Did you know that silent reading—what you are doing right now—was once a radical innovation that fundamentally changed society?
In Greco-Roman antiquity, texts had no spaces, but were written in an uninterrupted stream: LIKEINTHISEXAMPLEOFTEXT.
This was called Scriptura Continua and required expert readers who read aloud to “find the words.”
But… why?
Papyrus was expensive, and writing the text together was economically smart.
Furthermore, text was viewed as a reproduction of speech. And when we speak, we usually don’t pause between words.
This was the norm. For over a thousand years.
Until Irish monks, around 700 AD, began separating words with small gaps to make the text easier to understand.
The result? 🤔
Suddenly, people could read silently, faster, and independently.
A small space democratized knowledge and became the starting point for the intellectual revolution.
👉 A single space changed everything.
And here is a clear parallel to sales today.
Many sales presentations and websites are still like Scriptura Continua.
A steady stream of information, processes, specifications, USPs, and case studies.
It works. But only for customers who have already decided.
Today, companies do about 70% of their buyer journey themselves before contacting a salesperson (Sources: Gartner, McKinsey, Forrester).
In other words: they don’t need information.
👉 They need help understanding.
Understanding their situation. Their challenges. And the paths forward.
The space made it possible to read independently.
Similarly, modern sales can create “spaces” where the customer can think, understand, and make decisions at their own pace, with the salesperson as an advisor.
Spaces in the form of:
💡 Questions the customer should ask themselves
💡 Processes that help them move forward
💡 Pitfalls to avoid
But this requires that we stop overloading the customer with messages about what we offer, and instead create room for insight and understanding.
So, how does a selling organization become a winner?
👉 By doing what the monks did more than a thousand years ago.
Not trying to fill every line, but creating spaces where understanding emerges.
Because the magic happens in the spaces: Where the customer goes from information to insight, from listener to participant, from recipient to decision-maker.
The sales organizations that succeed in creating these spaces in their meetings, on their websites, and yes, in all their communication will not only sell more.
They will build trust, loyalty, and long-term relationships.
A small space changed everything then.
And it will do so again.
