B

THE STEPS OF THE SELLING APPEAL

EFORE applying the principles underlying the Appeal by Suggestion and the principles underlying the Appeal by Deliberation, it is necessary that we have clearly in mind the various separate elements of the selling appeal.

These two steps are accomplished by and in the Beginning of the business letter or advertisement. You must attract the Attention of the prospect to your written selling appeal, to bring it under his consideration at all.

In the case of a business letter, this is comparatively easy. Not often do business men toss a letter unopened into the wastebasket.

In the case of advertisements, however, the task of winning attention is comparatively a difficult one. As the prospect turns the pages of the magazine, he is not unlikely to pass your advertisement by, with scant attention, or with none at all, unless some attention-getting factor inherent in the illustration, in the catchline, in the arrangement or in the "lay-out" of the advertisement, happens to grip and hold his attention.

Attention will be but momentary unless you so order your selling

appeal as straightway to develop attention into interest. Interest is attention intensified, or galvanized into something more vital than a device to catch the eye for the moment. Illustrations in colors attractive to the eye and catchlines in type that is distinctive and striking will momentarily arrest attention. But to compel interest the illustration or the catchline must convey to the prospect a message recognized by him as having to do with the realization of his needs or of his desires. Or, it must convey to him a message that makes so strong an appeal to his curiosity as to cause him to want to know what is dealt with next in the advertisement; or, a message that tells him that the information contained in the advertisement is new, unusual, or linked with the news of the day, or with things of general interest to him. Similarly, the prospect will be interested in the opening paragraph of your business letter only in case that paragraph promises him a benefit or gain, only in case it makes a strong appeal to his curiosity, or contains information of the sort that is certain to be of general interest to him.

Attention won and interest compelled, the next step is to create a desire to possess the product you have for sale. Description and Explanation accomplishes this by "telling about" the product in such a way as to enable the prospect to see the application of its uses to his Vinterests. A desire for a product always is associated in one's mind with the possession of the product, and with its employment to one's own ends.

Once having caused the prospect to desire to possess the product, you must next awaken in his mind a feeling of belief. Earnestness, sincerity, and truthfulness on the part of the man who writes the selling appeal will result, on the part of the prospect, in a belief in the product and in the firm that manufactures it. In telling about your product, avoid therefore the slightest semblance of exaggerated claims; let your selling appeal reflect a genuine desire to serve the best interests of the prospect.

1 For a discussion of the employment of Description and Explanation in telling about your type of product, and in telling about your central selling point, see Chapter X, page 131.

Obviously, in employing Description and Explanation, that is, in telling about your product, you can not tell all about it. If you were to tell everything there is to tell about a product so relatively simple as a match, you would write a volume. You could begin by giving a description of the physical appearance of the match; you would then be employing Direct Description. You could then go on to tell of all the various factors that go into the making of the match, starting with the tree in the forest, the cutting of it down, the sawing of it up, the getting of the wood to the factory; you could then tell of the factory methods, of the factory workers themselves, and of the innumerable operations that enter into production. Description of this sort we call Description By Make-Up. You could then go on to tell of the uses to which a match is put; for lighting of fires, nightly, in a myriad of homes, of candles on a thousand altars, of gas jets by housewives preparing the evening meal, of the after-dinner cigar by the man of the house, and so on indefinitely. This sort of description telling of the service rendered by the product, that is, telling of the uses to which it may be put, we call Description By Use.

We have, then, three general types of Description and Explanation: (1) Direct.

(2) By Make-Up.

(3) By Use.

In employing Description and Explanation in the selling appeal, we must necessarily limit ourselves to those few definite details concerning the physical appearance, the make-up, and the use, of the product, that are most certain to influence the prospect in reaching his buying decision. In the catalogue, pamphlet, or circular supplementing the selling appeal as set forth in the advertisement or letter, we may tell more in detail about the product. But even here the details we give must be carefully selected.

The prospect's belief that your product will meet his needs, or gratify his desires, may be developed into conviction by Proof; in other words, his belief may, by this means, be developed into a feeling of certainty. There are two kinds of Proof: Direct and Indirect.

Direct Proof consists of definite, concrete evidence that your product, when put to the test of performance, has "made good." Direct Proof may be in the form of an official record of an endurance test through which your product has passed successfully; or it may consist of statements of satisfied owners.

Indirect Proof consists in any evidence of your willingness to allow the prospect himself to put the product to the test of performance, thus enabling him to judge whether or not the product "makes good. An offer of demonstration is a form of Indirect Proof, since it enables the prospect to test your product by performance before definitely committing himself to its purchase. When you send the prospect a sample of your product, you are offering him Indirect Proof, since the sample. gives him an opportunity of himself putting the product to the test of performance.

Consider now: (6) Action:

(a) Persuasion.

(b) Inducement.
(c) Clincher.

The prospect is now convinced that it is to his interest to purchase the product. It but remains for you to cause him to act at once upon the basis of this conviction, not permitting him, through procrastination, to put off his purchase.

The three remaining elements of the selling appeal-Persuasion, Inducement, and Clincher-all are aimed at causing the prospect to act at once upon his conviction that the product will meet his needs, or upon his conviction that the product will gratify his emotional desires.

(6) Action.

(a) Persuasion.

Proof convinces the prospect that your product has "made good" for other users. Persuasion convinces the prospect that the product will make good for him. In effecting this you must match the product as definitely as possible with his needs or with his emotional desires. Thus

1 For a discussion of the employment of Proof in connection with your type of product, and in connection with your central selling point, see Chapter X, page 131.

it will be seen that Persuasion is nothing more nor less than the "you" attitude that dominates the entire selling appeal. Sometimes, however, a short paragraph of Persuasion, aimed at vividly summing up for the prospect the immediate benefit to him that will result from purchase, is placed near the end of the selling appeal.

(6) Action.

(b) Inducement.

Any concession in price or terms, any offer of service or any offer of assistance to the prospect, may be looked upon as an Inducement, since it marks a departure from the routine of ordinary business transactions, it being on your part a special effort to get the prospect to buy. The Inducements most familiar to us are: special reduction of price for a limited period; installment payments; premiums; free repair service for a specified period after purchase.

(6) Action

(c) The Clincher.

The Clincher, or climax, of the selling appeal contains three elements. These are:

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(1) "Make it easy for the prospect to order." 1
(2) Employ a psychological urge to "do it now.
(3) Sum up persuasively the central selling appeal.

In "making it easy for the prospect to order," remove insofar as possible all obstacles which make buying an effort. Inclose an order blank or appointment blank which easily may be filled out; or inclose a stamped, addressed envelope. Or, give him the telephone number of your local agent or representative, so that it will require a minimum of effort for him to ask for a demonstration or for him to place an order.

The psychological urge to "do it now" is as a rule put in the imperative form, the form of command, since the prospect's tendency is to obey a direct command. "Do it NOW!" "Sign the enclosed coupon today!" "Act at once!" are the expressions that, in the past, have been in general use. But these old expressions are fast wearing out and it behooves the correspondent of today to coin other expressions, carrying 1 Compare Chapter V, page 72.