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Selling Price
How To Write Letters That Appeal To Farmers
Part VI
The Appeal To Different Classes
Chapter 24
The farmer
is a producer of necessities, hence he is a shrewd judge of what necessities
are. More, he has always in mind a list of necessities that he intends to
purchase--when he "can afford it." For this reason the letter that sells
goods to him must either stimulate him to an immediate purchase of an
article on his "want list," or to displace a necessity that is already there
with something MORE necessary. So the letter that sells goods to him must
appeal to his needs--and give him detailed specifications to think about
* * * * *
"Does it appeal to the farmer's need," is the overhead question which is
back of all advertising directed at the man living on a farm. It is not
necessary to go into proofs; the reasons are apparent.
"All other things being equal," says the chief correspondent for one of the
big mail-order houses, "the surest sale is the item that the farmer patron
feels he must have. Even after making money enough to be classed well-to-do,
the farmer persists in his acquired mental habit--he tests every 'offer' put
up to him by his need for it--or rather whether he can get along without it.
This predisposition on the part of the audience to which the letter is
addressed is to be borne in mind constantly--that the farmer thinks in terms
of necessities."
So the mail-order firm shapes its appeal to the farmer, emphasizing the need
of the merchandise it is offering, and at the same time it bears down
heavily on the advantages of buying direct.
And while the easiest way to reach the farmer's purse is by appealing to his
needs--the practical value of the article or goods advertised--the
correspondent must keep constantly in mind the particular manner in which
the appeal can best be made. The brief, concise statement that wins the
approval of the busy business man would slide off the farmer's mind without
arousing the slightest interest. The farmer has more time to think over a
proposition--as he milks or hitches up, as he plows or drives to town, there
is opportunity to turn a plan over and over in his mind. Give him plenty to
think about.
The farmer's mail is not so heavy but what he has time to read a long letter
if it interests him, and so the successful correspondent fills two or three
pages, sometimes five or six, and gives the recipient arguments and reasons
to ponder over during his long hours in the field. One of the most
successful men in the mail-order business sometimes sends out a seven-page
letter, filled with talking points. "It will save you money"--"I want you to
compare the Challenge with other machines"--"Shafting of high carbon
steel"--"Gearings set in phosphorus bronze bushings"--"Thirty days' free
trial"--"Try it with your money in your own pocket"--"$25,000 guaranty
bond"--point after point like these are brought out and frequently repeated
for emphasis.
The head of the English department in the university would be pained at the
lack of literary quality, but it is a farmer's letter and it follows the
grooves of the brain in the man who is going to read its seven pages. And
after all, the writer is not conducting a correspondence course in rhetoric;
he is selling implements and is not going to chance losing an order because
his proposition is not made perfectly clear--because it shoots over the head
of the reader. And the correspondent not only tries to make his proposition
clear but he tries to get up close to the recipient in a friendly way. The
farmer is awed by formalities and so the writer who really appeals to him
talks about "You and Me." "You do that and I will do this-- then we will
both be satisfied." One successful letter-salesman seldom fails to ask some
direct question about the weather, the crops, the general outlook, but he
knows how to put it so that it does not sound perfunctory and frequently the
farmer will reply to this question without even referring to the goods that
the house had written about. Never mind! This letter is answered as promptly
and carefully as if it had been an inquiry forecasting a large order.
* * * * *
HOW DIFFERENT ARGUMENTS APPEAL TO FARMERS
Price Paramount Quality Essential Style Unimportant Sentiment Lacking
Flattery Useless Exclusiveness Ineffective Testimonials Reassuring
Reputation Valuable Utility Vital Service Appreciated
* * * * *
Such attention helps to win the confidence of the farmer and the knowing
correspondent never loses sight of the fact that the farmer is, from bitter
experience, suspicious especially of propositions emanating from concerns
that are new to him. After one or two satisfactory dealings with a house he
places absolute faith in it but every legitimate mail-order concern is
handicapped by the fact that unscrupulous firms are continually lying in
wait for the unwary: the man with the county rights for a patent churn and
his brother who leaves a fanning mill with a farmer to demonstrate and takes
a receipt which turns up at the bank as a promissory note are teaching the
farmers to be guarded. Many of them can spot a gold brick scheme as soon as
it is presented. Therefore the correspondent has to keep before him the fact
that the farmer is always wary; his letters must be so worded that no
obscure phrase will arouse suspicion; no proposition will admit of two
interpretations.
So the guarantee and the free trial offer are essential features in letters
that sell the farmer. In hundreds of letters from manufacturers of goods
that are sold by mail to the farmer, nearly every one throws into prominence
the guarantee and the free trial offer with money refunded if the purchase
does not prove satisfactory.
A manufacturer of farm implements puts this guarantee into the first person
effectively.
Such a letter carries conviction; you are impressed by the fact that 40,000
farmers consider this spreader the best; the offer of comparison and
demonstration seems conclusive that a comparison is not necessary; you feel
that the man who bought a different kind of spreader must have acted hastily
without investigating the merits of this particular machine.
The farmer is usually open to conviction but he has to be "shown." After he
has had successful dealings with a house for several years he readily
accepts its assurance that something is just as good at a less price than
what he would buy of a retailer, but he can most easily be won over by
strong "why" copy. An educational campaign is almost always necessary for
the farmer who has never bought goods by mail; to pull him out of the rut of
established custom it is necessary to present facts and figures to convince
him that the direct-to-the-consumer method is to his advantage.
To get this to the eye and mind in a striking way is the first requisite.
A Cincinnati firm selling buggies uses a comparative table at the bottom of
the first sheet of the first follow-up, as follows:
* * * * *
COST OF RETAIL PLAN
COST OF OUR PLAN
Actual factory cost of buggy.. $43.00 Factory cost.....
$43.00
Factory selling expense....... 4.00 Selling
expense.. 4.00
Salesmen's expense............ 4.50 Our
profit....... 6.75
Factory profit................ 7.00 OUR
SELLING -----
Retailer's selling expense.... 5.00
PRICE............ $53.75
Retailer's profit............. 15.00
-----
DEALER'S SELLING PRICE
$78.50
* * * * *
This makes the prospect stop and think if not stop and figure.
Another carriage manufacturing company uses a somewhat similar method of
comparison but introduces it at a different point. Between the first and
second pages of a three-page follow-up, a sheet in facsimile handwriting is
introduced forming a marked comparison, mechanically, to the typewriting
preceding and following it:
* * * * * * Problems of Dollars and Cents saving easily solved.
Retail Dealer's plan of figuring selling price.
Actual factory cost of buggy.................... $46.25
Expense and salary, traveling salesman, about 10% 4.50
Jobber's profit--at least 15% .................. 7.00
Retail dealer's profit (figured very low)....... 20.00
Losses from bad debts........................... 2.50
-----
RETAIL DEALER'S SELLING PRICE................... $80.25
My Plan of Figuring Selling Price.
Actual factory cost of buggy.................... $46.25
Expense and salary of traveling salesman........ nothing
Jobber's profit................................. nothing
Retail dealer's profit.......................... nothing
Losses from bad debts........................... nothing
My _one small gross_ profit................
8.50
-----
MY SELLING PRICE................................ $54.75
* * * * *
This "saving sheet" can not fail to attract greater attention by means of
its form and place of introduction than though it were typewritten and in
regular order.
Right-out-from-the-shoulder arguments and facts may also be used to good
advantage in handling competition. What the farmer wants is to know whether
the other goods are as represented; whether the proposition has any holes in
it. If the seller can give him facts that prove his product better than
others, honestly and fairly, it does not boost the competitor but helps to
sell his own goods.
A cream separator manufacturer claiming a simple machine now presents in his
catalogue illustrations of the parts of other machines used in the actual
separation of the cream from the milk. This comparison shows that his
machine has fewer parts and consequently will stay in repair longer and
clean easier--two important talking points.
Where a competing firm enters the field with a cheap quality of goods that
would react against the trade, it is sometimes policy to put the facts
before the prospective buyers.
This was done by a Winnipeg manufacturer of metal culverts after the
following plan:
"Last May a firm manufacturing metal goods attempted to enter the culvert
field in Western Canada. We sent out a letter to every Councilor in Manitoba
and Saskatchewan showing the weakness of its culverts. It looks as though
our letter settled all chance of selling the kind of culvert it was making,
for it immediately quit the campaign for business. We do not think a single
culvert was sold.
"The same company is again making an effort to enter the field, and we would
be pleased to see it get a nice business If it sold a good culvert, but as
long as it sells anything like the one now advertised we shall most
vigorously oppose it because we are certain the culverts will not give
satisfaction, and that will mean purchasers will be very much disappointed,
and will have a tendency, as a result, to be opposed to all metal culverts;
their disappointment will be so great that it will react against our
company.
"Look at the illustration in the magazines of the nestable culvert--a man is
pinching the metal on the lower section of the culvert back upon itself.
There are very few machine shops in the country in which the heavy metal we
use could be bent. At any rate, to bend back our metal, you would require a
machine shop wherever you were doing your road work. Take a sledge hammer
the next time you see one of our culverts and prove to yourself the task
that would be before you to bend our culverts. You simply could not do it."
* * * * *
The farmer who receives such a letter, if not entirely convinced, is at
least reasonably certain to make an investigation before placing an order
with the firm selling culverts that can be bent by hand. And it is probably
a good thing for the mail-order business that such efforts are being made to
protect the public against inferior goods.
Experience has shown that while offers to the farmer must be clear cut, the
chances of pulling an order are increased if he is given a number of options
as to price, plan of payment and different kinds of items open to purchase.
He does not like to be restricted to one particular item, or one arbitrary
form of payment. This fact was long ago recognized by the large catalogue
houses, for they aim to offer several kinds and sizes under every item
listed. It has been found that where both the number of items and options in
a line is doubled or otherwise substantially increased, that the percentage
of sales immediately increases.
A company in Canton, Ohio, putting out a line of sprayers, offers on the
back of its order sheet four sprayers of different prices and four forms of
making payment for each sprayer. This gives the prospect sixteen
options--one of which will look best to him, when he sends in his order.
This information is printed on the back of the order sheet, where it can not
get separated from it and where it will have a "last appeal."
The mail-order houses have been vying with each other in trying to find
unique appeals to the farmer. To this end profit-sharing plans and various
premium schemes have been introduced, in some cases with phenomenal results.
While the farmer is no different from the ordinary public in wanting to get
his money's worth he is open to conviction through smaller devices than is
his city brother. And the "novelty device" appeals to him strongly.
An Ohio company putting out buggies as a main product, adds an insurance
policy as a clincher. The purchaser is himself insured for one hundred
dollars payable to his heirs in case of his death; the buggy carries an
indemnity--not to exceed fifty dollars--covering accidents along the line of
breakage or damage in accidents or smash-ups. This insurance, under the
policy given, is kept in force a year.
This extra not only acts as a sales argument but a basis for a talk like
this:
"The S. & W. pleasure vehicles have been tested by insurance company
officials. They have been proved practically unbreakable, the material and
durability surprising the insurance officials. Insurance is not issued on
sickly persons, weak buildings nor on inferior vehicles. It is because our
vehicles are so well made that insurance is permitted."
* * * * *
This makes a convincing talking point, particularly to the man who is not
familiar with accident indemnity, and to the young man who is about to buy a
"rig" in which he may attempt to demonstrate that no other man can pass him
on the road.
When it comes to framing up a campaign there are many points, minor in
themselves, but each having its significance, that it is well to consider.
It frequently happens that not enough attention is paid to the stationery
that is used for farmers, but all these things have their influence in
prejudicing the recipient for or against a new house.
"It is a good rule in writing the farmer to diversify your stationery," says
a mail-order man who has sold a wide range of specialties. "The reason for
this lies in the fact that when a farmer has been drummed about so much he
may grow resentful at the persistence. We aim, not only to present the
proposition very differently each time, but we use different size envelopes,
different letterheads and markedly different enclosures in each follow-up.
"Particularly along rural routes, where the men folks are in the field when
the carrier comes, I aim to change envelopes and letterheads. I never want
the housewife to be able to say to the man of the house when he asks what
mail came, that 'There's another letter from the firm that's trying to sell
you a cream separator'."
To make ordering easier and to get the farmer to "act now" a coupon or an
enclosed postal card, good for a limited number of days is widely used. This
makes it easier to send for catalogue or a free trial or whatever is
advertised. It is a spur to action and results in adding to the mailing
list, names of many persons who might never respond if they had to wait
until they found pen or pencil and paper--and a convenient opportunity.
A rebate check is another popular scheme for inducing the customer to order.
An old mail-order house calls attention in the first form letter sent out
with a catalogue to the fact that accompanying it is a check for one dollar
to apply on the first order.
This order is made out in the form of a personal check, filled in with the
prospect's name. It is, to all intents and purposes, a personal check, only
payable in goods instead of cash.
Similar use of the check method of exciting interest is also used by a
Detroit incubator manufacturer, who finds that many who have resisted other
appeals answer to the chance to convert a check into a saving.
This same firm also adds as a clincher an offer to pay the freight on
certain lines of goods, so that the catalogue price becomes actual cost
instead of cost plus freight charges. Such inducements come home to the
farmer; anything on the "something-for-nothing" order appeals to him.
Aside from the nature of the proposition and the way it is presented, there
is the all-important element of seasonableness. The man who has always lived
in the city might understand the general principles of mail-order selling
and have a good proposition, but his success would be indifferent unless he
understood the meaning of timeliness in reaching the farmer. If your letter
or advertisement catches the eye of the farmer he will in all probability
put it away in the shoe box back of the chimney until ready to buy; it would
be almost impossible to train enough guns on him during the rush season to
force his interest. It is a common experience with mail-order houses to
receive replies to letters or advertisements six months or a year after they
are sent out--sometimes years afterwards. The message was timely; it wormed
its way into the farmer's "mental want list" and blossomed forth when he
felt that he could afford the article.
Only a carefully kept record-of-returns sheet or book will show when sales
can best be made on a particular item, and the shrewd manager will test out
different items at different seasons before launching a big campaign which
may be ill-timed.
"The winter months are the best time for comprehensive information to soak
in--but the letter generally is not the place for this. Put personality in
the letter--specifications in the circular." This is the advice of an
experienced correspondent whose length of service enables him to speak
authoritatively.
"A winter letter may be long, verbose and full of interesting information;
the farmer will read it carefully. This is the time to get in
specifications, estimates, complicated diagrams and long arguments which
require study. Letters for the work months need to be short and snappy, both
to insure reading and to act on a tired mind."
And then finally the proposition must be made so plain that there is no
possibility of its being misinterpreted. What a city man who is a wide
reader gets at a glance, the ordinary farm owner or farmer's boy--often with
only a rudimentary knowledge of English--must study over.
"So needful is the observance of this principle in our business," says this
manager, "that our sales letters have come to be almost a formula. First we
state our proposition. We then proceed to take up each element of the offer
and make it as plain and plausible as possible."
In this case the elements are:
1. The thing offered. 2. Time of trial. 3. Freight paid. 4. Return
privilege.
"All the letter is a plain exposition of 1, 2, 3, 4--the preceding
paragraphs are summarized and connected. For instance, after the item
offered has been treated and the length of trial made clear, the two are
summarized thus:
"The separator we offer is not only the best that money can buy but it is
just what you need--no wonder we are willing to give you 30 days in which to
try it.
"But what about freight?"
"Just this."
* * * * *
"Then we explain freight paid and return privilege. This gives a continuous
and increasing summary straight through the letter, which closes with a
recapitulation of the proposition.
"The aim of putting several summaries of the proposition in all sales matter
is so that there can be no possible mistake about the proposition, for
thousands of propositions are turned down by people on farms simply because
the reader does not quite understand everything."
The farmer is in constant dread of "being caught" and there is little
likelihood of his taking advantage of any offer that is not absolutely clear
in his mind. The letter writer must realize what a point this is with the
average farmer. What a city man does he can keep to himself; if he buys a
gold brick he gets rid of it and forgets the transaction just as quickly as
possible. But what the farmer does is neighborhood gossip. If one of those
"slick city fellers" sells him something he can't use, every one knows it.
Make the proposition clear--so clear that every one in the family can
understand it, for usually purchases are talked over for days before an
order is finally sent out. Take into account the farmer's suspicious nature
and bear down heavily on the utility of the article. There is no hidden
mystery in reaching the rural prospects but they must be handled with
discretion and with an understanding of the prejudices, characteristics and
viewpoints of the farmer.
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