Ten Pedestals—your cost $8 each—your regular selling price $12.50 each.
OUR BARGAIN PRICE $12.48. You make $1.50 profit after you pay for books.
“Now let us see what we have done. We have turned $800 worth of dead stock into ready cash and made you $190 profit besides. We have given your customer a set of books which is worth $5 more than they paid for books, chair and all. Will they sell? Well, Mr. Brown, as I said in the beginning, I will prove to you by actual sales that they will sell. We will sell your regular customers and we will bring you new customers who probably would never otherwise have come to your store. I have twenty sets of these books, and am willing to come to your store and help fix up your window. We can fill your window with the chairs, tables, rugs, etc., and attach a large card stating that the Woman’s Library will be given absolutely free with each chair. In the center of the window we will make a big pile of the twenty sets of books with an attractive sign on them. I have here copy for advertisement which you can run in our daily paper (we furnish you copies of ads to show Mr. Brown). We will sell your dead stock so quickly you will wonder how it was done. This plan, Mr. Brown, has been tried all over the country. We know it works.”
Now, honestly, couldn’t you sit down and tell the facts just related to most anyone after you had familiarized yourself a little more with the books, etc.? You see that after all, selling goods is more a matter of common sense. When you have something good to sell and are convinced people will buy it, you have won half the battle.
Suppose that you were going to sell Mrs. Jones our “Book of Good Manners.” The first thing to do is to write down all the good reasons why you think Mrs. Jones should buy it, and then arrange these reasons into a short interesting talk. Try to think of all the objections she will raise and have an answer ready for her. We have repeated the above conversation between a saleswoman and the buyer of a furniture store simply to show you that all there is to selling is:
First: Having something good to offer.
Second: Knowing all about your article.
Third: Explaining your proposition with simple words in the same way you think it would sound well to you if you were the buyer.
Fourth: Knowing when to stop talking and close the deal.
You could probably explain this plan to your buyer in many different ways and sell him. Each person has distinct methods of getting results.