That single sentence made the little boy‟s eyes pop out. He became an assistant salesman and would start selling his mother on why he should have a pair. Did he care if the moccasins were healthy or unhealthy? No! Did he care if the beads would last five minutes or five years? No – all he visualized was that he could wear them up and down the street and make his friends envious by saying:
“Whoopee! The kind the REAL INDIANS WEAR!”
Basically we are all alike, and we all respond to the same “sizzles.” This one sells three out of thirteen times it is used!
Selling White Shoe Polish
Every one of you at some time or other has gone into a store to purchase some white shoe polish. You have heard many such selling statements as:
1. “It is liquid and spreads on easier.” 2. “It won‟t rub off.” 3. “It is in cake form and lasts longer.” 4. “It keeps shoes white longer.”
5. “Was 25 c
– now 15 c
.”
Which of these statements would influence you? Which do you think increased sales three hundred per cent? Yes, you guessed it! Sentence 2.
The Hecht Company in Washington, D.C., had the three hundred per cent sales increase, and today several manufacturers are using these four words as their main headline in advertisements and on billboards. All people want the white to stay on. It is a basic appeal!
The Story of Barbasol
I was asked by the Barbasol Company, in the person of F. B. Shields, president, to find a good “Tested Selling Approach” to use on men shopping in drugstores and at toilet goods counters. Going to Sears, Roebuck & Company in Cleveland to set up our field word laboratory, we soon discovered there were 146 statements that could be used in approaching a customer, yet one came to the surface as best. It was:
“How would you like to save six minutes shaving?”
This is a sure-fire leading question, for what man could honestly reply, “Not interested – I love to hang around the bathroom shaving!”
When the man asked how he could cut his shaving time, he was told:
P. 30
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