“The Buttons Are Anchored On The Shirts”
The May Company, of Baltimore, took our “Tested Selling Sentence” for men‟s shirts, “The buttons are anchored on and won‟t break off in the wringer,” and gave it to their salespeople. Sales were fair; but when the clerks began “saying it with flowers” and started to tug on the buttons, dramatically, in front of the customers, sales tripled! Customers heard the “owner benefit” (A), and then saw proof of it (B); and because of the “monkey-see, monkey-do instinct” in all of us, they would take the shirts into their OWN HANDS and tug on the buttons to convince themselves!
They Don‟t Always Work, Though
I have often been asked, “Do you have trouble in finding selling sentences?” Of course we do. Hundreds of times. Often many tests are made before a single word is discovered.
For instance, we had the idea that we could sell Macy‟s Men‟s Featherweight Shirts by placing them on the counter, having the clerk say, “See how light they are!” and then blow them off the counter into the customer‟s hands. Fine drama! Ten-second words that conveyed the sale‟s idea! But the idea failed! The first Macy clerk didn‟t have enough “lung power” to raise the shirt off the counter; one ex- football player blew it over the customer‟s shoulder; and two other salesmen had breaths filled with cigarette smoke that almost “gassed” their customers. Here was a fine idea that failed the first ten minutes it was tested. Then we created this idea. The clerk would take a broadcloth shirt, place it into the right hand of the customer and say, “Feel the weight of this shirt.” The clerk would then take the broadcloth and hand the customer the lighter Featherweight, saying, “Now feel the weight of THIS shirt!” The great difference in weight was felt by the customer at once! A nice example of the principles of selling in ten seconds, with plenty of owner benefits (A) and proof (B) ! Pictures Give Plenty of Proof Arthur Hood, of the Johns-Manville Company, has shown me pictures of kitchens before and after being remodelled, as proof that their products do transform ugly kitchens into dream kitchens. The Johns-Manville man opens many a sale with this “Tested Selling Sentence”: “How would you like to see the kitchen we have just done over for Mrs. Smith down the street?”
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