Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

. . . Sell the Sizzle! Hidden in everything you sell, whether a tangible or an intangible, are sizzles. Find them and use them to create interest, desire, and eventual purchase of your product or services. Only the butcher sells the cow and not the sizzle, yet even he knows that the promise of the sizzle brings him more sales of the better cuts. Basically, it's the bubbles that sell the champagne. It's the pucker in pickles, the crunch in crackers, the aroma in coffee, the tang in cheese. The test of a good sizzle on any subject — sales or social — is whether it will get the listener to go mentally along with you and say "I want" instead of "Ho hum." Think how many times you've been bored by folks who clutter up their talk with such a mess of details that you lost track of the main point. Too many adjectives, too many superlatives have spoiled many a radio commercial. Picture a clerk in a modern store talking to you like many radio announcers — and then imagine how fast he'd be fired! Too tedious, too bombastic, too flowery, too "preachery," or too sugary. These days nobody likes to be preached at or given advice. It is better to suggest. And stay sensible — keep both feet on the ground — don't go off the deep end with a lot of high-sounding, pretty "paper" prose. Every word in your sales message has to mean something. That is why, before you start to explain or sell anything, you should put on your "sizzles specs" and outline the sizzles in your own "sales package." Put down on paper the one, five or twenty sizzles you find — in the order of their importance to your prospect — not yourself. Let me tell you how we applied this logic to the sale of electric shavers — something you're all familiar with — so you can begin to see how effective sales talk is patterned: Don't sell the price tag — sell less bother! Don't sell construction — sell face comfort! Don't sell the motor — sell speedy shaving! Don't sell the cutter blades — sell ease of operation! Don't sell electricity — sell faster, smoother, easier shaves! Time-saving, labor-saving, smooth shaves, without chafing or cutting your face — these Have you ever wondered what is the best word, the best phrase, the best sentence you could use to make a sale? That problem, confronting many big-time businessmen, has been answered for some by Elmer Wheeler, president of the Tested Selling Institute. Nationally known author, lecturer and sales counselor, Wheeler's word magic has been used on products and services of J ohns-Manville, DuPonts, American Airlines, Hotels Statler, R. H. Macy's, The Hoover Co. Big, expansive, ruddy-faced Wheeler hails from Texas, applies common sense psychology to selling, has built national reputation. He is the author of ''Tested Sentences That Sell" and "The Sizzle Book/'* are the "sizzles" of the electric shaver; construction and mechanism are "the cow." The same principles of showmanship can be applied, similarly, to articles of food, clothing, cosmetics, or whatever you are selling. After the main sizzles should come the more detailed information when it is required. But always avoid getting too technical and tedious. Every point can be made at least a minor sizzle. If it's too dead to sizzle, better skip it entirely. One big question is running through the prospect's mind as you bring in your commercial and tell your sales story, and this is the question: "How will that product (or service) benefit me?" Buried in every spool of thread, in every row of safety pins, in every bottle of milk or loaf of bread, in every tangible and intangible item, are reasons why people will want to buy the article. These big reasons we call the "sizzles." They are more effective than ordinary words, just as radio selling is more effective than cold type. The human voice is still the Great Persuader. *Caricature courtesy The New Yorker and Artist Frueh. SEPTEMBER, 1940