Chapter 21

HOW TO MAKE TESTED SENTENCES SELL IN DOOR-TO-DOOR SELLING 

(The “Say-Something Formula”)

The best looking dotted line won't sign itself,as many a door-to-door salesman has discovered.  And many a white-haired sales manager has discovered that the best made product won't sell itself.

THE MANUFACTURER can get the salesman and a product up to the door, but if the right 10-second words are not used, the salesman does not get in, and the product is not sold.  Often 4 inches of threshold ruin or make any product!

The New York Sales Executives Club -- to which I often like to refer, as its membership of some 700 men represents a good cross-section of American business executives -- asked me to give a presentation on planned door-to-door selling with “Tested Selling Sentences.”

Therefore I asked Mr. W.  W. Powell, training director of the Hoover Co., to help me build the following serio-humorous sales skit illustrating the importance of picking words and techniques in door-to-door selling of vacuum cleaners.  The presentation was given before the club on January 25, 1937.

“TESTED SELLING ON DOORSTEPS”

WHEELER: “What makes people buy in the home?”

Many of you gentlemen wonder if this Tested Selling principle applies to other fields of selling, and you ask me, do you believe in the canned sales talk?

Having analyzed close to 105,000 words, phrases and selling processes and having tested them on close to 19 million people, my feeling is against the canned sales talk but in favor of the planned sales talk.

Today, with the help of Mr. Powell I will illustrate the difference between the so-called canned sales talk and the planned sale stock; and at the same time I will offer you a formula for building your own sales presentations – the “Say-Something Formula.”

The Say-Something Formula is composed of (1) a ten-second attention getter or “door-crasher”; (2) a three-minute sales presentation; and (3) a sixty-second close.  You'll find the most successful sales demonstrations are built on the simple selling formula.

The first let us see an example of a salesman selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, who has mechanically memorized the sales talk like a parrot.  I will take the part of a salesman, and Mr. Powell will take the part first of my sales manager and then of my prospect.

SALES MANAGER POWELL: Wheeler, here is our spring and summer sale stock on the new Bojack!  Memorize it.

(Gives Wheeler a large can can.)

SALESMAN WHEELER: Yes sir, Mr. Powell.  (Takes can.)

SALES MANAGER POWELL (Slaps Wheeler on back): Go to it boy!

WHEELER (to audience): Armed with my canned sales talk, I now approach my first prospect, and this is what happens to your product if it is sold with high-pressure sales language that is highly memorized.

SKIT 1

SELLING WITH A “CANNED” SALES TALK

SALESMAN (Saunters to door.  Presses the bell.  Yawns.  Woman answers the door.): Good morning, madam.  Is the lady of the house around?  You're the maid, I take it?

WOMAN: Why -- I'll have you understand I am the lady of this house!

SALESMAN: Pardon me.  I'm the salesman from the Bojack Vacuum Cleaner Company -- sent here to demonstrate the New Bojack, and clean one of your dirty rugs.

WOMAN: Well, now, just a minute -- who told you I had a dirty rug?

SALESMAN: Well, you'd be the only family on the street that didn't!  Besides, Mrs. Abernathe across the street said you certainly needed something to keep your house cleaned.  I'll step in, madam.  I won't take too long.

(Forces himself in.  The woman is dismayed but reluctantly lets him in.)

WOMAN: I don't know who Mrs. Abernathe is, but as long as you are here -- well --

SALESMAN: Just sit down in this chair, while I hook up this apparatus, and give your rug a good cleaning.  I want you to notice in particular the beauty of this cleaner.  It was designed by that fellow who designed a train or something -- I just forget his name.

But this cleaner is good-looking enough to leave right here in your parlor as a permanent fixture, isn't it?

WOMAN: Yes it looks all right, but speaking of parlors, my husband has two dogs.  Will it remove dog hair?

SALESMAN: I'm coming to that. But first I want you to hear this cleaner in operation. It has a scientific humming sound that won't annoy your neighbors, and you don't want to annoy your neighbors, do you?

WOMAN: "No, of course not, but will it remove dog hair?"

SALESMAN (Not to be thrown off his canned talk.): I’m coming to that.  But first let me show you the bottom of this instrument.  It's certainly a businesslike looking machine, isn't it?  Why, lady, the parts in there will last longer than your rugs.  In fact, this Bojack will last a lifetime, and that is what you're looking for in a cleaner, aren't you?

WOMAN: I really wouldn't care how long it will last, if it would remove dog hair.

SALESMAN: Of course it will remove dog hair.

WOMAN (Getting angry at being put off.): But how do I know it will remove dog hair?

SALESMAN (Likewise getting angry): You'll have to take my word for it!  Now let me show you how it removes pieces of paper.  (Throws handful of torn paper on the floor.)  See it pick them up?  Well, almost all the pieces.  That's really wonderful, isn't it?

Madam, this cleaner is guaranteed not to rip, run, warp, tear, or stretch your most valuable rugs.  Now I've cleaned one of your dirty rugs, and have shown you what this cleaner will do, so let's get down to the business of how much it will cost you --

WOMAN (Standing up and walking toward kitchen.): I really can't give you any more time.  I've a cake in the oven.  Someday stop and let me SEE if it really will remove dog hair.  My present cleaner won't, and I would be interested in ANY machine that would.  Good day!

SALESMAN (Out on cold front porch again.): She must have some mangy wolfhounds in her house.  (Holds up tin can.)  Funny there is nothing the in the canned sales talk about removing dog hair.  If she hadn't kept throwing me off the track, I would have given a good demonstration.  She wasn't supposed to do that.  I'll have to take this up with the office!

WHEELER (Before audience.)  This was slightly exaggerated, to be sure, but it shows what happens to a salesman who carries his sales talk around in a can.  Now let's see what happens when Salesman Powell calls on the same woman with a planned instead of a canned sales talk.

Watch Mr. Powell's use of the  “Say-Something Formula with his ten-second door-crasher or attention-getter, his three minute sales presentation and his sixty-second close when he finds the woman wants a cleaner that removes dog hair.

SKIT 2

SELLING WITH A “PLANNED” SALES TALK

SALESMAN (Approaches the door briskly in a businesslike manner.  Presses the bell.  Removes hat.  Stands back and smiles.  Woman comes to door.): Good morning!  I am Mr. Powell, the Hoover man from Gimbel's.  You received a message like this, didn't you?  (Shows pre-canvas literature.)

WOMAN: Yes?

SALESMAN: I am calling to make good our promise to clean a whole rug and one piece of furniture free, and help you shorten your cleaning time.

This is our method of introducing the New Hoover Cleaning Ensemble.  Gimbel’s wants you to know there is no cost or obligation of any kind.

WOMAN: A was just here with a cleaner, and besides I have a cake in the oven.

SALESMAN (Smiles.): It will only take a moment.

WOMAN: Well, then, step in.

SALESMAN (Walks in.): I don't believe I have your name.

WOMAN: I am Mrs. Jones.

SALESMAN: And the initials?

WOMAN: Mrs. T.  J.  Jones.

SALESMAN: (Makes record.)  Thank you.  Now just make yourself comfortable in this chair.  I will take only a few minutes of your time, and I'm sure you'll be interested in learning how to reduce your cleaning problems.  (Unfolds New Hoover.)

This is the first basically new electric cleaner in 10 years.  In fact, it is a startling new development in cleaning science for it embodies every known cleaning principle.

It is the New Hoover 150 Cleaning Ensemble, streamline throughout, designed by Henry Dreyfus in the manner of today, and made of magnesium, which is one-third lighter than aluminum.

Do you see this light?

WOMAN: Yes.

SALESMAN: We call it the Dirt Finder; it sees where to clean, and it's clean where it's been.

This red dot is the Time to Empty Signal.

WOMAN: The Time to Empty Signal?

SALESMAN: Yes, the Time to Empty Signal.  You may forget to empty the bag, but the Hoover won't.

This Is the Automatic Rug Adjuster.  Just step on it.  (Woman obeys) that's all you have to do.

WOMAN: that's all very interesting; but will the Hoover remove dog hair?

SALESMAN: Will the Hoover remove dog hair?  I'll say it will!  (Turns Hoover over.)

Why, Mrs. Jones, do you see these brushes?  We call them the Dog Hair Remover's.

WOMAN: I never knew they had Dog Hair Remover's on cleaners!

SALESMAN (spreads kapok over rug.): Now Mrs. Jones, you see for yourself how quickly and easily this kapok is removed. Kapok is similar to dog hair, only twice as hard to remove.  (Woman uses cleaner.)  You like that, don't you?

You see, the Hoover beats as it sweeps, as it lights, as it cleans.  The Hoover gets the dirt and the dog hair you never knew you had.  (Senses woman is “sold.”)

You have possibly wondered why we call this our 150 Model?

WOMAN: Yes, I have wondered.

SALESMAN: Because you can have this cleaner with the Dog Hair Remover's for the small sum of only 1.50 per week.

WOMAN: Well -- I don't know if my husband would approve.

SALESMAN: One-fifty per week is only about two dimes a day.  Why, you perhaps spend that much every day for the knick-knacks, don't you?

WOMAN: Come to think of it, I do.

SALESMAN: Then I'll place my okay here, and just above my name is a place for your approval; and the problem of keeping your rugs free from dog hair will be solved!  (She signs) Thank you, Mrs. Jones.

WOMAN (Stands, facing audience.): Wait until I tell my husband I bought a New Hoover, and he can let the dogs back in the house!

WHEELER (Facing audience.): That was certainly a fine example of scientific salesmanship.  You see, gentlemen, that although the New Hoover embodies all of the newest cleaning principles which make it the first basically new cleaner in 10 years, the Hoover Company realizes that these marvelous cleaning devices will pass unnoticed, or be taken as a matter of fact by women, if they are not dramatized in “sizzle” sales language.

Therefore, Salesman Powell used his 10-second door-crasher and gone into the home, and once in the home he put on a short three-minute presentation.

Salesman Powell followed his plan, and he made a sale without ONCE asking his prospect to sign on the dotted line.  Not once did he use those trite words “sign here”, yet the prospect signed up all right.

A STORY FROM ENGLAND

What happens when you don't follow a TESTED PLAN such as this?  Well, it brings to mind the Hoover salesman in England who said that no good British salesman needed a “Tested Selling” plan of what to say and do.  So he made up his own selling presentation.  He rapped on a door and said, “Madam, I am here to show you how to cut your cleaning time in half and make life more pleasant for you.

Being a polite English woman, she admitted the salesman, saying “Any man who can make life more pleasant is always welcome!”

Inside the home he began to scatter dirt around the parlor rug, remarking, “Now, madam, the best way to show you the advantages of a Hoover is to scatter dirt about and then clean it up.”  The woman quite agreed.  Thereupon he tore up some paper; he took a cup of flour and scattered it; he scooped up dirt in the fireplace and messed it about on the rug; and finally, he emptied all the ashtrays on the floor.

He had certainly created a bad situation on the floor, but the trusting woman had confidence in his early statement that the Hoover would clean away the mess.  But when he had finished making her home dirty, he said, “Now, madam, we will show you what the New Hoover will do!  Where is the electric light socket?

Whereupon the poor woman informed the salesman that unfortunately they used only gas in her home!

That's what happens when you fail to FOLLOW THE PLAN.  From now on, Hoover salesmen FOLLOW THE PLAN and always place their Hoover's beside the electric light socket, immediately on entering a home, to make sure the House has electricity -- before they get caught in the embarrassing situation of their good English cousin.

Always remember to follow your tested sales plan.

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