Excerpts from
The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier (+ bonus eBook by Claude C. Hopkins) Order in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $24.95 (+ printing charge) or click here to order from Amazon.com for $39.50 Description A book for the businessman who already knows the theory of letter writing but is looking for more effective ways of putting it into practice. It shows successful ways of selling all manner of products through proper advertising. Selling by mail can be the easiest and least expensive method of selling your services or commodities. It can also be the most difficult and expensive -- it all depends on the method you use in presenting your offering to your prospects. To produce a message that explains concisely yet completely, and in an action-compelling manner, what you have to offer, is a job that demands the services of a selling expert; one with many years of successful mail order experience at his command. If you were to ask any of the top copy writing pros who they've learned from, one name is sure to be repeated over and over again: Robert Collier. One of Collier's most successful letters was his "will you do me a favor?" letter. It was based on a story he read about how a manager of a company asked a competing business for a favor, which started a relationship that blossomed into the two companies joining together. Collier thought this same idea might work in print -- and he found it wildly profitable. He had many years of success in the field of selling by mail, selling every commodity from trench machinery to fertilizers, books and raincoats, stocks and bonds and services. Collier placed hundreds of millions of dollars into the
pockets of
the clients for whom he wrote his masterful sales letters. His letter
openings were used over and
over again because they work -- and they're still working just
as well today. This special eBook edition contains the full text of the original 1931 400+ page Letter Book together with all the illlustrations, plus an additional chapter entitled "How to Raise Money by Mail" that was not included in the original Letter Book. As an added bonus, purchasers of this eBook edition will also receive a copy of Claude C. Hopkins' classic "Scientific Advertising" in eBook format. About the Author The author of over a dozen books, Robert Collier was decades ahead of his time in writing down ways for man to improve his lot in life. He wrote "Secret of the Ages " during an active and successful life developed upon basic ideas which opened up new vistas of living for countless multitudes of people. Brought up to be a priest, he worked as a mining engineer, an advertising executive and a prolific writer and publisher. Book Contents Chapter 1 - WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES SOME LETTERS PAY Chapter 2 -
HOW TO
AROUSE THAT ACQUISITIVE FEELING Chapter 3
- GETTING
NEWS INTEREST INTO YOUR LETTER Chapter 4 -
WORD PICTURES THAT
MAKE PEOPLE WANT YOUR PRODUCT Chapter 5 -
MOTIVES
THAT MAKE PEOPLE BUY Chapter 6 -
THE PROOF OF THE
PUDDING Chapter 7
- SUPPLYING
THAT IMPULSE Chapter 8 -
HOW TO
PUT A HOOK INTO YOUR LETTERS Chapter 9 -
THE SIX
ESSENTIALS Chapter 10 - HOW IT ALL BEGAN Chapter 11 - THE FIRST OLIVE Chapter 12 - SELLING $2,000,000 WORTH OF O.
HENRY
STORIES Chapter 13 - A WAR HISTORY THAT SOLD Chapter 14 - BOOKS THAT MANY PEOPLE KNOW Chapter 15 - HOW WELLS' "OUTLINE" WAS SOLD Chapter 16 - HOW THE BOOK BUYERS SAVED A
CAMPAIGN Chapter 17 - A GIANT
OF THE MAILS Chapter 18 - THE THIRD
FIFTY THOUSAND Chapter 19 - WHY YOU ACCEPT THIS LITTLE GIFT? Chapter 20 - ONE MILLION DOLLARS' WORTH OF Chapter 21 - HOW
CLOSELY CAN YOU FOLLOW UP LEADS? Chapter 22 - WE HELP
TO START A STORE Chapter 23 - HOW TO REACH THE LEADERS Chapter 24 - COLLECTING
WITH A SMILE Chapter 25 - THE IDEAL
SALES LETTER Chapter 26 - HOW TO
RAISE MONEY BY MAIL
It is for the business man who already knows
the
theory of letter writing but is looking for more effective ways of
putting it
into practice. It covers all the necessary rules, of course,
but it
does this informally. Primarily, it is the log book of a long and
varied
experience. It shows successful ways of selling all
manner of
products, from coal and coke right on down to socks and dresses. But
through
all the differences in products and appeals, runs this one connecting
thread—that while products and reasons for buying may vary, human
nature
remains much the same; that familiarity with the thing you are selling
is an
advantage, but the one essential without which success is impossible in
selling, by mail or selling in person, is a thorough understanding of
human
reactions. Study your reader first—your product second.
If you understand
his reactions, and present those phases of your product that relate to
his
needs, then you cannot help but write a good letter. It may be said of this book that it does not
give
enough examples of unsuccessful letters. But most of us can find plenty
of
these in our own files. And isn't it true that we are far less
concerned with
why a letter failed than in finding out what it is that makes a letter
successful? The first book on business letter writing I
ever read
was the "Business Correspondence Library" published by System
a good many years ago. To it, and to "Applied Business
Correspondence" and other books by Herbert Watson, I owe most of my
theoretical knowledge of letter writing. Those familiar with Watson's
writings
will recognize many of his theories in the early chapters of this book.
I
gladly give acknowledgment to him as the one on whose writings the
groundwork
of my own education in direct mail was laid. For many of the short paragraphs used as
examples of
good starters, graphic descriptions, or proper closers, I am indebted
to
writers like Ad-Man Davison and Ben Sweetland and to such magazines as Printers'
Ink and System. THE AUTHOR NEW YORK, N. Y. May,
1931.
FOREWORD
To anyone immersed in the great game of
business,
there never ceases to be a thrill in landing an order. Multiply that
thrill 100
or 1,000 times, and you have a picture of what a big day means to one
who
depends upon the incoming mail for success in business. I suppose there
must be
plenty of excitement in turning over to the "big boss" an order for
$50,000 worth of something from one customer, but I doubt whether it
can be
compared with the feeling that you have influenced through your own
eloquence a
thousand minds to do something you wanted them to do, so that they all
responded with signatures, in one day, backed by healthy pocketbooks. Of all the forms of selling, direct mail is
the most
intriguing. Certainly it appeals strongly to the student mind. I have
known men
to be devoted to it, and very successful at it, who probably would have
starved
if they had been forced to take a sample case and show their wares to
their
customers face to face. Of all forms of selling, it gets the quickest
results
because the mails travel faster than salesmen, the mails don't get sick
or
temperamental, nor do they have to wait for an interview. The direct
mail
appeal gets there and back while another salesman is packing his grip.
It
offers great opportunity for showmanship with striking illustrations
and color
printing. It makes certain that all the best selling points are
covered,
whereas a sales representative may often miss a few and is quite likely
to
focus on a weak one he likes best, even sometimes inventing some
doubtful ones
of his own. In direct mail the management can check all extravagant
claims.
Direct mail shows a low selling cost too—if it works at all—and has the
advantage of showing you quickly whether your merchandise is
marketable, so
that you can plan and get your campaign under way while the season is
on. I
say, "If it works!" Of course, it will work if one has the patience
to find the right approach. Sometimes you hit it by accident, but
usually you
hit it by hard study, backed by experience. Mr. Collier has generously
poured his
experience into this book to save the reader the pitfalls yawning for
old-fashioned business men, who are so apt to spend their postage money
on good
literature with sophisticated dictionary words and involved appeals,
instead of
headlines with punch, backed by simple homely argument. A well-known copywriter and direct mail
expert used to
say, if you can sell books and service through advertising, you can
sell
anything. This probably explains why Mr. Collier shows you so many
examples of
successful book selling, making his point with the more difficult
demonstration
material. It must not be inferred, however, that the methods which he
describes
apply only to publishers' problems, because it is undoubtedly true that
the
same technique can be applied to sell anything from peanuts to real
estate, and
is being applied every day. If you have an article with merit, and
there are
enough human beings who want it or who can be made to want it, direct
mail will
find them quickly and at a low cost, in good times and in periods of
depression. Moreover, it can be used in connection with other forms of
selling
without conflict. Your high-salaried road-men to the contrary
notwithstanding,
you can use direct mail methods not only to help them sell your
product, but to
sell them as well—and make them like it. The publishers are pleased to call this a
"book" but I should call it a "course of study," because it
covers the subject so completely and unfolds food for thought in easy
steps
with logical sequence just as a good teacher would do the job. I
believe many
will join me if I nominate Robert Collier to the chair of Direct Mail
Engineering at some progressive institution of learning. If this
suggestion is
adopted, we shall see in a few years a new attitude on the part of the
weary
public on receipt of circular letters. The bright, refreshing, circular
literature of those days will be opened and read because it will be
newsy and
interesting, instead of dull and drab, as so much of it is today—but
how about
our pocketbooks after these compelling letters make us sign up for
everything
which Mr. Collier's disciples want to sell us under this new order of
things? —Fred Stone Chapter 1 WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES SOME LETTERS PAY? WHAT is there about some letters that makes
them so much
more effective than others? A letter may have perfect diction, a finished
style;
it may bristle with attention-getters and interest-arousers; it may
follow
every known rule; yet when it reaches the Hall of Judgment where the
reader
sits and decides its fate, it may find itself cast into the hell of
wastebasketdom, while some screed lacking any pretense of polish or the
finer
arts of correspondence, blandly picks up the bacon and walks home with
it. Why? Because getting the results you set out to
accomplish
with a letter is no more a matter of rule of thumb than is landing a
fish with
a rod and hook. You know how often you have seen some ragged urchin
pull in
fish after fish with the crudest of lines, when a "sportsman" near
by, though armed with every piscatorial lure known to man, could not
raise even
a bite! It's a matter of bait, that's all. The
youngster knew
what the fish would bite on, and he gave it to them. Result? A mess of
fine
fish for dinner. The "sportsman" offered them what he had been led to
believe fish ought to have—and they turned up their fishy noses at it. Hundreds of books have doubtless been written
about
the fine art of fishing, but the whole idea is contained in that one
sentence:
"What bait will they bite on?" Thousands of articles have been
written about the way to use letters to bring you what you want, but
the meat
of them all can be compressed into two sentences: "What is the bait
that
will tempt your reader? How can you tie up the thing you have to offer
with
that bait?" For the ultimate purpose of every business
letter
simmers down to this: The reader of this letter wants certain
things. The
desire for them is, consciously or unconsciously, the dominant idea in
his mind
all the time. You want him to do a certain definite thing
for you.
How can you tie this up to the thing he wants, in such a way that the
doing of
it will bring him a step nearer to his goal? It matters not whether you are trying to sell
him a
rain-coat, making him a proposal of marriage, or asking him to pay a
bill. In
each case, you want him to do something for you. Why should he? Only
because of
the hope that the doing of it will bring him nearer his heart's desire,
or the
fear that his failure to do it will remove that heart's desire farther
from
him. Put yourself in his place. If you were deep
in
discussion with a friend over some matter that meant a great deal to
both of
you, and a stranger came up, slapped you on the back and said: "See
here,
Mister, I have a fine coat I want to sell you!" What would you do?
Examine
the coat with interest, and thank him for the privilege, or kick him
and the
coat down the nearest stairs, and blister both with a few choice
adjectives in
the process? Well, much the same thing happens when you
approach a
man by mail. He is deep in a discussion with himself over ways and
means of
getting certain things that mean a great deal to him. You butt in (that
is the
only term that describes it) and blandly tell him to forget those
things that
so deeply concern him and consider your proposition instead. Is it any
wonder
he promptly tells you where to head in, and lacking the ability to
reach you,
takes it out on your letter instead? Then what is the right way to approach him?
How would
you do it if you were approaching him in person? If he were talking to
someone,
you'd listen for a while, wouldn't you, and get the trend of the
conversation?
Then when you chimed in, it would be with a remark on some related
subject, and
from that you would bring the talk around logically to the point you
wanted to
discuss. It should not be much more difficult in a letter. There are
certain
prime human emotions with which the thoughts of all of us are occupied
a goodly
part of the time. Tune in on them, and you have your reader's
attention. Tie it
up to the thing you have to offer, and you are sure of his interest. You see, your reader glancing over his mail
is much
like a man in a speeding train. Something catches his eye and he turns
for a
better look. You have his attention. But attention alone gets you
nowhere. The
something must stand closer inspection, it must win his interest,
otherwise his
attention is lost—and once lost, it is twice as hard to win the second
time.
Again it's a matter of bait—you may attract a fish's attention with a
gaudily painted
bauble, but if he once nibbles it and finds it made of tin, you will
have a
hard time reaching him again with anything else of the same kind. Every mail brings your reader letters urging
him to
buy this or that, to pay a bill, to get behind some movement or to try
a new
device. Time was when the mere fact that an envelope looked like a
personal
letter addressed to him would have intrigued his interest. But that
time has
long since passed. Letters as letters are no longer objects of intense
interest. They are bait neither more nor less—and to tempt him, they
must look
a bit different from bait he has nibbled at and been fooled by before.
They
must have something about them that stands out from the mass—that
catches his
eye and arouses his interest—or away they go into the wastebasket. Your problem, then, is to find a point of
contact with
his interests, his desires, some feature that will flag his attention
and make
your letter stand out from all others the moment he reads the first
line. But it won't do to yell "Fire!" That will
get you attention, yes of a kind but as far as your prospects of doing
business
are concerned, it will be of the kind a drunken miner got in the days
when the
West wore guns and used them on the slightest provocation. He stuck his
head in
the window of a crowded saloon and yelled "Fire!"—and everybody
did! Study your reader. Find out what interests
him. Then
study your proposition to see how it can be made to tie in with that
interest.
Take as an instance, the mother of a month-old baby. What is most in
her
thoughts? Imagine, then, how a letter starting like this would appeal
to her: After baby's food and baby's clothes, the
most
important thing you have to decide upon is the little cart baby is
going to
ride in—is going to be seen in is going to be admired in. Never a child
came
into the world but was worthy as good a cart, etc. Or if you were the father of a six or
eight-year-old
boy, wouldn't this get under your skin? Your boy is a little shaver now. He thinks
you are the
most wonderful man in the world. You can fix his boat, mend his
velocipede,
tell him wonderful stories. But it will be only ten or twelve years until
he goes
to College. The fathers of the other boys—his chums—will go to see
them. There
will be a Railroad President, perhaps; a great Banker; a Governor. And you will go; and your boy will say, "This
is
my father, boys." How will he feel when he says it? Will he be
proud of
you? Or take any one of the following starts.
Can't you
just see your reader nodding in interested agreement, can't you picture
the way
they would carry him along into a description of the thing offered, how
they
would make him want it, how they would lead him on to the final action?
To a Druggist
To a Householder
There were over 1500 house burglaries last
month in
our dear old city; 92 business burglaries; 122 street hold-ups; 11
offices held
up; 309 automobiles stolen, and the Lord only knows how many watches
and purses
taken on the streets. A good insurance policy against burglary and
theft is a
pretty cheap investment these days. Call me on the phone now, and I can
have
your valuables covered by noon. To a Farmer
To a Merchant
How often is this little tragedy repeated in
your
store? Your time is valuable your overhead expense
runs
on—and it costs you real money when a prospective customer walks out of
your
store without making a purchase. To a Mother
He is arriving at the age when his spirit of
manliness
asserts itself. You find him imitating his father's manners—he is using
your
embroidery scissors to shave with—he is no longer ambitious to be a
policeman,
but has his eye on the Presidency. Among the serious problems with him
today is
this: He is beginning to want manly, square-cut, "growing-up"
clothes. He is no longer satisfied with ordinary boys' clothes, He
wants
something "like father's." To a Motorist If you have ever driven your car in a
rainstorm, you
know how annoying it is—dangerous, too—to have your wind shield clouded
with
water. How many times have you narrowly avoided accidents under these
conditions? With the—Cleaner attached to your car, all you need to do
is turn a
button in front of you, and instantly every drop of water in your field
of
vision is swept from your wind shield. The glass is left clear and
clean. To a Doctor
To a Housewife
To Any Man To Insurance Agents
If the humble mud turtle formed no part of
the
backyard fauna of your youth, I reckon there was something mighty
similar to
engage your budding talents. Just as you find now, in your grown-up
days, that
the pursuit of your business aims often involve the same emotions that
lent
interest to your activities in the eyes of your early neighbors. For
example:
We want to point out to you a few of the prospects that are basking
along the
banks of the . . . Bait—all of them. Find the thing your
prospect is
interested in and make it your point of contact, rather than rush in
and try to
tell him something about your proposition, your goods, your
interests.
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