"You put in this brand of coffee and we stand back of you and push sales. Our guarantee of quality goes with every pound we put out. Ask the opinion of all your customers. If there is the least dissatisfaction, refund them the price of their coffee and deduct it from our next bill. So confident are we of the satisfaction that this coffee will give that we agree to take back at the end of six months all the remaining stock you have on hand—that is, if you do not care to handle the brand longer.
"You have probably never sold guaranteed coffee before. You take no chances. The profit is as large as on other brands, and your customers will be impressed with the guarantee placed on every pound."
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The guarantee and the offer of the free trial are possibly the two strongest arguments that can be used either with a dealer or in straight mail-order selling.
Among the arguments that are most effective are testimonials and references to satisfied users. If the writer can refer to some well-known firm or individual as a satisfied customer he strengthens his point.
"When we showed this fixture to John Wanamaker's man, it took just about three minutes to close the deal for six of them. Since then they have ordered seventy-four more."
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Such references as this naturally inspire confidence in a proposition and extracts from letters may be used with great effect, provided the name and address of the writer is given, so that it will have every appearance of being genuine.
A solicitor of patents at Washington works into his letters to prospective clients quotations from manufacturers:
"'We wish to be put in communication with the inventor of some useful novelty, instrument or device, who is looking for a way to market his invention. We want to increase our business along new lines and manufacture under contract, paying royalties to the patentee.