists have come across an oaken box with the remains of its original leather shoulder strap, in which were a dagger, a sickle head, and a needle - all of Bronze Age manufacture. According to the conjectures of experts, this was very likely the sample kit of a prototype o£ the traveling salesman itinerant representative who collected orders for the specialized production of his community. (Heilbroner, 1962, p. 19)
Most economists conclude that selling is based on satisfying a need, real or imagined, by the exchange of things. Originally, it was goods for goods:
Key Terms in this Chapter
Drummers: Can refer to individuals who play drums as musicians. However, it might also be used more broadly to describe people who promote or advocate for a cause, idea, or product. For example, in business or marketing, “drummers” could be individuals who actively and energetically promote a product or service (OpenAI, 2023 AU13: The in-text citation "OpenAI, 2023" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
Paleolithic Era: Also known as the Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric period of human history that spans from the earliest use of stone tools by hominins, around 3.3 million years ago, to the development of agriculture and the beginning of the Neolithic Era, around 12,000 years ago. During the Paleolithic Era, humans were primarily hunter-gatherers, relying on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants for sustenance. The era is characterized by the use of simple stone tools and the development of early forms of art and symbolic expression (OpenAI, 2023 AU15: The in-text citation "OpenAI, 2023" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
Legal Tender: Refers to currency or coins that are recognized by law as acceptable forms of payment for goods, services, debts, or financial transactions. In each jurisdiction, legal tender is typically issued or authorized by the government and must be accepted by individuals and businesses for transactions (OpenAI, 2023 AU14: The in-text citation "OpenAI, 2023" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).
Commis Voyageur: A French term that translates to “traveling salesman” in English. It refers to a sales representative or agent who travels to different locations to promote and sell goods or services on behalf of a company (OpenAI, 2023 AU12: The in-text citation "OpenAI, 2023" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ).