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Chapter 8. Persuasion

The word persuasion suggests and actually involves a certain intimacy at which it is difficult to arrive in business. Before we dare employ the arts of persuasion we must know that our standing with our prospective customer is such that he will not resent our placing a paternal hand on his knee and talking to him for his own good. When we have presented our proposition and adduced proof in support of every statement which is not self-evident, we may employ persuasion to gain our end.

But-as you hope for results! employ it sparingly and with diffidence. Put into it all the ingenuous indirection that you know. Appeal to the other mans springs or action, keep yourself and your will far in the background.

Nothing is better calculated to stir the ire and call forth the contempt of a big, busy, self-sufficient business man than to be asked, Can you afford to be without this great boon another day? will you let your prejudice stand between you and future wealth? and similar exhortation. Nothing will so quickly freeze your prospective client into glacial indifference as Will your stockholders approve of your rejecting this dividend -producing offer? Yet these phrases and dozens from the same can have been used and used by men whose familiarity with their own work has allowed them to become familiar with their customers.

The best way to persuade a man to take a trip into the country with you is not to say, Come on, Bill, don't stick around here all the time come on what s the use of wasting all your time in the city loosen up for once come on, wont you?

The weak-willed man may give in to such persuasion if he has no good reasons for not going. But the average man buckles up his back against such tactics.

There are men who can take you away from business, even when you ought to stay in town and want to stay in town. But such a man will approach the matter very tactfully. He will start with a sigh: Gee! Ill bet it s pretty in the country just now. Don't you get to longing about this time every year to get out and lie on the grass to tramp through the woods or wander along the banks of some little creek and smoke your pipe?

Id just like to get on some old clothes and gather water-cress say, did you ever tramp along some clear, fresh stream, gather a big bunch of crisp, green water-cress, spear some bull-frogs, roast the frog-legs on a stick over a wood fire, then eat frog-legs, water-cress, bread and butter? and afterward lie under a tree and smoke and then take a brisk walk home?

Gee, old man, what do you say to knocking of business and taking a run up to the Glens for Saturday and Sunday I know just exactly the place up there? Never mind business I have got business, too, -it will only be one day gone, and you do twice as much work the day after let s be happy and have one of the good old -fashioned times.

Which man would get you? That's persuasion.

First make the customer want the goods then show how easy it is to get them gently lead him over the line.

Here is the way a correspondence school uses largely the same idea:

Think of those times when you have yearned for a future when you have grown impatient with the barriers that seem to hold you down to such a narrow sphere of life when you hear of the career of some acquaintance whom you know to be inwardly no more capable than you! It is a matter of developed opportunity.

Our instructions perfect you in a profession that is golden with opportunity. It fits you for success anywhere. Would you like to make your residence in busy, cosmopolitan New York?

Would you like to live in some quaint old southern town like New Orleans? Would you like some bustling western city like Kansas City, or San Francisco? Would you like to live in a quiet old national capital, Washington?

The profession we will train you to, will enable you to choose your own location there is unlimited demand for it everywhere. Will you not let me show you how you may reach out and grasp this opportunity?

If a touch of persuasion seems necessary to the proper rounding out of a letter, endeavor to hide it or dilute it, with another ingredient. See how cleverly this silversmith disguises his persuasion, for instance, how he suggests to me my need of such goods as he offers:

Does your table equipment as fairly represent your taste and means and far sighted prudence as the balance of your household furnishings? Why not? Your family s happiest hours are spent there. Your friends gather there. The finest associations of your household center about the table. A sterling silver service helps to perpetuate these associates in recollection, and if your selection is a work of true art, reflects credit upon you, through succeeding generations.

No matter how sincere you may be, and no matter how really important and deep-reaching your proposition may be to your prospect, bear always in mind that you are in is office uninvited and perhaps unwelcome and that you may not presume to the slightest intimacy. Here, if anywhere, does the element of breeding enter into business correspondence.

Persuasion of the exhortation type, as practiced by the dominie who prefixes every phrase with O, Brethren, is too dangerous for an ordinary mortal to attempt.

Above all, don't try to persuade a man to answer your letters by assuming an attitude of injury. If a man writes to you for information about the article you have for sale, or requests the sample of booklet you offer to give away free, don't think you can make him send you money by causing him to feel that he is indebted to you for sending him what you agreed to, free of all charges. Don't dictate, or attempt to force him to do business with you. Any letter a man writes you because he thinks he has to isn't worth the stamp that carries it. Here, for example, is the way one firm begins a letter which it expects to win customers:

Did you ever have the unpleasant experience of addressing a person upon a subject, without even being accorded the courtesy of a reply or worse still, did you ever answer any ones questions, to the best of your ability, without receiving a word in return for your time or trouble? If you have had either one or both of these experiences, you will understand how we feel because you haven't answered our letters.

That is only the beginning of this wailing and gnashing of teeth letter. The first thing the young man who received this letter said was, My, look at the raking over these fellows are giving me, simply because I accepted their invitation to investigate their article. I didn't find it what I wanted, so what was the use of writing?

Antagonism is the first product of such a letter. Instead of going after a prospect as though he had committed a sin, it would have been a hundred per cent more profitable to have continued the follow-up with a letter showing the prospect that the article was what he needed and wanted.

Another correspondence school gets this idea when it wrote:

Nearly every man can look back and not so far back either for most of us and say, If I had taken that chance, I would be much better of now. That is what you will say some day not far of, if you fail to consider seriously what we have offered you in our law courses, for our proposition means just what I have said a bigger earning capacity, a better position and standing, and brighter prospects in life.

But there is another and subtler form in which the art of suggestion is employed, which may be used frequently and with good results. A prominent ladies tailor used this idea effectively when he wrote: I am sure, madam, that if you could see yourself in one of these suits, you would acknowledge its perfect fit and exceptional finish.

Here is only a suggestion. The active persuasion is left to the imagination which, picturing a desirable result, can be counted upon to overcome the objections of the reader.

A watch manufacturer makes good use of suggestion in this way: You probably do not buy a watch with the idea of selling it again; yet that is a pretty good test of value. If you want to know the stand of [brand name] try to buy one at second hand.

And even so simple an article as a patent window lock is given a strong appeal when it is put up to me on a basis of suggested cause and effect after this fashion:

Why sleep or try to sleep with your windows shut tight and awake in the morning with a dull, sick headache? The WALKER LOCK will give you fresh air without sacrificing security, and you will get up refreshed and ready for a big day s work, healthy and happy.

Another case is that of a piano agency which has done a large business in the East, chiefly through sales-letters written by the head of the firm. One argument presented was:

Talk this proposition over with your husband. As a businessman, he will be able to guide you in business matters. The choice of the instrument can be left to you safely.

Persuasion that hinges upon self-interest is equally productive of results, but in the stress of much writing and in your endeavors to make each letter as strong as possible, you are prone to overdo it. Can you afford to permit a competitor to gain control of this profitable line? is persuasion to a merchant.

Certainly your boy should have the best! is a strong appeal to a mother. On the other hand, to tell a man that he is losing money every day he hesitates, to tell a woman that she is not treating her offspring right by refusing to equip them at Jones Emporium, is both untrue and lacking in tact.

Insurance, correspondence instruction, banking by mail building and loan propositions and other lines where the prosperity and comfort of clients is at issue, lend themselves to sale by persuasion. Commodities of daily business are best presented without it.

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Dear Sir:

Too formal Agreeable to your recent request for a catalogue of our school and information regarding our business courses, [Lacks sales value] we wish to state that under separate cover we are mailing you a copy of our latest catalogue, in which you will find a complete description of what we have to offer. We trust that after reading this, you will decide to enroll with us.

Prompts no action We shall be pleased to give your further inquiries our best attention and rusting to hear from you again, we are

Very truly yours,

This is an actual letter of the type too often used in replying to an inquiry for a catalogue and information. Here the prospect is referred entirely to the catalogue, while the letter serves only as a too formal acknowledgement, absolutely wanting in sales value. A reply to an inquiry, particularly regarding a school proposition such as this, should aim not only to give the inquirer the full information he requests, but to interest him personally. Note how this is accomplished in the more skilful letter on the opposite page.

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Dear Mr. Harrison:

Urges careful reading of catalogue You will receive under separate cover the catalogue you asked for explaining our courses in shorthand. Read this very carefully, for it will enable you to realize the value of a training in stenography and the unique advantages which our system of instruction affords.

Interest Your interest in the possibilities of a shorthand training is most commendable . There is a constantly growing demand for stenographers. Every day we are asked to recommend men and women for attractive positions. [Proof] And so successful have been the graduates of our school wherever we have recommended them that we are now able to place practically every student who finished our work in a well-paying position.

Personality I wish I could meet you personally so that I could show you better the practical advantages of our course. We do not merely teach we TRAIN you so that you continue to develop after your work with us has been completed so that you get 100% return on your talents.

Inducement I am particularly anxious to get a student started in your locality. And to enable you to be that one I am going to make you and exceptional offer a discount of 25% from the regular tuition if you act quickly. I can well afford to do this, because I know that when you have taken up our course you will be so enthusiastic about it that you will recommend it to your neighbors and your friends. Considering the unusual nature of this offer, we are compelled to limit it to one week from the date of this letter, and therefore it will be necessary for you to accept at once.

Clincher And remember the 25% discount on our $30 course means an actual saving to you of $7.50 the complete course for only $22.50. In order that no possible obstacle shall stand in the way of your accepting this, I am not even going to require that you send a stipulated amount with your application blank. Simply sign it, enclose whatever you can conveniently spare, $2, $3 or $5 whatever suits your purse and mail today.

Very truly yours,

A good reply to an inquiry, calculated to win the inquirers personal interest and to prompt his immediate action.

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