Chapter 26 “Old Man Johnston” Finds Six Words That Sell Pipe Tobacco
T his is the story of a man who took fifty years to find a “Tested Selling Sentence” with sufficient “sizzle” to overcome a typical customer objection. He makes six words sell hundreds of pounds of pipe tobacco. FOR FIFTY YEARS C. E. Johnston, tobacco blender of Cleveland, Ohio, worked for a leading tobacconist. One morning he was fired. “Old Man Johnston” was let out because he was thought too old to carry on. But with grim determination to carry on he began selling electrical devices of all kinds door to door. But the devices had no “repeat value.” They were “one - time” sales. Mrs. Johnston couldn’t build up a trade – a following. He began to sell other gadgets; then suddenly he decided to capitalize on his fifty years as a tobacco blender. A natural thing to do – such an obvious thing – yet it had taken him fifty years to think of the idea. He invested in $22.00 worth of Irish tobaccos. He blended them to a taste he felt would please a great number of particular pipe smokers. “Your Tobacco Is Too Expensive!” He used only good tobaccos, and since good tobaccos are expensive, they must bring a fair price. So he charged $3.00 a pound. Naturally he had a price resistance, the same one he had heard for fifty years in his former place of business. People would say to him, “Your tobacco is good, Mr. Johnston, but it is too expensive for me to smoke regularly.” With this objection facing him wherever he went, Mr. Johnston was quite discouraged. It took him 42 days, he told me, to sell his first order of Irish tobacco. One day he hit upon an answer to the objection. He tried it out. It clicked. It began to convince people that his tobacco was not expensive – but really cheap. Six Simple Sales Words How did he accomplish this? With six simple sales words, tested to make people buy his tobacco. Here is how he did it: He would listen to the old objection and then ask the prospect for a cigarette. He would hold the
P. 136
Powered by FlippingBook