HOW TO SKYROCKET YOUR SALES AND CRUSH
YOUR COMPETITION
EVEN IF THEY SELL THE EXACT SAME THING YOU DO
By Yanik
Silver
Check out the links to all
Yank's Products at the bottom of this page
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Over 70 years ago, one
man had the answer to increasing almost any product's sales and
literally crushing the competition.
His name?
Claude Hopkins. And today
his advice is even more valuable than it was during the 1920s.
Hopkins was one of the
most famous ad men and really the Father of modern advertising. His
two books "My Life in Advertising" and "Scientific Advertising" are
worth reading and re-reading.
If you read on, I'll
share with you one of Hopkins' greatest secrets for attracting more
business.
Listen closely - the
secret is *EDUCATION*.
By educating a prospect
about how things are done in your business, even it's the same exact
thing any one of your competitors could tell, will produce a
tremendous selling advantage.
Don't believe me?
Look around at nearly all
the advertising being done based on the plea: "Buy my brand", "Come
to my store", "Give me the money which you give to others".
Typically this falls in the category of boasting and bragging
advertising. Frankly, consumers don't care one lick about you or
your company, they care about the benefits they'll get from dealing
with you.
Let me share with you how
Hopkins used this advertising secret to rocket a so-so beer brand
from 5th place into a tie for 1st place in just a matter of months.
Listen to this:
Schlitz Beer hired
Hopkins to increase their falling market share. Every beer
manufacturer at this time was screaming "PURE" in their ads. In
fact, companies were spending a fortune just advertising this 4
letter word as big and as bold as they could. They even took out
double pages ads to put that word in even bigger letters. All this
shouting and no explaining was making zero impressions on the buying
public. Nobody ever explained what 'pure' really meant until Hopkins
came in.
The first thing Hopkins
did was take a factory tour. On this tour he was shown plate-glass
rooms where beer was dripping over pipes. Inquiring the reason for
this, Hopkins was told that those rooms were filled with filtered
air, so the beer could be cooled without any impurities.
Next, he was shown huge
expensive filters filled with white- wood pulp that provided a
superior filtering process. The manufacturer then went on to explain
how they cleaned every pump and pipe, twice daily to assure purity.
And also how each bottle was sterilized not once or twice, but four
times before being filled with beer.
Then, Hopkins was shown
the 4,000 foot deep artesian wells dug to provide the cleanest and
purest water available, even though the factory was right on the
shore of Lake Michigan. (At this time Lake Michigan was not polluted
and could provide clean water.)
Finally, Hopkins was lead
into a laboratory and was shown the mother yeast cell, that was a
product of 1,200 experiments to bring out the robust flavor. And he
was told all the yeast used in making Schlitz beer was developed
from that original yeast cell.
After his tour Hopkins
exclaimed, "Why don't you tell people these things?"
The manufacturer's
response was because every beer manufacturer does it the same way.
And to that Hopkins
replied, "But, others have never told this story..." And he went off
to create an advertising campaign explaining to people what makes
Schlitz beer pure. Once again he told the same story any brewer
could have but he gave a meaning to purity. And this is what took
Schlitz from 5th place to a tie for 1st place in market share.
Really, this whole
process is just educating.
Educating prospects about
the how's, the why's, the good, the bad and the ugly. You simply
cannot over educate people.
Now maybe you're thinking
anything from the 1920's can't possibly work today -- WRONG!
Murray Raphel, a retail
direct marketing consultant, tells the story of how he was visiting
one of his clients, Ethan Allen Furniture, and he noticed carpenters
in the back room repairing furniture. He asked, "Do you make
furniture here?"
The reply from the
manager of this store was, "No, those are carpenters doing work on
Ethan Allen wood furniture." He went on to explain how every
customer is given a lifetime guarantee on all their wood pieces. And
he quickly added, "But all Ethan Allen stores do this."
But of course no other
store advertises this fact.
Soon Raphel ran an ad
stating *Every Piece of Ethan Allen Wooden Furniture is Guaranteed
For Your Lifetime!*
And wouldn't you know it,
a competitor soon ran the same guarantee in their ad. But guess who
got the credit for the guarantee?
That's right -- the
original store.
So here's the bottom
line: Take the time right now to write down exactly what you do in
your business (even if it's the exact same as any other competitor).
Write down absolutely everything and tell people everything. Don't
suffer from the curse of assumption - let people know and they'll
knock down your door to order!
(c)2000 Surefire
Marketing, Inc.
