A door-to-door ‘salesman’ went from place to place with a box that he offered at each door. The box was Sphere. Every time, the person who opened the door asked "what can I use it for?" Each time the door was slammed in his face because the salesman forgot to say that it has three elements.

In Central America, the ‘salesman’ got to a local centre where the people forced him to open it and he realised that to sell it, people had to be able to look at its various parts. They are:

1) Process of Sphere: national groups need to reach consensus on how they are going to work together. Sphere as a name should be subordinate to country priorities – whether risk management, education, peace or whatever. 2) Using the Handbook 3) Commitment to the humanitarian values of the Humanitarian Charter.

 The ‘salesman’ realised that to be relevant, each ‘customer’ has to be able to distinguish between the three parts, in order to see which applies to them in their own context.