So don’t try the old hokum! People today are “sales - minded.” They are “fou ntain-pen shy.” They are conscious of selling tactics today, and they demand proof (B). They don’t want to be sold; they want to buy. When You Are “Lost For Words” It is especially effective, I have found, to ask questions that make misstatements about something on which the other person is an expert. He immediately jumps up to correct you. There are times, in this day and age when the farmer’s daughter knows more about Fifth Avenue styles than many people living in the Bronx, when she becomes conscious that you are asking her questions to get her talking. To avoid this feeling on the part of the other fellow, make a mis-statement sometime about golf, fishing, or some trade or hobby in which he prides himself on being an authority. Watch how quickly he sits up and takes notice. Watch him begin “to set you right.” It is good “Tested Technique.” Try it sometime and test it out yourself. The Story Of Butter W. and George Bickley run Philadelphia’s largest butter -and-egg house. On hearing our address before the Philadelphia Rotary and Poor Richard Club, they invited me to make a study of how to build a modern sales presentation on butter and eggs. Several talks were developed, and one for use on restaurant owners was as follows: “Mr . JONES, did you know that Bickley butter spreads MORE SLICES of bread per pound than most other brands?” The restaurant owner was interested, of course, in learning how to reduce his butter cost, but being sceptical, would smile at the salesman and tell him it was impossible. The salesman then said, “Have you ever spread butter on a slice of bread and had it stick in one corner, or spread thin and spotty over the break?” This is an experience of all of us, and so the restaurant man was forced to say he had often noticed this in his restaurant and that it was the reason why guests used so many pats of butter. When he demanded PROOF that Bickley butter would not stick in spots, it was given to him in a swift “Tested Selling” manner.
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