Chapter 8 They Sold Brooklyn Bridge Again Last Week
(The Wheeler A and B Rule)
“A” is the statement of fact; “B” is the proof. Confidence men sold gold bricks because proof was never required in the old days. Today it is. People now want to hear, feel, see, and hold what they are about to purchase. I READ IN THE newspapers a few weeks ago that someone was again arrested for selling Brooklyn Bridge, and often I hear about somebody who bought a gold brick, even in this day of the F.B.I., the G-men, and the radio. The reason is that there are still a few people who don’t require proof, but they are a few in number. The young lady in the W. T. Grant store who sold square clothespins by saying, “They won’t roll,” would “Say it with flowers” and drop one on the counter to prove her point. The Pocahontas Oil salesman who used our “Tested Selling Sentences” to inform motorists their new windshield wipers “had triple blades, and cleaned three times as fast,” handed a blade through the open window to the motorist to see, feel, and inspect! A Rule to Remember in Word Formation When Uncle Jake listened at the corner store to the man in the derby with the option on Brooklyn Bridge and heard that he could charge a toll rate of ten cents per person and make a million, he wanted to buy the bridge. Uncle Jake didn’t question the transaction because the salesman “looked honest and had a nice flow of talk.” So Uncle Jake mortgaged his home and bought Brooklyn Bridge for $565.00 in cash! Today, however, Uncle Jake wants proof. He likes to hear statements of fact (A), but he wants proof as well (B). The rule to remember, therefore, to convince more people quickly is to tell them the benefits and advantages they will receive from what you are selling, and then prove them in some way. This is the Rule of A and B – A standing for the benefit and B for the PROOF.
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