Recently on Turner Classic Movies, I watched a documentary simply titled “Brando.”
There was a moment in it that sliced through my heart.
It didn’t come from the legendary movie actor himself, though.
Recently on Turner Classic Movies, I watched a documentary simply titled “Brando.”
There was a moment in it that sliced through my heart.
It didn’t come from the legendary movie actor himself, though.
The year was 1937…
The Great Depression was still taking a heavy toll. Prices and profits were low… international trade was down by two-thirds… millions stood in line for jobs that didn’t exist.
But not everyone was suffering.
A young man by the name of Elmer Wheeler was paid $5,000 for coming up with nine simple words.
You see, at the time, Texaco was looking to sell more motor oil to their customers. Too many people, without giving it a second thought, said “No” when a service station attendant asked “Check your oil today?”
Wheeler suggested replacing “Check your oil today?” with “Is your oil at the proper level today, sir?” (more…)
It was 1898.
James Webb Young dropped out of school and started working for a book publisher. He was 12 years old.
By the time he turned 22, he was advertising manager. In 1912, he joined the prestigious advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. And he quickly became known as an “idea man.”
In 1917, Young became vice president of the agency. In 1919, he wrote one of his most famous ads. It was for the deodorant Odorono, and ran in the Ladies’ Home Journal. At the time, women found any mention of underarm odor to be in bad taste. Cleverly avoiding the word “armpit,” his headline grabbed attention with “Within the Curve of a Woman’s Arm.” But then readers were hit with this: “Persons troubled with perspiration odor seldom can detect it themselves.” Outraged, more than 200 women canceled their subscriptions to the magazine. Despite the controversy, sales of Odorono went up 112 percent. (more…)
"Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle."
That just might be the most famous piece of sales advice ever. And, as a marketer, knowing the real meaning behind those words can transform your company’s sales copy – and your bottom line.
I often wondered who came up with such a great line. Until about a week ago, I still didn’t know…
I was reading Joe Vitale’s latest book, Buying Trances. In it, he mentions Elmer Wheeler as the originator of the idea.
Who’s Elmer Wheeler? Born in 1904, Mr. Wheeler was well known as one of the pioneers of persuasion.
In Buying Trances, Joe tells the story of how Texaco was looking to sell more oil to their customers. Too many people, without giving it a second thought, said "no" when a service station attendant asked "Check your oil today?" Wheeler suggested replacing the question with "Is your oil at the proper level today, sir?"
Now asking something like "Is your oil at the proper level today, sir?" would seem to be just common sense. A line so simple you’d think most gas station owners would naturally come up with it – but few did.
Which is why Texaco paid Wheeler $5,000 for those nine words… a small fortune in the depression-riddled 1930s.
They got their money’s worth and more. In one week, Texaco attendants got under 250,000 more hoods.
Another Wheeler sales triumph came when he was asked by the president of Barbasol to help them sell more shaving cream.
The first slogan they tried was "How would you like to save six minutes shaving?" Wheeler instructed their salespeople to then say "Use Barbasol. Just spread it on. Shave it off. Nothing else required!"
When they tested it, they found it increased sales by 102 percent.
A light bulb went off in Wheeler’s head, and he changed the slogan to "How would you like to slash your shaving time in half?"
That adjustment increased sales by another 300 percent.
Over the years, Wheeler tested 105,000 selling statements for 5,000 products. He eliminated 100,000 of them.
He summed up the philosophy behind what he called "Tested Selling" by saying…
"Don’t think so much about what you want to say as about what the prospect wants to hear – then the response you will get will more often be the one you are aiming for."
Great advice.
In his book Testing Sentences That Sell, Wheeler laid out his five "Wheelerpoints":
Wheelerpoint #1. "Don’t sell the steak – sell the sizzle." It’s one of the first things a new marketer or copywriter learns. Sell benefits and deeper benefits. Your prospect could care less about the product.
Wheelerpoint #2. "Don’t write – telegraph!" Back in Wheeler’s day, telegraphs were a popular way for people to send messages. But you were charged by the word. So, to keep the price down, you had to choose your words wisely. By saying "Don’t write – telegraph," Wheeler meant "Make every word count." He often said "Your first 10 words are more important than the next 10,000"… and "You have only 10 short seconds to catch your prospect’s attention."
Wheelerpoint #3. "Say it with flowers." This simply means that it’s not enough to make a statement to your prospect. You have to prove it. In other words, say "I love you," and then prove it by sending flowers. (Of course, you have to be sincere and do it convincingly.)
Wheelerpoint #4. "Don’t ask if – ask which." Meaning, always give your prospect a choice between something and something… never between something and nothing. For Abraham and Straus, Wheeler worked out a way for their soda fountains to sell more eggs. Instead of asking "Would you like an egg with that?" the clerk would ask "One egg or two eggs?" while holding an egg in each hand. The result? Seven out of 10 customers added at least one egg to their order.
I’d like to add my two cents to this one…
I’m continually surprised by how many waiters and waitresses don’t use this gentle sales technique. Most ask if you’ll be having wine with dinner. Few say "Will you be having white wine or red wine with dinner tonight?"
And one more example from Wheeler for this point:
He noticed that when a customer at the soda fountain requested a cola and was asked whether they wanted "small" or "large," most chose "small." He wondered what would happen if the clerk, instead, just said "Large one?" When they put it to the test, they found that seven out of 10 people said "Yes." This simple idea could have a dramatic impact on a fast-food restaurant’s bottom line. If they sell 500 drinks a day and the difference between a small and a large is 50 cents, converting 70 percent of their drink orders to large translates into an additional $175 per day. Over a year, that’s an increase of $63,875!
Wheelerpoint #5. "Watch your bark!" This one came out of Wheeler’s love of dogs – and how much you can tell about how a dog feels by the way they wag their tails and the sound of their barks. So by saying "Watch your bark!" Wheeler’s reminding us that it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. For copywriters, that means keeping the tone of your copy conversational and engaging.
I’ve printed out these five Wheelerpoints and taped them up next to my computer. They’re as meaningful for all of us in the "persuasion business" today as they were when Elmer came up with them 60+ years ago.
Wheeler wrote many books during his life. They are hard to find, however you can access his Testing Sentences That Sell, free of charge, online at stoneruniversity.com/TestedSentences/index.html.
[Ed. Note: Classic sales and marketing techniques are classic for a reason - they work! Quickly master the secrets of one advertising legend and command top-dollar from companies eager to beat a path to your door. Learn more here.
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Joe Girard knows how to sell cars.
In fact, he’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world’s greatest salesman."
To become the world’s greatest salesperson, he used what is perhaps the most underused lead-generation technique in the world. Yet it’s probably the most effective way of getting new business that there is. It gives a salesperson instant credibility with a prospective customer – making the prospect more likely to buy.
The idea came to Girard while he was attending a funeral.
Before I tell you what it is, let’s take a look at some of the most notable selling statistics from Girard’s 14-year (1963 to 1977) car-selling career (courtesy of Tom Sant’s book The Giants of Sales, in which Girard is profiled)…
Amazing. Especially when you consider that when he first applied for a job as a car salesman, no one would hire him. At the time, he was in debt and struggling to keep his family fed.
The sales manager who finally hired him at first said "No," explaining that if he hired Girard his other salespeople wouldn’t like it because their share of walk-in traffic would be reduced. It was only when Girard said he wasn’t interested in the walk-in traffic – he would generate his own leads – that he was hired.
He quickly found that selling without access to the dealership’s walk-in traffic was more difficult than he had hoped it would be.
The first thing he did was grab a phonebook and started calling people randomly. He made some headway, but it was tough slogging.
The Funeral That Changed His Approach to Sales
It was around this time that he attended that funeral. It was a Catholic funeral. Mass cards were given out to all those in attendance.
Girard asked the funeral director how he knew how many mass cards to have printed up for each funeral.
The funeral director told Girard that the number of people attending a funeral always seems to average out to 250. So that’s how many he prints up each time.
Soon after that, Girard sold a car to a Protestant funeral director. When he asked how many people typically attend a Protestant funeral, he got the same reply: "About 250."
When he attended a wedding, he asked the minister the same question. The answer was about 250 on the bride’s side and 250 on the groom’s side.
Joe Girard’s "Law of 250"
It was then that Girard came up with what he called the "Law of 250."
The basic principle is that most people have about 250 people in their lives who would show up at their funeral or wedding. There are exceptions, of course. Some have more, some have less. But the average seems to be 250.
So how did he use this information?
First off, he realized that if he did a crummy job of selling a car to somebody, he could potentially lose 250 more customers.
But, more important – if he did a great job, he could gain 250 more customers.
So Girard reasoned that if he consistently built strong relationships with his customers and treated them fairly, it would make his job a lot easier in the long run.
So he set his sights on getting referrals. How did he go about it?
Here are the three main ways…
Girard’s dedication to keeping in touch with his customers instilled in them a psychological obligation to do business with him. His customers would never even dream of buying a car from someone else.
Girard has often said he doesn’t believe in hard work. That what he does believe in is working smart. And no one approached selling cars any smarter than Joe Girard did.
No matter what product or service you sell, if you don’t have a referral and repeat-business strategy in place, you’re working too hard.
Here are a few referral-related tactics you can start using tomorrow:
1. Go the extra mile for your customers and prospects.
Do things that will make you stand out from the pack. If you see an article that you feel may interest one of them, mail it (or e-mail it, but sending something in the mail tends to have a greater impact). A good way to find appropriate articles is to set up a Google News Alert for topics you feel would interest your customers. If you think a story is relevant, send them the link.
2. Make sure your customers know about every service you provide.
If you sell Product A to someone, make sure they also know you carry Products B, C, and D. The more solutions your customers know you provide, the more likely it is that they’ll know someone who will benefit from getting a call from you.
3. Establish relationships with people who sell complementary products or services.
For example, if you sell boats, contact the local marina and introduce yourself. Tell them you’ll be referring your customers to them, and make them aware that you’d be open to any referrals from them.
4. Ask for a referral.
If you don’t ask, chances are you’ll never get a referral. Customers usually don’t volunteer them on their own. When the time seems right, say something like "Do you know anyone else I might be able to help out?"
5. Always thank your customers for their referrals.
Obviously, say "Thank you." But then take it one step further. Send a thank you note or a small gift. It could lead to another referral.
6. Keep your customers informed.
Let your customers know what happened when you called the person they referred you to. Offer to keep them in the loop as things progress.
Develop and follow through on a referral and repeat-business strategy and, like Joe Girard, you’ll make more sales… and have an easier time doing it.
[Ed. Note: Anyone can become a selling superstar - it's not a talent you're born with. Discover hundreds of sales secrets from master copywriters like Michael Masterson, Paul Hollingshead, and Don Mahoney with the AWAI Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting. Get the details here.
And for weekly tips on how to connect with your customers, sign up for AWAI's free newsletter, The Golden Thread.]