Chapter 6 Three Little Words That Sold Millions of Square Clothespins
(The Law of Averages) “While individuals may be insoluble puzzles, in the aggregate they become mathematical certainties.” – Sherlock Holmes THIS STATEMENT means that you can never foretell how any one person will react to a given selling sentence, but that you can say with scientific accuracy what the average will do. This philosophy of Sherlock Holmes is the best defense I know for the underlying philosophy of this book: that single sentences can be so constructed as to make a majority of people buy. Several years ago manufacturers began to distribute square clothespins, instead of their famous round ones. Like most people I became curious and went into the first small store I came upon and asked the clerk what the difference was between the square and the round clothespins. “Three cents a dozen difference! ” said the salesgirl, snapping her gum in my face. I asked the buyer in the little store and his answer was no better: “I sell so many gross of clothespins a week, and thi s time they happened to come in square – why, I don’t know! But I do know I’ll get stuck with them – for what woman will spend 3 c extra a dozen for square ones!” Many Reasons For Being Square I went to the home office of this chain of small stores, and I was told by the merchandising division that these are the ”sizzles” in a square clothespin: 1. They won’t slip out of wet hands so easily. 2. You can hold more in your wet hands. 3. They are polished and won’t tear delicate garments. 4. They won’t sp lit on clotheslines. 5. They have knobs on the end so women can hold them in their mouths, especially if they have no teeth. Everything about these square clothespins was scientific – except what the salesperson said to the cu stomers. While I was hearing these “sizzles,” I accidentally dropped a clothespin on the floor, and a thought came to mind. I visualized a woman hanging up clothes. She has an armful of wash, clothespins in her wet hands and in her mouth as she starts across the kitchen floor.
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