How to Deal with Human Nature in Business: A Practical Book on Doing Business by Correspondence, Advertising, and Salesmanship
Sherwin Cody's 516-page handbook, published by Funk & Wagnalls in 1915 and built partly on his material of 1904 to 1911, runs in five parts: human nature, correspondence, merchandising, advertising and personal salesmanship.
What it is
Sherwin Cody's 516-page handbook, published by Funk & Wagnalls in 1915 and built partly on his material of 1904 to 1911, runs in five parts: human nature, correspondence, merchandising, advertising and personal salesmanship. It opens by admitting that selling and advertising are not yet sciences, only "a collection of hypotheses", then borrows simple rules from psychology: like begets like, enthusiasm spreads, every emotion leads to action. The practical chapters tell a correspondent to sort a day's letters into classes and perfect one model letter for each, and set out five steps of written selling: create desire, show how the plan works, prove the claims, make the reader feel like ordering, make ordering easy. Cody gives return rates for circulars, tests each letter on 500 names before mailing a list, and keys ads by medium. It closes with a full canvass for selling itself and advice on closing through small decisions.
Why read it now
The testing chapter is the part that holds. Cody's arithmetic, a trial on 500 names judged against the number of orders needed to cover cost, then a larger trial before the full send, is still how direct response works. He also warns that inquiries are not orders; only final orders prove an ad pays. His "points of monopoly", the claims no rival in the community can make, anticipate the unique selling proposition. Closing through a string of minor decisions matches the foot-in-the-door findings of Freedman and Fraser (1966). The five steps of written selling work as a checklist for a landing page. What has dated: the "American principle" chapter ranks national characters in sweeping terms, the psychology is 1915 introspection, and "at least 75 per cent" of advertising wasted is an assertion, not a measurement. His return rates come from postal lists, not digital feeds. Use: before a campaign, write down the break-even orders per 1,000 messages or impressions, run the smallest test that can reach that number, and scale only the version that clears it.
Passages worth keeping
The clever advertising man, when he comes into a new business, looks for the points of monopoly, the points that this business has which no other business in the community can lay claim to, and those are the points on which his advertising hammers.
كاتب الإعلان الماهر يبحث في كل نشاط جديد عن المزايا التي لا يستطيع أي منافس قريب أن يدّعيها، ثم يبني إعلانه عليها ويكررها.
It is a great error to suppose that many people want what you have to offer.
لا تفترض أن الناس يريدون ما تبيعه من الأصل؛ فالرغبة في الغالب يجب أن تُصنع أو تُستثار قبل تقديم العرض.
It is easier to mail a million letters than to teach an argument to one hundred canvassers.
الحجة المكتوبة تُصاغ مرة واحدة وتصل إلى الجميع كما هي، أما تدريب فريق من المندوبين على حجة دقيقة فأصعب وأكثر كلفة.
At least 75 per cent. of miscellaneous advertising is wasted. The whole idea of science in advertising is to eliminate that waste, and the basis of all science is exact knowledge.
يرى الكاتب أن جزءًا كبيرًا من الإنفاق الإعلاني يضيع، وأن علاجه الوحيد هو القياس الدقيق لنتيجة كل إعلان بدل الانطباع.
Success in "closing" depends on getting a decision on minor points as you go along.
إغلاق البيع لا يأتي بضربة واحدة، بل بموافقات صغيرة يحصل عليها البائع خطوة بعد خطوة حتى القرار الأخير.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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