How to Make Money

by John V. Dunlap

Of course he would. He would be willing to spend two hours finding out how you could do it. Surely, you will not admit that you could not tell him this plan. You don’t have to tell it just the way we will tell it in this book. Tell it in your own language. Tell it just as you would relate it to a girl friend. The simpler your words the more effective they are. He isn’t interested in big, fancy words. He wants you to be yourself and tell him facts. Here is the way we would talk to Mr. Brown, who owns the furniture store:

“Good morning, Mr. Brown. I wonder if you would be good enough to let me explain a sales plan to you. The plan which I would like to tell you about is one that has been successfully worked in many furniture stores throughout the country. It is especially designed to clean up odd pieces of furniture which are dead stock with you, and does not require an investment on your part until you have tried it out and have found it successful. If it works, you want it. If it doesn’t work, you don’t want it.”

What happens next? Well, if you owned the furniture store and had a lot of odd pieces of unsalable furniture, wouldn’t you be interested in hearing of some plan to get your money out of this dead stock? All right, then what will Mr. Brown say?

“If you can show me a way to get half of my cost out of my dead stock you are just the person I am looking for. Go ahead and tell me your plan.”

Wouldn’t you feel the same way Mr. Brown feels if you were in his place and some one had approached you in this manner? You see there are no mysterious tricks in salesmanship. Just put yourself in the other fellow’s shoes and say the thing that would sound reasonable and interesting to you—common sense, that is the keynote.

Now we will tell Mr. Brown all about our plan:

“You know better than I do, Mr. Brown, how the average woman’s mind works. She wants something for nothing. Bargain is her watchword. She will actually buy something she doesn’t need simply because she thinks it is a bargain. I once saw a woman buy two picture frames at $1.98 each, which were marked ‘Reduced from $3.’ After she had bought them I heard her husband ask her what she intended to do with them. He told her they had no pictures to put in the frames. She answered: ‘Yes, John, but think only $1.98.’ Later I was in another store and saw the same frames selling regularly at $1.75 each. I have repeated this incident, Mr. Brown, to show you how a woman’s mind works, for my plan to sell your dead stock is a big bargain sale that has been worked successfully all over the country. Here is a set of seven books. We call them the Woman’s Library, for they cover the six most interesting subjects in the world to women. Before I go into the details of my plan to dispose of your dead stock, I want to tell you briefly what there is about this set of books which makes women want to own them. Remember, I am not trying to sell you books. In fact, I am not trying to sell you anything. I am simply offering a plan whereby we can both profit. I will sell the books and your dead stock. You will get your money out of the dead stock and I will make a profit on the books. Mind you, I do not ask you to invest a dollar in books. All I ask is your cooperation. Now, as I started to say, it will be necessary for me to explain the nature of these books in order to convince you that women will snap them up like hot cakes. If you were a woman, I know you would appreciate their strong appeal and salability.

“This is ‘The Book of Good Manners.’ It tells you how to do and say the right thing on all occasions. It tells you how to introduce, what form to use when you introduce an elderly man to a young girl, a distinguished man to a group of people, etc. It tells you how to acknowledge an introduction and when to shake hands. It tells when and how to make formal and informal calls; what should appear upon calling cards; how invitations should be written, sent and acknowledged; how to acquire perfect manners at the table; when and how to use the knife, fork and spoon; how to eat asparagus, olives, corn on cob and other foods so difficult for most of us; in fact, every conceivable question which women are interested in is answered. It is simply a dictionary of etiquette. Do you know, Mr. Brown, that almost every woman in this town feels the need of this book every time she entertains or calls on her friends? Every woman has been placed in many a humiliating position simply because she did not know the rules of etiquette. It is surprising how little most of us really know about good manners. Here is a simple little test which not more than one woman out of a dozen can answer.” (You hand Mr. Brown a folder with the questions printed on it. He will probably smile and remark that he doubts if he can answer them. While he looks at the folder you continue talking.)

“Incidentally, Mr. Brown, one of our methods of making people realize the need of this book is to ask a lot of questions in our ads, similar to the questions you are reading. You see our plan is to make them realize that they are continually committing social blunders which make them appear crude and common in the eyes of their friends. When I explain about these other books I will show you how we handle the advertising and copy of ads which have proved very successful.

“This volume is called ‘Color Harmony and Design in Dress.’ It is difficult for a man to understand what a problem it is for a girl or woman to buy the clothes which are becoming to her. You see certain girls can not wear certain colors. For a girl to appear ‘at her best’ she must know what colors harmonize with her hair, eyes and complexion. If she is too stout, she must know what designs and colors will make her appear slender, and on the other hand, if she is too thin, she must know how to make herself appear in proportion. And then there are the tall ones whose problem is to decrease their height by the camouflage design and color combination; the short ones who have the problem of increasing their height. Perhaps this sounds silly to a man, but you know how vain most women are, Mr. Brown. They will spend their last penny for a box of powder or something that will make them beautiful. Of course, I am an exception (?) ahem!” (This remark will bring a smile and relieve the strain for a moment. Mr. Brown will pass a few complimentary remarks which you will take good-naturedly, and continue.)