Send us Fan MailIn 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

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