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Chapter 7. How to Create Desire - Argument And Proof

This is principle in law that a man is innocent until proven guilty. It is a principle in business that a sales claim is false or exaggerated until it is proved conservative and true. In either event, the work of proving a case is a hard one, and calls for keen thought and a wide knowledge of human nature. Cold, hard logic, and cold, hard facts these alone will win.

Brag, claims, hot air, if you please, spell failure.

When you have explained your proposition in a sales letter, you must prove your words. It is not enough to express your own personal convictions: it is not enough to say that a million of your devices have been sold; it is not enough to give hearsay evidence or second-hand testimonials. You must prove your claims, and quickly.

Of course, many times the only way to prove that an article is all that you say and claim it is, is for me to buy it, try it and use it. But suppose I am thinking of buying a mattress and the dealer writes to me. This mattress will never mat, pack, get hard or lumpy, and furthermore, it is absolutely non-absorbent, dust proof, vermin proof and practically un-wear-out-able. Now if all this is true, that is the kind of a mattress I want, and to prove to me that these claims are true the writer goes on to say, Remember, we sell on the complete understanding, if the mattress is not perfectly satisfactory, or better still, completely to your liking, it can be returned at our expense, and your money will be promptly refunded.

A maker of refrigerators proves his goods are quality stock, too, when he says: If I could only take you through our factory so you could see what goes into the Morton and how it is put inthe care and pains we take to make a refrigerator that will last a lifetime, you would not hesitate to make the investment.

The average man wants proof, first, of the values you offer. This holds good whether you are selling emery wheels or elephants. It must either be better at the same price, or priced lower, than similar goods purchased elsewhere. Even where the article for sale has no competitor it is necessary to assure the customer, directly or indirectly, that he is getting a bit more than his moneys worth.

This does not mean that we must talk cheapness or claim to offer extravagant values. It does not mean that we must talk price at all. It means simply that we must show the customer where he gains by the purchase.

Gain!

That word is the foundation stone of all success in salesmanship by mail. Show the prospect how he gains by purchasing and not alone in money, for fiscal advantage is not always to keynote; but in comfort, satisfaction, well being and happiness.

Show the prospect his gain and prove it.

The fact that a hot water heater is being used by hundreds of householders in my city may be a sound argument as to the popularity of this heater, or the good work of a salesman. But if I am looking for a heater that will save money this argument doesn't fill by needs nor supply my demands. However, if the man writing about heaters says, This heater also saves money by burning pea or No. 1 buckwheat coal and burns from 30% to 60% less of it than any other steam or hot water heater yet shown on the patent records, this line of argument fits into my ideas exactly.

A real estate man of my acquaintance sent out four letters describing the beauties of his sub-division, the select neighborhood, the excellence of the houses sold on easy payments; and all those letters failed. The fifth letter was a success, brought inquiries and developed business. The secret of that success was in the following paragraphs.

You pay rent, do you not? Suppose you applied that same check towards a home or your own. You would not be paying out any more money, and at the end of a few years, instead of being the owner of a pile of musty receipts, you would be the owner of a fine house and lot.

Here are the figures: prove to yourself that it can be done.

But go further. Show the prospect he cannot lose, and prove that also. Where a proposition involves over a dollar, the man you want to sell begins to figure the chances. He has probably been stung (or believes he has, which is the worse for you) on a similar proposition in the past. Show him that he takes no chance with you prove it to him.

A well-known glass company which manufactures scientific reflectors for all classes of interior lighting uses photometric curve, but the very fact that impartial evidence is offered as proof is enough to win the prospective customers confidence.

Similarly, a paint manufacturer encloses a small folder with his sales letter showing how to test the purity of paint; a clothing manufacturer explains how to distinguish all-wool goods from the half-cotton product offered in substitution; a maker of acetylene gas lighting outfits proves the simplicity and safety of this gas which is popularly supposed to be dangerous in the extreme by describing how anyone may make acetylene gas with an ordinary tumbler and common clay pipe. Such proof, sometimes applied in a most indirect manner, is wholly convincing. Not the least part of its value lies in the fact that it is instructive. The reader feels that he is learning a trick of the other fellows trade.

Do not think because the price is small, that my cigars are made carelessly or of cheap tobacco writes a mail order cigar man. Order a sample 100, cut open any five of them from end to end, and if the leaves are not all good long filler, I will refund your money.

A varnish manufacturer sends along a sample panel finished with his varnish and writes: Give this panel the most thorough test possible stamp on it with your heel or hit it with a hammer. Then hold it to the light. You will find that although you have dented the wood, the varnish has not been cracked.

A paper manufacturer is even more successful when he says: You can prove the excellence of our word in a second: just tear a corner of this sheet; then tear a corner of one of your present letter heads; now get a magnifying glass and examine both torn edges. You find long fibers linen threads on ours, while on yours the fibers are short, woods The man who reads this learns something new about paper. He learns how to judge it intelligently and learning, he learns what the writer wished him to know about his bond.

Another simple expedient is referring for corroboration to standard works of reference, to friends of the reader or to specialists in any line. As any chemist will tell you, is effective. Or we may say: Consult your banker as to the solid value of these bonds: he may have others he would prefer to sell you, but he will not fail to endorse these. Nine times in ten the reader will never carry the matter further: he accepts your statement merely because you are willing he should take disinterested advice.

There is weight, too, in a sweeping reference to ones neighbors. An umbrella maker scores when he writes: If you have friends in Baltimore, drop them a line and ask about Bronson umbrellas. They will tell you they have used our umbrellas for years generations, often and always found them good. Such is the name of Bronson in his own home town.

Direct and complete testimonials are also strong proof, but the use of these by patent medicine advertisers, and the numerous stories current as to the trickery and unfair means used to secure them, makes the testimonial a two edged weapon which must be handled skillfully to be effective. A made-to order testimonial or one in which names and addresses are omitted is prima facie evidence of insincerity or worse.

John Hays Smith, publisher of the Age, 138 West 42nd St., New York, says: is sincere.

We are permitted to quote the following from a letter by Mrs. Albert Ross, president of the Women s League, 462 Woodward Ave., Detroit, rings true.

The name should be well known; the title, if any, expressed at length, the addresses given in full. Not only that, but the very words and phrases should be such as to make the testimonial stand out with a separate individuality from that of the sales-letter writer. The testimonial, even a bona fide one, that appears to be of a price with the balance of your letter, as though it ran from the same fountain pen, defeats its purpose.

The most successful printed testimonial that ever came under the writers notice was one in which both the request for an expression of approval and the customers reply were used together. The combination was unique and its presentation so candid and open that it carried absolute conviction. The scheme could hardly be used in a letter, yet it suggests this train of thought: that the most important point in this whole problem of proving your claims is sincerity.

A letter which is irredeemably bad in construction, grammar and transcription will get profitable returns if it is sincere, and those returns will be permanent. But a letter of half-truths, a letter which betrays your unbelief or evidences your effort to befog or mislead your reader, will produce nothing but trouble. It may bring results, but not the kind of results that any reputable firm wants.

Lack of sincerity in a letter does not necessarily argue dishonesty in the writer. Rather, it indicates a wrong point of view toward the trade. We form the habit of viewing our customers in the mass instead of as individuals. In the petty annoyances of daily detail, we grow impatient of their seeming stupidity, their meanness, their constant complaints, and their attempts to take small advantages. And then, when we sit down to write a letter, we address a composite being having these unwelcome characteristics.

For myself, the only sure guide for writing a sincere and effective letter is to picture it as going to some shrewd, kindly, wise, David Harum sort of individual whose keen insight tests every word and statement by the light of long experience.

While it is essential that every claim and statement we make be backed up and reinforced with evidence to substantiate it, there is such a thing as overdoing. Proof may be offered casually, as a matter of course, or it may be injected briefly and apparently without premeditation. A studied effort at honesty is deception, for honesty is by nature either casual or curt.

Be honest. Be frank. Be straight forward above board guileless. From the date line at the top of your letter to the stenographers hieroglyphics at the bottom, let every word, phrase, sentence and paragraph impress your reader as being wholly and unreservedly on the level.

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Dear Mr. Hunt :

Proof wins attention There's a bank here in Chicago not much larger than yours that secured over 280 new savings depositors last month! And secured them, mind you, on the sole strength of business-getting circular letters without the aid of a single personal solicitor.

Interest That's why this letter is as vital to you as though. It were a certified check. For it tells about a concise, WONDERFULLY-PRACTICAL little book that will show you how [Argument - minimized cost] to write the same kind of letters that brought this business for the Chicago bank and how you can get this same book for less than you often pay for a mere handful of good cigars.

Argument - opportunity pictured Think of the hundreds of money earners the thrifty ambitious young men and women right in your own immediate locality who ought to open up savings accounts.

If you had them all together in your private offices where you could talk to them as man to man it would be no trick to secure a big proportion of them.

Argument and persuasion Of course, you cant do this. But why not do as the Royal Trust Company did? Why not go to THEM? Why not put the strong advantages your bank offers before them through sincere, heart-to-heart, straight-from-the-shoulder letters letter's that breathe the same ENTHUSIASM, [Method explained] the same earnestness and personality that you yourself would use in a personal talk?

Inducement That is just what this book will show you how to do, because it gives you plain simple practical hints on the everyday use of words and live vital principles underlying the art of convincing writing.

Inducement And mind you this bankers college course is business English boiled down to pigeon-hole size costs less than a couple of theatre tickets. [Clincher] $2 brings the book to your own desk and if you do not feel that it is worth at least half a dozen times this amount you can have your money back for the asking. Simply wrap a two dollar bill in this letter and mail today.

very truly,

A strong, convincing letter, in which argument and proof prevails from the opening sentence through to the clinching close.

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