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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at|http: //books .google .com/I HOW TO DEAL WITH HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS " { r* A Practical Book on Doing Business by Correspondence, Advertising, and Salesmanship By SHERWIN CODY Author of "How to Do Business ly Letter/* "The Art of Writing ««tf Speaking the English Language/' "Marshall Brown, American Business Man/' etc. SECOND EDITION FUNK & WAGNALLS CO! NEW YORK AND LONDON 1916 COPTBIGHT, 1904, 1906, 1911, BT SHBRWIN CODY COPTBIGHT^ 1915, BY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY PHnted in the United States of America Published, September, 1916 All rightt reserved I CONTENTS •REPATOET— A Scientific Basis xi PAET I— HUMAN NATUEB: HOW TO HANDLE IT I. National Characteristics 3 II. Service the American Princeplb op Business 7 III. The Business World Takes Your Own Valuation op Yourself 11 IV. Every Man Should Have His Monopoly 16 V. The Mind and How it Works .... 19 f VI. Practical Uses op the Imaginative '^ Method 36 VII. Practical Principles op Appeal ... 41 Vin. Proportion and Emphasis 52 IX. Analyzing a Business 57 PART II— CORRESPONDENCE Introductory — The Form of the Letter ... 67 Margina — Spacing— The date line — The address — The salutation — The body of a letter — The elose — The signature — The envelop— The punc- tuation— ^Bules for commas — Rules for semi- eolons — ^Bules for colons — How to study punc- tuation— ^How to master the form of letters. iii •♦■w •.* iv CONTENTS PAGS I. The Cokvebsational Style in Letteb- Writing 75 Natural and easy way to begin a business let- ter— ^Natural and easy way to close a business letter — How to acquire an easy business style — Secretary's letter of acknowledgment — Simple letter enclosing check to pay a bill — ^A letter of endorsement — ^Answer to an inquiry — The tele- graphic style — Colloquialisms and slang — ^An illustrative chain of letters. II. Ordering Goods and Handling Inquiries . 87 Two kinds of letters, buying and selling — Order- ing goods — A poor letter ordering goods — The same letter properly written — ^Answering in- quiries— ^A poor answer to a letter ordering goods — The right answer to this letter — ^A poor reply to letter of inquiry — The same letter re- written— Selling letters with the inquiries they answer. III. System in Handling Correspondence , 104 How to write one hundred good letters a day — Form-sentences — ^When to use a form-letter — When not to use form-letters — System in freshening publicity — Complaint-letters — ^A poor answer to a letter of complaint — The same letter rewritten — Form-chart for complaints. Illustrative Study of the Grocery Business 114 IV. How TO Deal With Human Nature by Letter 127 1. When to Write a Short Letter and When a Long One 127 2. How to Write a Letter That Will Get Attention 128 Circular letter soliciting advertising. CONTENTS V PAGI 3. How to Write a Letter That Wai De- velop Interest 132 Letters to get life insurance business. 4. How to Write a Letter That Will Com- pel an Answer 136 5. How to do Business With a Reasonable Customer 140 A cfystem to keep reasonable eustomers satis- fied. 6. How to do Business With an Irritable Customer 144 Nagging letters and bow to handle tbem. 7. How to do Business With a Woman . 147 The deference due to woman. 8. How to Write to a Lady on a Delicate Matter 151 Delicate letters — ^A frank letter to an employee. 9. Giving a Letter the Proper Tone — ^How to Write to Your Superior .... 154 10. How to Write to a Subordinate . . . 158 V. Collections by Mail , 163 Letter to go with invoice, always required on approval shipment — Collection follow-up letters — ^A reminder to take cash discount — For small accounts overdue — ^For very small accounts long overdue — Collections from dealers — A collection letter that ' ' drew the money like a poultice. ' ' VI. Using Words so as to Make People do Things 175 1. The Personal Touch 175 Enthusiasm the comer-stone of success. vi CONTENTS 2. How to Condense 178 The secret of condexasation — The first full let- ter— ^A page advertisemeiit or short letter — One-inch magazine advertisement. 3. Emphasis in Business Writing . . . 185 An example of display for emphasis — ^First let- ter to get inquiries for $500 machine— Answer to inquiries brought bj the preceding letter — Let- ter to general list to get inquiries for $500 machine. VIL SlLESMANSHIP IN LeTTEBS AND IN ADVER- TISING 193 1. Five Steps in Written Salesmanship . 193 Poor salesmanship. 2. Creating Desire 199 Poor ways to begin a sales-letter — The right way to begin sales-letters. 3. Show How Your Plan Works .... 202 "Showing How" useful in selling mining-stock. 4. Proving Your Statements 206 Qet the customer 's point of view — ^How to handle testimonials. 5. Making a Man Feel Like Ordering . . 211 A clever business-winner. 6. Make Ordering Easy, Safe, and Quick . 215 Clinchers — Letter to clinch orders. 7. Turning Advertising Inquiries Into Orders 219 8. Follow-up Letters 220 Letter to sell a fire-extinguisher sent with cata- log on receipt of inquiry. 9. Second PoUow-up Letter 224 Illustrative letters. CONTENTS vii PAGI 10. Stationery and Printing for Circular Letters 228 11. Premiums 230 Letter to get a trial wholesale order on approval — ^Premium. 12. What Can and What Can Not be Done by Mail 233 Importance of testing every letter or piece of advertising — ^Futility of the cionventional follow- up — ^Making an argument in bits — Seasonal can- vassing. PART III— MERCHANDISING Merchandising 243 A good business in a good location — Classes of businesses — Collections and credits — ^Financing a business — ^Records — The general selling-problem — Trusting the public — ^Approval — Questions on merchandising. PART IV— ADVERTISING I. The Business op Advertising .... 263 Questions on the business of advertising. II. Planning an Advertising Campaign . . 270 Questions on planning an advertising campaign. m. The Psychology and Art of Advertising Display 275 Attention values — Pleasing shapes and masses — Questions on the art of advertising — The prac- tical drive — Copy — ^Producing action — Questions on the preparation of copy. Forty Illustrations of Magazine, News- paper, and Street-Car Advertisements 289 Mediums — Questions on mediums — The cumula- tive power of advertising. viii CONTENTS PAGE IV. Eetail Advertising 330 The object of retail advertising — Newspapers and handbills as retail mediums — ^What to ad- vertise— The buyer and the advertisement writer must work together — The technique of retail ad- vertising— Questions on retail advertising. V. Direct-by-Mail Advertising 342 Lists — Cost — ^Mailing-pieces and enclosures — One or two-cent postage — ^whichf — ^Hints on booklet- making — Proper style in which to write a book- let— The use and abuse of catalogs and booklets — Classified advertising — Questions on direct- by-mail advertising. VI. Keying and Testing Advertising . . . 358 Testing retail advertising — Testing general ad- vertising— Permanent advertising record — Ques- tions on keying and testing advertisements. VII. Printing 369 Preparing copy for printer and reading proof — Questions on printing. Modem Type Faces 383 PART V— PERSONAL SALESMANSHIP I. Personality 393 The advantage of having good clothes — The ad- vantage of having good manners — The advan- tage of having a good breath — Questions on personality in salesmanship. II. Different Kinds op Salesmen and Their Duties 403 1. Retail 403 2. Wholesale 406 3. Specialty 411 Questions on the duties of different kinds of salesmen. CONTENTS IX PAOI III. Modern Sales Organization 414 The sales-manager — The list of prospects — ^Edu- cating the customer — Managing salesmen — Ques- tions on modem sales organization. IV. The Principles op Salesmanship , . . 424 The five factors — General preparation for sell- ing-— Steps in making a sale — Special prepara- tion— ^Attention — Creating desire for the thing in general — ^Developing interest in your goods — Closing the sale— Questions on the principles of salesmanship. V. The Practical Process op Selling . . . 436 Setail selling — Selling to dealers — Selling spec- ialties— The primary selling-talk — The secondary selling-talk — The tertiary selling-talk — The salesman's personal check-up. Psychological Selling Hints — Suggestion . 449 The danger of negative suggestion — ^Avoid ex- cessive familiarity — Questions on the practical process of selling. Model Selling -Talk for House - to - House Canvass 454 Complete Canvass to Sell This Book . . 459 Canvass for the business-manager — ^Preparation — ^Primary selling-talk for the business-manager — Secondary selling-talk for the business-mana- ger— Tertiary selling-talk for the business- manager — ^Primary selling-talk for the employee — Secondary selling-talk for the employee — The importance of a logical chain — The importance of enthusiasm — The importance of persistence— - The danger of excessive persistence — The secret of success in '' closing" sales. Prefatory A SCIENTIFIC BASIS The words science and scientific have been used so mnch as advertising catchwords, in loose and illegiti- mate senses, that it is well for us to begin by consider- ing just what is the true scientific method, and how far the knowledge of any subject is or may become a science. The scientific method follows these well-defined steps: 1. Hjrpothesis. The scientist makes the best guess that he can. He is a real student, an artist in study, a professional studier, and he sees something that looks like a great discovery. An hypothesis is the name for a serious guess by a brilliant mind. 2. Experiment and test. The very essence of modem science is trying out that which seems like a great dis- covery. "What seems is often false. We are deceived in our very best impressions. We have not looked at the thing closely enough, we are deceived as to its relative importance, its proportions, because we are too near to it or too far from it, or there is some practical defect in its working which we overlooked at first. The wiser a man is, the more likely he is to know that there are many times when he can not avoid error. Science is what we know, and the only way to know anything is to test it, to try it here and try it there. When its appearance remains the same after we have looked at it from many different sides, only then do we begin to know that it is as it looks. 3. Theory. When our hypothesis has been tested until we find it a very useful assumption, something that helps us explain many other things, but about which zi / xii PREFATORY we know there is the possibility that we may be making a mistake, we say that we have a working theory. 4. Law. When a theory has been tested on every possible side on which there can be any doubt, and the man with a scientific mind knows absolutely that there is not a single chance left that he can be wrong, the principle which at first was a guess, an hypothesis, and then by experiment and test became a theory, at last, on the finishing of every possible experiment, becomes a law. Usually, a good many different minds must unite in the experiments which finally confirm what we accept as a scientific law. ^ Only that is a science which is known so thoroughly that careful thinkers in many different parts of the world agree on its working theories and demonstrated laws. No one man, even the wisest man in the world, could make a science. Any one man who talks about *'scientizing" a subject simply does not realize the dig- nity and thoroughness of knowledge which go to make up our real sciences such as chemistry, physics, astronomy, and (on the side of dealing with human nature) the science of psychology, and the science of sociology (the youngest of the sciences, what might be called a baby science). Philosophy can not be a science, because it deals with things we know we can not really know. Much less can religion be a science, because it deals very largely with things beyond the range of human knowledge. Moreover, scientific names, scientific terminology, are no essential part of a science. In order to know exactly what you are talking about, it is desirable to have fixt and accurate names. For example, in botany it was found that common names of plants were used differ- ently by different people. One name would be used by some people for six or seven different kinds of plants. A SCIENTIFIC BASIS xiii Also different languages such as English, French, or German had entirely different common names. For an Englishman really to know what kind of flower or plant a Oerman was talking about, it was desirable to have a name which would be the same in Germany and in England. So Latin names were agreed on, and the different kinds of plants examined scientifically were given names which were accepted in all parts of the world. The names, however, are only a convenience, and unless convenience actually requires special names, and those names can be accepted and used by many different authorities on that science, a terminology in- vented by some one is worse than a nuisance. Under the general subject of Dealing with Human Nature we have two young but distinct sciences, psy- chology, the science of the way the mind acts on the impressions it gets through the five senses, and sociology, the science of social relationships, or the organization of society. Salesmanship and advertising have just as much chance of sometime becoming sciences as sociology. The reason they are not now sciences is that no con- siderable number of persons who have studied them as subjects agree on their fundamental principles. They are a collection of hypotheses, with a few working theories, but no laws. Human nature is a very com- plicated thing, so wholly dependent on changing con- ditions that it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at any- thing that will seem equally true to all people at all times. Sociology has the advantage of the records of all history. The practise of salesmanship and adver- tising is so recent that we do not really have much data. There is, however, an art of salesmanship, and an art of advertising. An art is something which some person learns so that he can do an effective thing over and over; but until that art has a scientific basis, the xiv PREFATORY person who can do the thing over and over himself can not easily teach it to others. Others can learn it only by watching him and imitating him. The master artist can not explain just how he does it, just why he suc- ceeds. He is guided more by instinct than by reason. AH things that are done in the course of human rela- tions must be largely guided by instinct, and so always are arts; but we are very fortunate when an art has a scientific basis. Dealing with Human Nature in Busi- ness is a broader subject than either salesmanship or advertising, and in practise it includes a number of arts. Because it is broad it can be reduced to a simple basis, starting with some principles borrowed from psychology and sociology, and so a foundation can be laid not only for advertising and salesmanship, but also for credits, for employment and factory-management, and various other things in business or professional Uf e that do not come under the head of salesmanship or advertising. Perhaps the most important of these is the building up of professional reputation without violating the ** ethics '* which definitely forbid the use of advertising. One more word needs to be defined, and that is the word practical. Dealing ' with Human Nature is a practical subject, not one of pure science. We stand in a certain position with reference to life. There are certain conditions all around us. The problems before us on which our life and pleasure depend are practical problems, and we need to know just those parts of sciences which will help us to solve these practical prob- lems with which we are confronted. A practical book is one written by a man who really knows what the conditions of life are, what are the problems that must be solved, and then selects such principles as will help to solve them. His hypotheses must be the incarnation A SCIENTIFIC BASIS xv of common sense, and he must have had a great deal of experience of life hy which to judge. As Dealing with Human Nature involves the prac- tical application of psychology, the science of the way the mind works, we should here summarize its leading principles. First, we should realize that all knowledge is relative. There is nothing absolute. Ancient astronomy assumed that all the heavenly bodies revolved around the earth, and explained things as best it might on that hypo- thesis. Now we know that the earth and planets revolve about the sun, and on this hypothesis we explain things more completely. The ancients assumed there were four elements, earth, water, fire, and air, and on that assumption explained things in a practical way for them. We now assume eighty-one elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, copper, iron, etc., but already we seem on the verge of finding out that these are all various forms of one element. We assume that bodies are made up of molecules, which in turn are made up of atoms (tho no one has ever seen either a molecule or an atom) ; but philosophy teaches that all we know of the substances we call matter are the sensations we get in the brain through various nerve-channels, such as color, shape, hardness, etc. It is almost certain that matter and mind are not two entirely different things, but forms of the same underlying substance. We explain one thing by comparing it with another, or in terms of another, and that other by comparing it with something else, and so on, till at last we come back to the thing witib which we started. So our knowl- edge of existence seems to be a sort of jelly-bag: we pmich it here and it bulges out there ; or we push it in over there and it bulges out somewhere else. We ar- range all we know on a system. That works very well xvi PREFATORY till we come to know a great many other things that our system can not explain, and then we get another system. ICnowledge is changing all the time, and it must change. What we call truth to-day will not be truth to-morrow. That is the way we grow intellectually. When we come to think that something is absolutely fixt, we have stopt growing mentally, we have begun to die. When the world stops changing its knowledge and its explanations of things it will have begun to die. Yet, for the time being, our working theories are all right, and when we get new ones all that is true in the old will simply be taken over by the new. We may be right as far as we go. Psychology teaches that all impressions in the mind come to it through some one or more of the five senses, sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Sensation starts at the end of a nerve, travels along that little white cord till it reaches the brain, where it is registered or written on the brain-substance. We get knowledge in no other way. These sensations are brought by the nerves to the brain in a stream of consciousness. This stream of consciousness starts at birth and continues unbroken till death. In sleep or fainting-fits or the like it seems to stop ; but when we waken it goes on again. This stream of consciousness belongs to me, the ego, the individual spiritual being, or else it is the me, tho it seems as if there were within us a something that knows — a soul above the stream of consciousness that we call life. The mind within us gives attention, voluntary or in- voluntary, to the sensations in the stream of conscious- ness, and classifies and arranges them. We pick out the things that keep coming again and again along the stream. A certain sensation which comes many, many A SCIENTIFIC BASIS xvii times we identify as wlute, and another as black. A certain quality we find common to the face of a woman, to a flower, to a cloud, to a building, and we call it beauty. All that we know and think are arrangements, so to speak, in the mind. Objects in this stream of consciousness we call ideas. The act of consciously sep- arating and arranging them we call thinking. Every sensation and every thought produces a feel- ing, an emotion; and every emotion leads to some action. The power of mind that acts consciously we call wUl. "Whether will is free, or is the inevitable re- salt of a chain of sensations and emotions which we can not control is a disputed point, but every human being has a profound conviction that his will is free. The nervous system is made up of two divisions, the nerves that convey sensations, and the nerves that pro- duce action by contracting the muscles. These two i^s- tems work together more or less automatically. Cut off the head of a frog, and he will still kick his legs as if he were alive, because of the reflex action through the nerve-centers in the spinal column. Instinct is a sort of automatic reflex through the brain that makes animals and men do wise things with- out thinking at all. The newly bom calf has an instinct to suck the cow's udder, and the baby has an instinct to sack the mother's breast. It lasts but for a few days, for if the calf or the baby are hand-fed for a little while it is diflScult to teach them to suck. Chickens after they are hatched are said to have an instinct to follow any moving object, a man or an animal as well as the mother hen, and if they are taught to follow a man from that time they form the habit of doing so. But if they are hooded for a few days longer the instinct of flight, the very opposite, develops, and when unhooded they try their best to fly away. Where instinct ends and xviii PREFATORY conscious reason begins it is hard to say. A hen sits from instinct the first time, but the second or third she probably remembers somewhat the fine chickens that came from her patient sitting before. A little reason may be mingled with her instinct, tho formerly it was supposed that animals acted only from instinct, while man acted from reason. We can hardly believe now that there is any such sharp line drawn between them. "When the streams of nervous vibration have passed repeatedly they seem to make an easy path for them- selves, and these easy paths we call habit. Habit leads us to do things almost as unconsciously as when the frog with its head cut off kicks its legs by reflex action. The sensations registered in the brain also make paths that perhaps actually exist in the matter of the brain, and at some future time we may start over these paths again, and so experience again the sensations that we had long before. "When we identify these with the time at which we received them, we call it memory. When we do not fix them to a certain time and occasion in the past, but recombine them as if they were fresh sensa- tions poured into the stream of consciousness, we call the process the exercise of imagination. If we have never had the sensation of sound, as when a man is bom deaf, we can never imagine what sound might be like. Imagination can build only with that which has come into the mind. With our stock of conscious memories, and our stock of unconscious records in the mind out of which imagi- nation builds, the ego, working along the never-broken stream of consciousness, is able to use its myriad stores through association. There is, as it were, a network of strings, or a network of paths, running from one thing to another, and we find that we want to be following these paths or tracing these strings of association. We A SCIENTIFIC BASIS xix are so in the habit of flying back and forth over them that we do it almost unconsciously. We have only to start on a certain path, and without any further sug- gestion we go on to the end. We hear a language which we do not understand very well, and our mind moves slowly and gropingly: there are poor paths of association. But, when we get the impressions through the ear or the eye of a language we know well, we need only a cue here and a cue there, a faint sound or a letter or two, and we catch the meaning because we are foUowing along those paths of association, filling in all the blank spaces by the imagination. Thus we see for our practical purposes that what is already in a person's mind largely determines what we get out of it and the ease with which we can put new things in which will be important because they call up memories or start a chain of imaginations, and so produce emotions which lead to actions. It is ex- tremely doubtful whether we can make ourselves act, much less make anybody else act, except as we start the trains of thought and feeling which lead naturally to action. Making a man act may be saying something or doing something that makes him feel energetic, so that to let off his feeling of energy he does what you wish ; or it may be giving him courage, the thing he lacks in order to act. In general, however, you get>him to act by sunmioning up, even against his will, an army of those impressions recorded within his brain which lead him on so irresistibly that he can not help acting. Also, we should bear in mind that we remember, and others remember, chiefly those things that are connected with the systems or series of connecting links which we have been building up from infancy. I am interested in baseball, and everything connected with baseball I re- member easily; you are interested in dances and par- PREFATORY ties, but not in baseball, so you can remember nothing connected with baseball, but everything connected with dances and parties. If you learn how to attach to base- ball the impression you wish to make, you have a key for getting all of the baseball ''fans"; and if you know how to connect your appeal with business, you have a key to all who are especially interested in business. So for you the world is not millions of individuals, but a few hundred classes. Then to find out how it feete to be a baseball ''fan'' you become one yourself. All that you are, you under- stand in other people. You study yourself day and night, not as an individual but as one of a class, and in that way you come to know how all the minds in that class work. Of course, there is an infinite complication of classes, one overlapping the other. But with these clues, the maze does not seem quite so bewildering. Before we leave this subject, however, let us go back to the beginning and impress upon our minds that the multitude of impressions in the mind come through five channels, the five senses, and each one of these is a gateway through which we should enter, through which we must enter, if we want to get into many different minds. We are likely, if we are personal salesmen, to make most of our appeal through the ear; or, if we are advertising men, through the eye. We should form the habit of entering freely by all five gateways. Then we should not lose sight of the fact that nothing ever comes out of the mind that has not gone in through one of these gateways, and it behooves us to inform ourselves what really has gone in before we try to get out of other people feelings and actions which depend on things that perhaps have never gone in at all. These are but suggestions of the practical usefulness of psychology. PAET I HUMAN NATURE— HOW TO HANDLE IT NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS We are not studying human nature of all times, places, and conditions, but the particular human nature of to-day with which we must deal in our business and professional life. There are certain broad national characteristics which first of all we may note for our convenience. Americans as a class are very free, little influenced by class distinctions, quick to respond to new impres- sions, acting as they feel. This is particularly true of the people of the Middle "West, who from the business point of view constitute about one-half of the nation. From them it is easy to get a hearing for a new idea, for men act promptly when convinced, and there is a spirit of good-fellowship in all social and business relations. But if business is easy to get for a new thing, it is easy to lose also. There is little deep thinking. People want quick returns. The East is more conservative, more permanent, slower to respond, more reflective, with a certain self- conscious and local pride in this slightly greater depth of mind. There is the beginning of a class distinction between those who have money and those who have not. Those who have money, tend to be arbitrary, and those who have none tend to be subservient. These are as yet but slight tendencies. The Pacific Coast has a characteristic daring mingled with a liking for the gay and bizarre. Striking and dashing appeals have a little the better chance there. 3 4 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS The English have deeply marked class distinctions^ with characteristic class manners. Aristocrats can be appealed to only in the manners of aristocrats ; and the middle class has its manners, while the working classes have theirs. These habits of doing things in certain special ways are deeply ingrained, and hence it is difficult for Americans who have not long studied these manners to do business in England. American manners are often offensive, especially to the aristocratic classes, and merit is lost sight of because of dislike for the man- ner of presenting it. In reality, England is as much a foreign country, requiring special study for business success, as France or Germany. The English are influenced by patriotic reasons in their business. They will pay more for English beef than for foreign, will taboo a lamp-chimney marked **made in Germany" even tho it is better as well as cheaper. Also, their idea of business is largely the old one of warfare. Every man must protect himself or take the consequences. Where an American would trust to the other to do the right thing afterward, even if it is not in the contract, the Englishman takes few chances and asks few favors, depending on his position of advantage to compel. Yankee sharpers have in times past got the advantage of him, and now he is on the alert to get the advantage of some other Yankee, always suspecting that the Yankee is planning to beat him if there is anything irregular about the deal proposed. The Englishman seldom lets a sense of humor influence his business judgment, as does the Irishman, who takes things with a light easiness that is similar to the method of America, where the Irish have always been particu- larly successful. The French have usually good manners, occasionally too good to be true, but cold, calculating, thrifty minds NATIONAL CHAEACTERISTICS 5 watching for the best of the bargain when the time comes. The people are rather afraid of the official powers that be, and are not at all enterprising like the Americans. They get rich by saving. Their artistic sense is usually well developed. If Americans were as thrifty, as saving, as the French, they would soon have a good part of the wealth of the world. These charac- teristics are well illustrated by their banking. They have three or four large banks, with branches every- where, and they confine themselves to lending money safely at low interest. They have become the bankers of the world, along with Great Britain. Their money is not so much locked up in their own business enter- prises as safely loaned over the world, and it is very hard to get them to go into business enterprises. The Germans have bad manners and an aggressive business enterprise found in no other European people. They are patient, far-sighted, scientific, and exceedingly hard workers. England, being thorough also, has manu- factured well-made articles, but Germany has been shrewd enough to manufacture cheap articles, and with her cheap goods, made in scientifically managed estab- lishments, she has got into most of the markets of the world. Germans know so much, it is hard to meet them on their own ground and match them. The Spanish are even more lacking in business en- terprise than the French, but they are naturally sus- picious, and feel it is better as a regular thing to take no chances on doing business with a stranger whose ways and manners they do not understand. Yet they are said to be very loyal when once they have given their confidence. They like the manners of the grandee, and object to being hustled. The Italians lack the formal habits of the Spanish, and also the excessive politeness of the French, but they 6 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS have a more kindly nature than either, without much suspicion. In their general habits they are more like the Americ€tns than any other European people, but characteristically passionate when suddenly roused, and more childlike in their nature. Sharpers probably would have exploited them, were it not for the fact that as a nation they are poor in money and so not con- sidered worth going after. But by their kindly man- ners they attract Americans, and when they have a fair chance they prosper. The Japanese are a shrewd, thrifty, hardworking people. It is perhaps impossible for an American to understand the workings of their oriental mind; but since they model their business on American accomplish- ments, and all the leading business men in Japan read, write, and speak English, the American would best treat the Japanese as he would his own people. So we come back to our own people. They spoil more business through lack of good manners than in any other way. Unlike the Germans, they are not patient enough to know all about their markets before they try to sell; and, unlike the French, they are not careful to save and take advantage of all that comes their way. Unlike the English, they are not always persistent with a bulldog tenacity. Their strongest characteristic is their enterprise. We have sketched these broad national characteristics to show how people in general may be classified. Assignment I Sketch the characteristics of the three classes : 1. City people. 2. Village people. 3. Farmers. » n SERVICE THE AMERICAN PRINCIPLE OF BUSINESS The medieval principle of business is contained in the Latin motto, caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.* Such a novel as H. G. Wells's ''Tono Bungay" shows the European view that business is built on fraud, adver- tising is lies, and salesmanship a shrewd hypnotizing of the victim. Dignified and honest people do not make any effort to get business, but merely sit still and wait for business to come to them. The *' ethics" of law and medicine, which originated in Europe, and have been established in the United States, absolutely prohibit the doctor and the lawyer from making any direct effort to get business. They have developed effective, indirect methods, however. The few doctors that have thrown ethics to the winds and advertised have been largely discredited. The American principle of service takes exactly the opposite view, namely, that all people are essentially honest, that if you serve them they will pay you, and advertising and salesmanship are a system of education to familiarize people with the advantages of the special service that is offered. This education is as necessary and as valuable as the education of the public schools, in which we believe so strongly. It is one of the ser- vices that is performed which is really worth while, and, tho entirely free, is ultimately paid for by the people who benefit from it. The principle of service is based on the psychological 7 8 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS principle that like begets like, that people feel as others feel around them. Approach a man with a smile, a kind word, a helpful touch, and he smiles back, speaks kindly, and soon becomes your friend. Treat him as a friend should, never causing him to suspect or dislike you, and he will continue to be a loyal friend to you. A Briton might be stolid, a Spaniard suspicious, but an American takes you readily for what you seem to be, and is usually ready to make a trade with you if you have anything he wants, or he has anything you want. If neither has what the other wants, the two pass on with a smile and wait till another time when both shall be more fortunate. The principle of unselfish service was preached very effectively by Jesus Christ. The principle of unselfish service has been the advertising and salesmanship which have carried the Christian religion far and wide; and they seem to have been just as effective in China or India as in America. As illustrations of the application of this principle in business, we may cite the following: Marshall Field started in Chicago the custom of allow- ing customers to return almost any goods at any time and get their money back. At first they were told they could return them if they had any good reason to do so. Finally they were allowed to return them to ''exchange desks,*' where clerks took them back without asking a question, or even casting an inquiring look. A few precautions are taken to make sure the goods are in good condition, and to avoid abuses; but these are very few. In any claim for damages, the word of the customer is usually taken as true, without investigation or veri- fication— ^just as you would take the word of your mother or brother — and settlement made without delay even when the customer might seem to be unreasonable. i SERVICE THE AMERICAN PRINCIPLE 9 A few years ago the great mail-order houses charged 15 cents for their catalog (which cost them 50 cents OP more to print), to prevent people from asking for it for the sake of mere curiosity. This they do no more, assured that the man who gets it wiU, sooner or later, pay for it, with very few exceptions. Formerly a big house refused to bother with small customers. They took so much time and attention that there was a loss on the sales made to them. Now the principle is well established that small buyers should have exactly the same courtesy as the big, for the small will some time become the big, and many small together may be worth more than all the big. All the many little losses will in due time be paid for in fuU, under the law of compensatipn, as Emerson states it in his Essay on Compensation.^ The most successful newspapers have adopted a policy of advertising themselves through performing certain public services from which they could not possibly benefit directly. One paper makes a crusade on fake patent-inedicine men, another makes a crusade to raise money for the poor when in the winter they are suflfer- ing, or for flood-sufferers, or sufferers from famine in China, or to get good school laws or good banking laws passed for the benefit of the people in general. To be successful these undertakings have had to be free from any suspicion of business benefit, except the application of the general principle that he who freely gives will freely receive. But of course we know that there are rogues waiting to steal our purse whenever they can get a chance. The prisons are full, the courts are occupied with them. "Will not a business man suffer sometimes from dead- beats? Yes, of course, he will suffer sometimes through those 10 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS who take advantage of him, but the number of such cases is so small a percentage that it does not count as compared with the great good that comes from open dealing with the vast majority. Even those who do take advantage usually are not punished, their injustice is scarcely noticed, and even they will soon look for a chance to pay what they owe in some form or other. A publisher once carefully took the names of his com- petitors from his mailing-list, so they would not get early notice of all the new books he brought out and the advantages he claimed for them; but presently he found that his competitors were recommending his goods when they didn't have something of their own in direct competition, and that probably the advertise- ments and sample copies he sent to these competitors of his were selling a comparatively larger proportion of goods than any other advertising he did. So he put back on his list the names of all his competitors, and helped them freely to find out early and fuUy all he was doing. They were thereafter less quick to bring out a book that cut into his, there were no feelings of animosity, and they preferred to say a good word for him rather than a bad word. The American idea of service is that we do not have to be too careful about getting every item into the ledger, for there is a sort of universal ledger which is always balanced truly, and what is given is paid for. Assignment II Find half a dozen illustrations of free business ser- vice other than those mentioned in the text, and de- scribe them. Ill THE BUSINESS WORLD TAKES YOUR OWN VALUATION OF YOURSELF Excess in any direction is an evil. The man that is too good is ''goody-goody," the man that is too gener- ous is a wastrel and obviously not to be trusted with the goods of other people. The real kindness to others, the best service, is just — ^treating others as you would that others should treat you — ^not better nor worse. It isn't good for you that somebody should pauperize you, nor is it good for others that you should be too loose or free with your services. The generosity and pubUe service of business has a strong backbone, and a sure knowledge that the payment will come. It knows that weakness toward others is waste, and it avoids wasting anything. It serves itself just as eagerly as it serves others. It cherishes its own strength and capital that it may be able to serve others more widely and more largely. While giving due attention to petty things, it does not waste itself on them, because waste anywhere in the universe is a crime. The natural result ofVthis ifl^fr^ut high-minded atti- tude— ^the attitude that be'Heves all men honest till they are proved dishonest — ^has brought it about that men in business and professional life are largely taken at their own valuation. They know themselves better than any one else. If they are honest and tell the truth, the best place to go for information is to them. There are mercantile agencies that make investiga- 11 12 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS tions of the credit of business houses; but if you are asking credit from a big business house, or from a bank, the credit manager or the president of the bank will prefer to have you tell him what you have and what you are worth, rather than take any of these agency reports. Some people do lie, but they are such a comparatively small fraction of 1 per cent, that on the whole it is much safer to take the statements of the man who really does know, and more than ninety- nine times out of a hundred will tell you honestly, than to trust to outside advice. I want to buy the cheapest groceries in Chicago, and I go to the head of a big grocery house and tell him what I, am looking for. I ask him if he can give me what I want. If he says ''Yes!" I believe him. He is very likely to say *'No! You can depend on the quality of what you get from us, but if you want cheap goods you must go to so-and-so. '* Perhaps he will point out just how higher-priced goods will prove to be the cheapest in the long run, and so you decide to pay his higher price and buy from him. But if he had not been truthful in the beginning, you would not have confidence in his argument. Since the business world takes a man at his own valuation, it is more important that he should know that value than any one else. If on trial he is proved to have been a bad judge of his own value, it is even more against him than if he is dishonest in telling what he knows. Some men do lie, and do make money by lying; but in the long run they are found out, and, sooner or later, with scarcely an exception, they are bitterly sorry for their untruthfulness. But the majority of men simply do not know. Since they sus- pect they do not know, they do not state their claims to attention in any definite or confident tone. There- YOUR OWN VALUATION OF YOURSELF 13 fore no one takes any notice of them. In Europe, if a man states his own claims frankly and forcibly, the general suspicion that prevails that all business is fraud makes him more suspected than if he kept quiet. When the Associated Advertising Clubs adopted as their motto, " Truth,'* and inaugurated a campaign for truth in advertising, they recognized clearly that the establish- ment of general confidence through the elimination of fraud would be the greatest asset general advertising could have. The kind of statement about oneself that is wanted is of facts and not of opinion. A man is expected to be prejudiced in his own favor, so that his mere opinion is not given much weight. But when he says he hds nine hundred and eighty-seven dollars on deposit in such and such a bank, or has a good debt that is owed him which will become due at such and such a time, his word is taken without a question. The facts about merchandise, carefully stated, will usually be believed. So in the social community, the man who says he has been to college, has taken a mediieal degree, has traveled in Europe, and has made a special study of nose and throat disease, is taken absolutely on his own state- ment. The best statement about oneself, the least egotis- tic in sound, is a plain statement of plain facts, without any admixture of your own personal opinion. The world wants to know what you KNOW about yourself, not what you think; but it is at the outset willing to take your word for what you believe you know and can state in detail. This willingness of the American to take another at his word is exemplified in various ways. We hire a servant-girl on what she says, seldom caring to get references or to look her up, and usually suspecting that written recommendations were given for the pur- 14 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS pose of getting rid of the servant without trouble. The English never hire a servant without a "character" from her last mistress; and if she has had a quarrel and can not get a character, she is often in a bad way, even when she is reaUy all right. A former advertising manager of Marshall Field & Co. as a boy lived in Omaha. He believed that he could serve Field's firm acceptably and wrote a long and earnest letter stating what he thought he could do. This clear statement of his own case caused the house to make a place for him, tho none existed, and en- couraged him * to pay his expenses from Omaha to Chicago to take the place that was tentatively offered after two or three letters had passed. A young man in Washington was a stenographer, but he had studied advertising and wanted a position in that line of business. He stated his case so forcibly that he was offered a position with one of the biggest advertising agencies in the country, and also several other positions, tho at a salary less than he thought he could afford to go for. After a while he got the salary he thought he was worth, and he proved to be worth it. The clear, forcible statement of his own valuation, even as to the amount of his salary, won for him. Assignment III Business men value qualities of mind more than they do knowledge in young beginners. Even a high-school boy, utterly without experience, may know something about his powers of mind so that he can state them clearly and forcibly. He may know that he is par- ticularly faithful and reliable, that he has a gift for figures or for language, or that he has unusual endur- ance, or that he can get on so well with people that he YOUB OWN VALUATION OP YOURSELF 15 make them obey him. His great fault in applying a position is that he does not state these things at all. State your own powers of mind briefly, Jbut clearly axid sincerely. Let a simple naturalness overcome what Txuaj seem an egotistic manner. IV EVERY MAN SHOULD HAVE HIS MONOPOLY The foundation of success in business, no doubt, is being able to perform some service that nobody else can perform in your circle. This circle of yours may be the world, or it may be your country, or it may be your community, or it may be the single business house in which you are employed. When a person has a monopoly, something that nobody else has, he can, to a certain extent, make his own price, and, above all, he can speak of himself with- out fear of exaggeration: there is nothing above him by which others can measure his littleness, with which he can be unfavorably compared. If he has this monop- oly, he has only to make peopile know it and give their reason time to assert itself, when he will inevitably get his full pay for what he can do that no one else can. There are two ways of getting a monopoly, first by setting oneself resolutely toward learning something that others do not know, or being able to do something that others can not do. The other way is to look for the place where others will be inferior to you. Both methods must usually go together. First, it is impor- tant to learn to give some service supremely well ; then, it is desirable to find the place where that service will count for most by reason of the helping influences that will gather about it. The man who is at the top usually makes money, while the man who is second takes his leavings. It 16 EVERY MAN HIS MONOPOLY 17 often happens, however, that where one man is sacceed- ing, a competitor may come in and both will succeed still better. The community wants competitive service — for the sake of comparison, we will say two grocery stores. One grocery has the best coffee, the other has the best bread, and so on, each its specialty and monop- oly. Or one has the cheapest goods and the other has the best quality of goods. In Chicago, the department store that is the most successful has the highest quality^ and the next most successful store has always the cheap- est goods. When people are looking for the very lowest prices they can pay regardless of quality, they in- variably go to the latter store. It has a sort of monop- oly in that line. And the other store gets them when they are looking for the best goods. The stores in be- tween which have no such big specialty make far less money, but try to have their lesser specialties, and no store succeeds or even continues to exist that does not have some specialty, that is, monopoly. The clever advertising man, when he comes into IS 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. It may be, however, that in spite of everything there are those around you who are stronger and better than you. In Boston, many people Have a good education, and a high school education or even a college education gives no monopoly of learning. In that case, such a person after having done his best, should go where education is more in demand. Out in North Dakota, perhaps, he may be the best-educated man in town. Therefore, as soon as a person finds himself second, he should hasten to get away where he will be first again. The earth is various and large, and every man can have 18 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS his monopoly in his own circle, or can seek a circle where he will be a king-pin. The point of view of monopoly, looking down instead of np, is the only good one for either salesmanship or advertising or any kind of business or professional pro- motion. At the same time in our personal ideals, in order to rise to the point of command, we must be look- ing up. Assignment IV Make a list of the most successful business and pro- fessional men in your town and find out on what monopoly each has built his success. Then make a list of less successful persons or busi- nesses, and see on what minor specialties they have built the success they have. At first the discovery of these unique points may seem diflScult, but invariably a careful investigation will reveal them. The chances are that many of those suc- cessful persons will not be able to tell what their monop- oly is; but for all that, if they have been successful, it will be found they have it. THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS* Having established our point of view, namely, that business is rendering service which in so far as it is successful has some monopoly which we must discover as our starting-point, we are ready to look into the mind of the average person and see how we may appeal to it. Psychology teaches us that impressions are entering the mind through the channels of the five senses. Poured continually into a stream of consciousness that continues practically unbroken from birth to death, they leave their marks possibly in the very physical texture of the brain itself. The ego within is constantly busy arranging these impressions and connecting them by a network of paths which we call associations. When we retrace the impressions of the past, by aid of the paths of association, identifying them as attached to a given time and place, we exercise the power of memory. When we use these impressions, connected as they are by their network of paths, so as to make new combinations, we exercise the power of imagination. When impressions and associations are divided up into elements, as when we separate the characteristic of beauty or any other abstract idea from the complica- tion which goes to constitute objects, and then arrange these abstractions according to fixt principles, we reason. When by reason we come to a fixt determination and act accordingly, we exercise the rational will. If we do the same wise things by reason of some impulse bom in us, without any process of reasoning, we are said to ♦See "Prefatory — A Scientific Basis/' 19 20 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS act by instinct. When we come to wise conclusions without taking all the steps of reason, the mind is said to act by intuition. After intuition has told us what to do we may go ahead and act according to reason; but instinct differs from intuition in that it produces action directly. Here are all the elements of psychology in a nut- shell. Now we must see in detail just how memory, imagination, and reason work. But first let us see what the effect of habit is on the nervous system, since in reality that is the basis of the practical effectiveness of all three of these functions. I quote from William James's text-book on Psy- chology: ^'An acquired habit is nothing but a new pathway of discharge formed in the brain, by which certain incoming currents ever after tend to escape. The moment one tries to define what habit is, one is led to the fundamental properties of matter. The laws of Nature are nothing but the immutable habits which the different elementary sorts of matter follow in their actions and reactions upon each other. ... On the principles of the atomistic philosophy, the habits of an elementary particle of matter can not change, be- cause the particle is itself an unchangeable thing; but those of a compound mass of matter can change, be- cause they are in the last instance due to the structure of the compound, and either outward forces or inward tensions can, from one hour to another, turn that structure into something different from what it was. That is, they can do so if the body be plastic enough to maintain its integrity, and be not disrupted when its structure yields. The change of structure here spoken of need not involve the outward shape; it may be in- visible and molecular, as when a bar of irop, becomes magnetic or crystalline through the action of certain THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 21 causes. . . . Plasticity, then, means the possession of a strueture weak enough to yield to an influence, but strong enough not to yield all at once. Hahiis in living leings are due to the plasticity of the organic materials of which their bodies are composed.*' M. L6on Dumont writes: '* Every one knows how a garment, after having been worn a certain time, clings to the shape of the body better than when it was new ; there has been a change in the tissue, and this change is a new habit of cohesion. A lock works better after having been used some time; at the outset more force was required to overcome a certain roughness in the mechanism. The overcoming of their resistance is a phenomenon of habituation. It costs less trouble to fold a paper when it has been folded already ; . • . and just so in the nervous system the impressions of outer objects fashion for themselves more and more appro- priate paths, and these vital phenomena recur under similar excitements from without, when they have been interrupted a certain time. .... A. scar anywhere is more liable to be abraded, inflamed, to suffer pain and cold, than are the neighboring parts. A sprained ankle, a dislocated arm, are in danger of being sprained or dislocated again; joints that have once been attacked by rheumatism or gout, mucous membranes that have been the seat of catarrh, are with each fresh recurrence more prone to relapse, until often the morbid state chronically substitutes itself for the sound one. In the nervous system, to take what are more obviously 'habits,' the success with which a 'weaning* treatment can often be applied to the victims of unhealthy indulgence of passion, or of mere complaining or irascible disposition, shows us how much the morbid manifestations them- selves were due to the mere inertia of the nervous organs, when once launched on a false career. 22 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS "Nature has so blanketed and wrapt the brain about that the only impressions that can be made upon it are through the blood on the one hand, and the sensory nerve-roots on the other; and it is to the infinitely at- tenuated currents that pour in through these latter channels that the hemispherical cortex shows itself to be so peculiarly susceptible. The currents, once in, must find a way out. In getting out they leave their traces in the paths which they make. The only thing they can do, in short, is to deepen old paths or to make new ones; and the whole plasticity of the brain sums itself up in two words when we call it an organ in which currents pouring into it from the sense-organs make with extreme facility paths which do not easily disappear. . . . "Habit simplifies our movements, makes them accu- rate, and diminishes fatigue. Man is bo(m with a tendency to do more things than he has ready-made arrangements for in his nerve-centers. Most of the per- formances of other animals are automatic. But in him the number of them is so enormous that most of them must be the fruit of painful study. If practise did not make perfect, nor habit economize the expense of ner- vous and muscular energy, he would be in a sorry plight. "Secondly, habit diminishes the conscious attention with which our acts are performed. Habits depend on sensations not attended to. In the act of walking, even when our attention is entirely absorbed elsewhere, it is doubtful whether we could preserve equilibrium if no sensation of our body's attitude were there, and doubt- ful whether we should advance our leg if we had no sensation of its movement as executed. We uncon- sciously attend to these sensations through habit. " 'Habit a second nature ! Habit is ten times nature!' THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 23 the Duke of Wellington is said to have exclaimed ; and the degree to which this is true no one can probably appreciate as well as one who is a veteran soldier him- self. 'There is a story/ says Professor Huxley, * which is credible enough, tho it may not be true, of a practical joker who, seeing a discharged veteran carrying home his dinner, suddenly called out, ** Attention!" where- upon the man instantly brought his hands down, and lost his mutton and potatoes in the gutter. The drill had been thorough, and its effect had become embodied in the man's nervous structure.* ** Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent.** Thus we see that when we face the public, we are facing men and women whose minds are cut deep with brain-paths which it will be extremely hard for us to counteract. The wise thing is to understand them and use them. If we do our traveling on these paths, we are likely to be successful ; but if we strike out across country, we are pretty certain soon to be ditched. Association. Memory and imagination both depend very largely on association, which is nothing more nor less than the natural connecting paths that happen to exist between one thing and another. Old paths that have been worn deep are easy to travel, new ones that have not been much worn are more dilBScult. New paths that are not traveled over again are often lost completely. Or if all paths are about equally traveled they are a hopeless network, a labyrinth, in which we get lost almost instantly. If we have certain lines of thought, great trunk lines, over which we travel often, as a certain business or profession, that is a guide for aU branch paths, and we can locate them easily up or down the main traveled road. We lay out in our minds a sort of map of the paths, indicating the big ones, the 24 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS middle ones, and the small ones, and we remember by locating the new small path on this map, with reference to this big path, or that small one, or this object on the path, or that object on the path. In the brain, objects are called ideas. This system of objects called ideas, and paths con- necting them, the ego within us arranges and classifies on three different plans; first, according to time and place when we received the impressions, that is memory ; second, according to fixt principles which we adopt, to make them conform to which we cut them up, divide them, analyze them: that is reason; third, we take them as they are, pictures in the brain, and arrange them according to our feeling, our intuitions, our in- stincts: that is imagination. Then the will acts on the promptings of either one of these, whichever is strongest. Words and Pictures the Key to Other People's Minds. The organization of modem society and modem methods of communication have made the sense of sight the most widely useful for communication, and next to that the sense of sound. The senses of touch, taste, and smell, are less directly useful, because we have not invented practical means for. appealing to them. The original means of communication was by pictures, and that is still the most widely useful and effective. But reason has developed an artificial system of symbols called words, conveyed equally well by sight or sound. Sight is used for long-distance communica- tion, sound for short-distance. Now, words are not things, not even things in the mind or ideas, but only symbols or tokens of things. Like paper money, they are merely tokens that there is gold in a bank somewhere which can be had for the asking. If there is no gold there, the paper money is THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 25 wortb little. There may be something else almost as good as gold, such as goods or power to work, which we will accept as a substitute ; but if there is nothing, paper money is notUng more than a piece of paper with a picture on it. jSo words have no value whatever except as they represent ideas in the miud of the person to whom you speak or write.^ Many people think that words are worth what they stand for in their own minds. They are not always absolutely sure that their current value is measured solely and absolutely by what they stand for in the other man's mind. In the case of the words of a foreign language, we understand easily enough that the person who does not understand the language, gets the words merely as the jabbering of an ape. Such a person can not even teU them apart, he can not even hear them. They have no connections with any paths in his mind, but come straight across a new country. It is very slow and hard going. The newcomer stumbles now into an unexpected hole, now over a hunuuock. There are not even any sound channels in the auditory nerve along which the unfamiliar sounds may come, so that you do not even really hear them. The same is true among the people educated to one language, but in different ways and in different degrees. A farm laborer knows nothing of the technical terms of psychology, which produce just the same sort of effect on his mind that Russian does, perhaps, on yours. Words that suggest to you all the sights and sounds of city life, may be Greek to the country person who has never been in the city. He has no city paths in his brain, no system for connecting up the few little things he thinks he can understand. Here, then, we have a few practical principles. 1. It takes a long time to make new paths in people's 26 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS brains, and the easiest tiling to do is to travel the old ones that are already there. 2. Words have value only according to the bank- deposit already in the mind of the person who hears them or sees them. They are not things, they are not ideas, but only tokens to call up the ideas already in the other person's mind. A word, therefore, has a different value to every person who hears it — a slightly different value. 3. Pictures and sounds are more original, more primitive than words, and will get into the minds of many more people than words will. In nearly every human being there is a nerve channel through the ear for a kind tone of voice, and a pretty well-worn network of paths inside the brain along which it may travel. Likewise, images of fields, sunlight, men, and women find easy entrance along weU-wom paths in optic nerves of most people. Two Methods of Awakening the Mind, Reason and Imagination. William James states two essential ele- ments in reasoning, the mode of conceiving the object in the first place, or abstracting a quality of the object and identifying it as the object itself, and the general proposition of identifying that with something else, so making a logical step. Says he, ^'All objects are well- springs of properties, which are only little by little developed to our knowledge, and it is truly said that to know one thing thoroughly would be to know the xmi- verse. But each relation forms one of its attributes, one angle by which some one may conceive it, and while so conceiving it may ignore the rest of it. A man is such a complex fact. But out of the complexity, all that an army commissary selects as important for his purposes is his property of eating so many pounds a day ; the general, of marching so many miles ; the chair- THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 27 maker, of having such a shape ; the orator, of responding to such and such feelings ; the theater-manager of being willing to pay just such a price, and no more, for an eve- ning's amusement. Each of these persons singles out the particular side of the entire man which has a bearing on his concerns, and not until this side is distinctly and separately conceived can the proper practical conclusions for thai reason be drawn; and when they are drawn the man's other attributes may be ignored. All ways of conceiving a concrete fact, if they are true ways at all, are equally true ways. There is no property abso- lutely essential to any one thing. . . . The essence of a thing is that one of its properties is so important for my interests that in comparison with it I may neglect the rest." We may suppose that we are looking for a link be- tween two objects, S and P. We pick out of S some quality which for our purposes we conceive to be the essence of it, which we call M, and if we happen to find M in P we have the link we are looking for. A sagacious mind is one which discovers the right quality or attri- bute among the many that exist, and proceeds to identify it in the other object. **It not only breaks up the datum placed before it and conceives it abstractly — ^it must conceive it rightly, too ; and conceiving it rightly means conceiving it by that one particular abstract character which leads to the one sort of conclusion which it is the reasoner's temporary interest to attain.'' Of course, we may hit by accident on the same result, as when a cat happens to pull the latch of the door ; but if the latch got out of order the cat would not be able to analyze and deduce till it found what the matter was and remedied it. '^Thus, there are two great points in reasoning. First, an extracted character is taken as equivalent to 28 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS the entire datum from which it comes ; and, second, the character thus taken suggests a certain consequence more obviously than it was suggested by the total datum as it originally came. ** Suppose I say, when oflfered a piece of cloth, *I won't buy that, it looks as if it would fade,' meaning merely that something about it suggests the idea of fading to my mind — ^my judgment, tho possibly cor- rect, is not reasoned, but purely empirical ; but if I can say that into the color there enters a certain dye which I know to be chemically unstable, and, therefore, the color will fade, my judgment is reasoned. . . . "The extracted characters are more general than the concretes, and the connections they may have are, therefore, more familiar to us, having been more often met in our experience. "Also, the extracted characters are so evident be- cause their properties are so few, compared with the properties of the whole, from which we derived them. "To reason, then, we must be able to extract char- acters— ^not any characters, but the right characters for our conclusion." Thus William James explains what reasoning is. Obviously, if we are going to get other people to follow our reasoning, they must have a similar sagacity in extracting right qualities from concrete objects and recognizing them in other objects. If their minds do not have paths along those lines which are sufficiently deep and well worn, our reasoning will be like Greek to them. If they do have sagacity along those lines, if in their minds are well-wom paths of that sort, it will give them the greatest pleasure in the world to listen to our arguments. The schools are largely engaged in training the minds of pupils in analytic processes. Reasoning is a splendid THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 29 way of getting at things that can not be got at in any other way. Thtis arguments make a good form of ap- peal to educated people, and in cases where there is no simpler or better way. The natural and universal method of appeal is through the imagination. Sensations once experienced leave pictured impressions of themselves in the mind. Says William James, **No mental copy, however, can arise in the mind, of any kind of sensation which has never been directly excited from without/' This is extremely important to remember in our practical rela- tions with people to whom we wish to appeaL In some people these pictures are distinct, clear, and complete, while in others they are dim, blurred, and imperfect. The good visualizer sees an absent acquain- tance as if he were sitting or standing at his side; the poor visualizer can not describe even two or three of his features. Some people have clear images of sounds, while still others have clear images of motions or mus- cular sensations. '*Our mental images are aroused always by way of association; some previous idea or sensation must have 'suggested' them. Association is surely due to currents from one cortical center to another." These currents from one brain-center to another produce faint images which are the same as those produced by nerve-sensation currents direct from the outside. It is thus that we are able to distinguish reality and fantasy by their faint- ness or vividness. Appeal by the imagination depends also on another element, besides the power to reproduce pictures in the brain. That is emotion, or feeling. Every sensation coming as a nerve-current into the brain, reacts through the muscle-contracting nerves to produce action in the body. In other words, it rever- 30 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS berates through every comer of the body. This re- action may be: 1. Expressions of emotion. 2. In- stinctive or impulsive performances. 3. Voluntary deeds. Strong emotions, like fear, anger, etc., show them- selves plainly in the muscular actions of the body. Milder emotions produce inner changes, some of which may be detected in the expression of the face by a shrewd observer. William James believes that the nerve-cur- rents going into the brain must come out again, and in coming out they change the body; then our feeling bf these bodily changes is what we call our emotions. Likewise, the minor nerve-currents in the brain which we call imagination must produce their reactions on the body in the form of emotions or feelings, which are closely connected with impulsive actions. Or, once we feel like acting, it is easy to find reasons for deliberate action. Appeal by way of the imagination, therefore, con- sists of calling up pictures in the mind, which, in turn, produce feelings that lead to action. You may con- vince a man's reason, and still he may not decide to act. Bouse his feelings, and he acts in spite of himself. So that, even after argument, an appeal to the imagination is often necessary to produce the feelings which will cause the action. Making people do things. People do what they feel like doing, and they don't do what they don't feel like doing. We sometimes think we can force their wills. That is probably an error. There is just one way to make them act, namely, to start back at the beginning and set in operation those things which will produce in their minds the feelings to which their wills yield in spite of themselves. We hear about causing '^action" in making sales. THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 31 "closing" the customer who after convincing argument fails to do what is desired, but goes on arguing in- definitely and postpones action. What is meant in reality is that at the end an appeal through the imagi- nation which produces the emotions which compel action is required to supplement a defective argumentative process. The theory that a man must act if the right emotions are aroused accounts for the inevitable com- pensation which comes from unselfish public service. Oiving the compensation is a sort of automatic nervous reaction. This is seen sometimes in making collections. An irritating letter may arouse a little anger. Along with that is a sense of honor inherent in the consciousness of owing the debt. These two emotions produce a dis- agreeable conflict, to get rid of which the obvious thing is to pay the debt. The process has become almost ^standardized. Or a man develops some intense feeling ^hich keeps him from paying his debt. An irritating etier makes him angry. Then a very pleasant personal call takes him unawares and relaxes his anger, and along with the anger the feeling which stood in the way of his paying his debt, and he pays it in spite of himself. Play upon the feelings of others depends first on knowing the images or impressions in the brain, then the paths of association connecting them (in other words, getting a map of the enemy's country), next of appealing primarily through the imagination, but always bridging the gaps by reasoning, and finally by the clever marshaling of both reason and imagination to produce the feelings which make action inevitable. The singer gets money from people by appealing to the ear-imagination, which produces such pleasurable feelings that people become sound-topers, so to speak. 32 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS and give up their money just as readily as liquor-topers. The painter produces his emotion through the eye, the novelist through the printed page, and the business man through appeal to the cruder emotions connected with bodily comfort, utility, etc. The processes used by Tet- razzini, Sarah Bernhardt, or Dickens, are in principle the same as those that must be used by salesmen and advertisers, to dispose of the goods which are even more essential to the successful living of life than music, drama, or fiction. Whether the methods are rightly or wrongly used depends on the honesty or dishonesty of the users. Our original premise was that honest service is the only thing that is permanently successful in busi- ness or professional life. Questions on How the Mind Works 1. From what point of view do we start in this survey? . 2. Describe in detail how all impressions enter the mind. 3. What effect do they have in the mind, and in what form do they come out ? 4. How does William James describe habit t 5. How does M. Dumont describe habit t 6. What are brain-paths, and how do they help the working of the mind? 7. What practical effect does habit have on our actions ? 8. What effect does habit have on attention to details? 9. In what story does Huxley illustrate the working of habit? 10. Illustrate ''association," and show how both memory and imagination depend on it. What is memory? What is imagination? THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 33 11. What two keys are there to people's minds t H- Instrate the difference between the appeal of words and of pictures. How does a foreign language affect us if we are not familiar with it? 12. Summarize the three practical principles of ap- pealing to the minds of others. 13. Explain the process of reasoning. 14. What kinds of people are susceptible to the appeal of argument or reason? Where is the reasoning method most in use f 15. Why is appeal through the imagination the natural and universal method f What is absolutely essen- tial to making that appeal? Illustrate the imaginative method. 16. What is emotion or feeling ? In what three forms do the nerve-currents entering the brain react ? 17. How do emotions show themselves in the body? In what way does the principle apply to mild appeal through the imagination? Summarize the process of appeal through the imagination. 18. How is it possible to make people do things? II- Instrate the reaction in making collections by irritation. How do artists make people pay money? What form of appeal alone is permanently successful in business or professional life? Assignment V Education and advertising are so nearly the same thing that we may study them together. Let us test the law that nothing comes out of the mind that hasn't first gone in. The teacher may select two short poems, like two sonnets by Wordsworth, which he can read particularly well, or two pieces of prose ; read one aloud to the class, and then have members of the class read it back to him. Then let the class read the other one 34 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS first, while he reads it last by way of contrast. The tones of expression, the interpretation by the voice, the fine understanding of the shades of meaning, could not be in the minds of the pupils till they had gone in by direct impressions. To equalize the matter of prepara- tion, the pupils should carefully prepare the selection they are to read first. To illustrate the advantages of the imaginative ap- peal over the didactic, we will suppose there are in the class boys or girls who know little or nothing of base- ball, and others who do know much about it. Let one who knows try to explain it to those who do not know. That will be by the didactic method. Then make a chart of the diamond on a large sheet of paper with dear, broad lines. Letter in the pitcher, catcher, base- men, etc., so as to mark their positions, including also the batter. Then mutely illustrate each step of the game by going through the motions, first of the pitcher pitching the ball, first putting a finger on the chart where the pitcher is, then the catcher catching the ball, the umpire behind him looking sharp, and, finally, the batter hitting the ball, pointing to the ball flying over the field, and then an outfielder catching it; and so on. In each case be sure first to touch the name on the chart. To illustrate the superiority of the reasoning method over the imaginative on another occasion, try to find some imaginative method of making clear the contents of this book, which can easily be explained. Its size, shape, color may be shown or illustrated, but they are not the book. The contents of the book might be illus- trated imaginatively by pictures of persons writing letters at typewriters, or an advertisement-writer de- signing an advertisement, or pictures of the average man and woman whose processes of thought we are trying to analyze. Quite a little can be done in this THE MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 35 way, but reasoned explanation in rightly chosen words is practically essentiid to make the connection dear. Let ns turn over the advertising pages of any maga- zine and pick out those which make an almost purely imaginative appeal, as the soap advertisements, and then those which, because of the educated class of people for which they are written, make a didactic appeal, as Tiflfany's advertisement, or those which, from theit very nature, seem obliged to use the didactic method to a large extent. VI PRACTICAL USES OF THE IMAGINATIVE METHOD To use a word or perform an act which will start those brain-currents along the paths of association which habit has formed, so that the mind of the other fellow will begin to shape attractive pictures, that is what the imaginative method is in practise. Mr. Lorin F. Deland, in his little book, 'Hxm^uiallOli m Busi- ness," has given us some examples of it from his own experience. Two street bootblacks with kits over their shoulders were crying for shines on the two equally busy sides of a busy street. One made the plain, matter-of-fact ap- peal, ''Shine your boots here!" while the other cried, **6et your Sunday shine!'* As it was four o'clock Saturday afternoon, the word ** Sunday" started a whole train of reflections in the minds of the passers, as a result of which that boy got twice as much business as the first. Mr. Heinemann, the London publisher, saw two ped- lers standing side by side selling toy dolls. "One of them had a queer, fat-faced doll, which he was pushing into the faces of passers-by, giving it the name of a well- known woman reformer, then prominently before the public. His dolls were selling rapidly, while the man beside him, who had a really more attractive doll, was doing comparatively little business." Mr. Heinemann suggested that he hold two dolls in each hand, and cry them as *'The Heavenly Twins." That was the title of 36 USES OF THE DIAGINATIVE METHOD 37 Sarah Grand's novel, which was then all the rage in London. **The 'Heavenly Twins' dolls were an instant success, and within one hour the vendor of the woman- reformer dolls gave up the fight, acknowledging him- self beaten, and moved five blocks down the street to escape the ruinous competition." Those doll-vendors succeeded because they supplied the mind as well as the hands with something to play with. The passers bought the dolls thinking of what fun they would have at home calling them by the names the vendors had given them. It also illustrates the folly of selling single articles when you can sell twins, which reduce stock twice as fast. Mr. Deland tells another story of a; rug-dealer who wanted to unload a thousand oriental rugs in a week. He thought of knocking twelve or fifteen dollars off the average price of $25 to $35, but instead he was induced to print an advertisement containing a sort of picture of a dollar bill, which was good on the price of any rug at its face value of one dollar, if used within six days. Some 1,600 rugs were sold, at a discount of only $1,600, coupled with an imaginative method, whereas if $12 or $15 had been knocked off the price, probably less than two hundred rugs would have been sold. The habitual currents of the mind which play about dollar bills so persistently in the lives of most people had been set going by the sight of a crude, make-believe dollar bill, the value of which they could see as well as think about didactically. The same method was used to dispose of 50,000 pictures which had been made to sell at $5, but which the house decided to unload at $1 each after all their advertising had failed to dispose of more than 700. They thought of sending out to dealers all over the country a circular announcing $5 pictures reduced to 38 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS $1, a method that would have told everybody at a glance, ''We are stuck and trying to unload that which has been a failure." Instead, they made a handsome en- graved receipt and sent it to the 350,000 Orand Army men, saying that a war veteran might get a $5 Civil War picture for only $1, if he would have the certificate endorsed by the secretary of his post. It was an in- dividual chance that came only to Grand Army men; but, of course, they let in their friends, if they didn't care to buy the pictures themselves, as it was a pity to throw away a receipt for $4. As Mr. Deland remarks, it is not the price that counts, but the reason for the price. It is said that Phillips Brooks was giving some ser- mons in Faneuil Hall, in Boston, Sunday evenings, to ''waifs and strays." After two or three weeks the audience had fallen to half a houseful. Then Mr. Deland announced that admission would be by ticket only. "If we can't fill the house half full when ad- mission is free, how can we possibly do it when admis- sion is by ticket only," said his associates. But the next Sunday the hall was full, and continued full for the rest of the season. It is said Moody often resorted to the method of making admission by ticket only when his audience threatened to be small. People couldn't sacrifice that which they had which somebody else didn't have. What everybody could have, they didn't want. Here is another good story which Mr. Deland tells. An organ-manufacturing firm had sold 200,000 organs, the largest number ever put out by any house, and wanted to advertise the fact. So they had a contest for ideas to illustrate "How Large is 200,000," and then put the suggestions as pictures into a book which they offered to send on receipt of a 2c. stamp. But only 788 books out of the 100,000 printed were sold hy a USES OP THE IMAGINATIVE METHOD 39 large and expensive advertisement in the Youth's Companion. What should be done? Mr. Deland pre- pared another and smaller advertisement, placed a sunple rebus at the top that any one could solve, and offered to igive the book to any one who would solve that rebus, and it could not be had on any other terms. The advertisement was inserted once, and for a time nothing was heard. Then came a letter saying: "Where is this thing going to end? We have sent out twenty-three thousand books up to last Saturday night. We have now a force of five women employed in open- ing letters and mailing books. Had we not better pre- pare another edition?" So it went on for ten weeks more, finally breaking all known records for the num- ber of replies from any single advertisement. So important do some big business men regard the possibility of imaginative appeal in a good name that they register as a trade-mark all the good names they can possibly think of, not because they can ever hope to use them, but to head off their possible competitor; for what can a competitor do in selling a new soap if he can not give it a good name, one that will touch the imagination of the people. ''Sunlight" is the name of a popular soap in England, and the name ''Sunlight" has been registered at $50 each registration for every possible household article, and an American soap manu- facturer has registered every good name for a soap he could find. It is said that as high as $50,000 has been spent by one firm to register imaginative names just to head off competition. Finally, Mr. Deland illustrates what he calls "in- vention** versTis "imagination." Invention is a clever idea. Imagination is an idea that touches off the cur- rents running along those brain-paths which the cus- toms and habits of people have created in their cortical 40 HUMAN NATUEB IN BUSINESS gray matter. Congress shoes, with elastic webbing at the sides instead of laces in front, had been enormously sold because they were guaranteed to wear a certain length of time, and a pair which failed to wear so far as the elastic was concerned might be handed to an express company anywhere and sent back to the factory, and the shoes would be repaired and returned free of all cost. Then a few dudes along the Atlantic coast from New York to Washington; in what the manufac- turers spoke of as ''the dude belt,'' began to wear laced shoes. The fashion spread, and the manufacturers of congress shoes began a long, hard fight against the hardest force to fight that is known — ^fashion. After several years of hard thinking, Mr. Ddand noticed that only 170 passengers had been killed on railways in an entire year. "While the railways kill their employees, and outsiders who are crossing the tracks, they do not kill their passengers. So his idea was to give an in- surance policy to every wearer of congress shoes who was killed on a passenger-train. It was an ingeni- ous idea, but it didn't touch the imagination, and no progress was made against the tremendous force of fashion. Assignment VI Turn over the advertising pages of any modem na- tional magazine such as McClure's or the Saturday Evening Post, The Literary Digest, Collier's, or the Ladies' Home Journal, and make a selection of the ad- vertisements that contain an imaginative appeal: (1) those with a simple picture appeal, and (2) those with some statement or use of words which you think should start brain-currents along the habit-paths in the minds of average American men and women. Make a written report, giving briefly the reason for each selection. VII PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL 1. Like begets Like. Vibrate a violin-string, and all other surrounding strings which have a phonic relation will spontaneously vibrate in unison. Like begets like. This is the foundation of the American principle of service in business. Serve others and they will feel inclined spontaneously to serve you. Regard others as honest, and they will regard you as honest and treat you honestly. Smile at others and they will smile back. On the other hand, be suspicious, and others will catch the attitude of mind and be suspicious too. Be pessimistic, and you make those around you pessimistic. Try to punish your enemies or your competitors, and they will try to punish you. Many people do not think that manners count for anything in business. They count almost for more than anything else. It is largely by your manners that the feelings of people around you are determined, and feel- ing has more to do with business than reason. It is by manners that the pleasant brain-currents are set moving, that imagination is touched. Professional men, above all, must depend on the pleasant effects of good manners. The dignified and courteous professional man, with a kindly manner and a helpful tone of voice, ready to encourage and inspire his patients or his clients, is the man people want. They need good advice, encouragement, restraint, calm, more than they need medicine or law ; and what is more, they will pay for these other things in the bill for legal 41 42 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS or medical services. People do not distinguish. Give people freely what they need, and they will gladly pay a high price for the thing they thought they needed, even if given in very small doses. People look at the large ledger of life, and care more about seeing that the general balance is right than the special balance. Enthusiasm begets enthiisiasm. The greatest thing in salesmanship is enthusiasm, since enthusiasm begets enthusiasm. The best book salesman in the United States (so he was called in his day) used to say, ^'All I do is to go around and enthuse 'em up." We may take exception to his use of the word ^'enthuse/' but his philosophy was all right. People lack the energy to do things. Seeing a sales- man full of energy, they seem unable to avoid catching some of it, and the energetic feeling thus induced makes them come to a decision and place orders. They feel as if they must do something, and the easiest thing to do is to write the name on the dotted line. People for the most part have faint likes and dislikes, faint perceptions of the wise thing to do, faint con- victions, faint ideals, faint power of will. Enthusiasm is the chemical which makes the faint clear and strong, which brings out the picture, raises from a sort of ideal world into the world of realities. Enthusiasm is the secret of leadership. ''Gome on!" says the general at the head of his troops; "Come on!" says the football captain at the head of his men; ''Come on!" says the teacher, "and let us study for all we are worth!" The example produces an electrical thrill, it sets the brain-currents moving, and nature within does the rest. Competition depends on the same principle, pltis pride. First we go in because of the infection of seeing others do it. Then pride stirs us to get into a class by our- PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL 43 selves. Under the stimulus of competition, salesmen will do at least half as much again as they could do alone. The gang-spirit possesses them. The desire to be in a class by themselves drives them on. We may compete with our own past records, or in- duce others to compete with their own past records. The desire to beat somebody or something is a clearly good basis for sales-appeal. Half a dozen doctors with their offices side by side in the same building will often each do better than any one alone. A man going into a new line of business often needs to excite some competition before he can get his own business moving, and the two competing get more than double the business than one could get. This is a fact often observed. A calm, judicial attitude begets a judicial attitude. We Americans forget that oftentimes what is needed for our success is an impartial attitude on the part of those to whom we appeal. This is particularly true of all lines of endeavor in which the reason is an essential element. Most people with a purpose to accomplish argue all on one side. That makes the other fellow argue aU on the other side. Impartially state the argu- ments on both sides, weigh them impartially, and you will make the other man inclined to do the same thing. At any rate, he is not excited to concentrate his mind on the arguments against you. School-book publishers praise the books of their competitors instead of tearing them to pieces as they did in the old days. Nothing is lost by being fair. One perhaps need not go out of his way to state all the defects of his own product, yet if he represents that it is flawless, the other fellow will be sure to be looking around to see what is the matter with it. Unless you are frank and unprejudiced you are not likely to find the other man unprejudiced. U HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS If you dislike and suspect another man, you may be almost certain that he thinks of you in just the same way. What does that fellow think of me? Does he think I am a nasty, sneaking little brute, the way I think of him? You may almost gamble your life that he does. You have not mentioned it to any one, but he has felt it in your atmosphere as you pass. If you want to win him, you must conquer your own feelings, turning your attention more to yourself than to him. Otherwise let him alone. 2. Every man wants a Monopoly. We have al- ready seen the advantage of doing business with a service which no one else on earth can render as well as we can. The point of view of having that which is unique gives us a leverage of an almost mechanical kind. It also gives us the attitude of mind of being a king, and it is the province and duty of a king to conquer. We can use superlative arguments without fear when talking of a monopoly. There is no limit to our enthu- siasm when we have a monopoly. Now, in making our appeal, we can just turn this about. Every one else wants a monopoly, something that nobody else can get. Here is a second-hand piano that has a little sweeter tone than any other piano in this town; that is the piano I want. Here is a dress from Paris in a little lat^r fashion than any one else has, and my lady wants it to the extent of being able to pay about double price ; and when, six months later, all the shop-girls on the street are wearing the same style, she is equally anxious to discard what she paid so much for. The precise value of novelty in sales-appedl. The desire of the public to get that which is unique, a monopoly, is a compelling force toward novelty, and the fact that making new paths in the brain is a very slow '* PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES OF APPEAL 45 process is the counterbalancing conservatiYe force. It is a well-known fact of history that world-progress is slow, tho steady under normal conditions, while ab- normal conditions stop it almost altogether. People have progressed up to a certain point. They want to take the next step, whatever that may be. Cer- tain needs have accumulated of which the public is hardly conscious. The success of business which con- sists in service along those lines depends on how much miconscious desire has accumulated. If it is felt just here and there over the country in the more advanced, it may be too expensive to find out what persons are ready for it, and educate them to it. Careful testing of the popular temper alone should be the guide of action. Inventions or ideas that are ahead of their times will inevitably fail in spite of the most adroit salesmanship. New points of view in regard to old things furnish the best promise of commercial success. Words and phrases become worn out more quickly than things. The word "success" may come to be associated with a certain unpractical sentimental philosophy, and books and courses of study advertised by use of that word may fail, whereas new and specific developments of the same thing, exprest from a new point of view, as, "How to Do Business by Letter,'' "How to Talk WeU," "How to Deal with Human Nature in Business,*' may attain a very large success. When the writer advertised a *' Complete Course in Business Correspondence," the inquiries were few, but when he advertised his course, *'How to Write Letters that Pull," he met with instant success. The great work of the advertising-writer or salesman, therefore, is to find new ways of thinking about old things. The inventor is trying to discover unconscious 46 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS needs which have accrued at any given time, so as to offer new services to the public; but the writer is in the same way trying to find new points of view, new angles of appeal. That requires just as sagacious and inventive a mind as mechanical invention does, and the cash-value of such discoveries of new points of view, new ways of expressing old ideas, is just as great as the cash-value of mechanical inventions, and probably on the average it is greater. But there is no artificial protection for new points of view as there is for me- chanical inventions, except as they can be coined into a name or phrase. To copyright such a name or phrase does not protect it, but actual successful use of it, whether it is registered as a trade-mark or not, does create a property in it that the law recognizes and pro- tects— ^that is, the common law. Copyright registry as a trade-mark, which is limited to definite new names of things, aids in the protection; but advertising catch- lines are not usually protectable in this way. They must be held by mental force, so to speak, that is, by continued active use in such a way that others can not very well afford to use them because of the confusion that would surely be caused and the danger that they would help you more than they would help themselves. The inborn need to base a business on monopoly makes people avoid even the appearance of trailing l)ehind some more vigorous thinker. Excess of novelty is doomed to failure, and equally so is the lack of it. Nothing so fully illustrates the com- mercial value of the golden mean, and knowing just where the mind of the average man stands, and what else is in the field. If you can find a way to give a client or a customer something that no one else has got, even something that only a few others have got, or something that none of PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES OP APPEAL 47 his immediate neighbors have, he will grab at it. Gangs do the same things, but they want their individual' possession. This may be a ticket to an entertainment, such as Mr. Deland used to fill Phillips Brooks's Sun- day evening service, or it may be the picture of a dollar bill which really was worth a dollar under certain con- ditions, or it may be the prize given to the person who solves the simple rebus. The successful salesman is always trying to find some- thing special and unique for his or her customers. It is related by Mr. Sheldon that a woman clerk in a department store in Pittsburgh made a point of taking the name and address of every customer in a little book, and dropping her a card or telephoning her whenever any bargain was offered in the store in which she might be interested. A consistent carrying out of this plan brought so much business she was paid $3,000 a year salary, while clerks at her side who were just clerks, were getting but $3 to $7 a week. This became for that clerk a matter not only of bargains, but of exclusive bargains — at least they seemed exclusive to her custom- ers. They recognized and paid her for her services in keeping them posted, for a bargain you do not know about is no bargain at all. Every customer wants to know just how a given thing will apply to his case, just how it will work out with his conditions. The chief service of the salesman is often investigating the customer's condition and then pointing out just how this particular article will meet his particular needs. "We often hear in business, *'My business is peculiar, my case is different." In the main features it is not different from a thousand others; in a few special details, which loom big in that man's mind, it is different, and the salesman must Srst of all find out how to adjust the offering to that man's tiny 48 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS differences which seem to him so big and important. Afterward he may take up the general arguments, which from the outside seem so much more important. This is partly due to the mechanical fact that what is very near to a man looks big to him, and what is far away looks small; but partly, also, it is due to human nature's natural love for monopoly, for something ex- clusive. An advertising man who says, **I will divide my time between you and four others," will not have nearly as much attention as one who says, *'I will do all your advertising work just as much as if I were in your exclusive employ ; but it will cost you only $25 a month.'* From the price, the buyer knows that other work must be done, but it is wisdom on the part of that advertising man not to mention the other work. Be- cause of the low price the customer will overlook the unmentioned fact that a dozen others are getting the same sort of service, indeed, inevitably must get it. The same principle works out in the same way in selling limited editions of books, in exclusive agencies, and in aU the range of peculiar privilege, including the idea of political pull which a man believes is his alone among many who wish it. 3. The Habit of Obedience to Command. All per- sons as children are trained in the habit of obeying commands, and the great majority of workers are em- ployees doing the bidding of a very few executives. Therefore, all their lives the majority of persons are drilled in the habit of obedience to command. In a country like Germany, where every able-bodied man must serve in the army, the habit of obedience is even much stronger than it is in this country. "We have already noted the effect of habit on the old soldier who dropt his potatoes and mutton on the ground when a joker called out the command ''Attention!" In all PEACTICAL PRINCIPLES OP APPEAL 49 games the commands of the captain are most important in the winning of victory. In dealing with human nature in business, the direct command takes advantage of the habit of obedience. ''Sign here!" spoken in a firm and commanding tone makes the person addrest want to sign because it starts those brain-currents along the path of that habit of obedience which is so deeply cut by lifelong experience. The return coupon with its place to sign before mail- ing, or the return postal card seems a silent command which is certainly powerful, tho the mere matter of convenience is also an important consideration. The quiet, silent voice, saying, '*Do it! Do it! Do it!" is far better than the loud and insistent voice which may awaken the obstinacy of human nature, the disinclina^ tion to be bossed. People like to follow the commands of friends, of reason, of those who seem to know more than they do. The kind of command that is effective is the command that is linked with leadership in a common cause, the command of the football captain who is in- spiring and commanding at the same time. Where no real authority can exist, stimulation must be greater than command, but suddenly, just at the right time, the word of command touches the habit-center of obedience in the brain and brings results. It is what salesman call '' closing," after the customer has been led step by step until only a small step remains to be taken. Suddenly, as the customer hesitates at that last step, the salesman says, ''Do it!" and he does it before he has time to reflect; the lifelong habit of obedience to command is stronger than doubting and unsatisfied reason. 50 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Assignment VII To illustrate the dictum that "like begets like/' let us interview ten persons in succession^ we will say, soliciting subscriptions to a school paper, or selling tickets for an entertainment, or working up interest for athletic support, or to volunteer for some special work that is to be assigned. In the case of five of them we will go straight and blunt to the thing desired; and in the case of the other five we will start with a pleasant word about something in which the person addrest is known to be interested, on the theory that taking an interest in his affair will induce him to take an interest in your affair. Make notes of the result in each of the ten cases. To illustrate the principle of the monopoly, arrange some interesting activity of the class, or school, or family, or business, in which you wish to take in ten persons. To five of them say, *'We want to get ten per- sons, of whom you are to be one'*; to the other five say, "We are going to do so and so and so, and particularly want you to be in on it," saying nothing whatever about the other nine. Make notes on each interview and re- port results. In the last case, after your arguments, try to close by suddenly saying, "Come, put your name down!" having your subscription list all ready, or whatever it may be, with pencil in hand. Make it a quiet, quick, mental effort entirely free from all violence of assertion. Questions on the Practical Appeal 1. Illustrate the principle "Like begets like." 2. What is the importance of enthusiasm in sales- manship, and how is it produced in others f 3. What is the "gang-spirit," and how does it apply in business? PRACTICAL PBINCIPLBS OF APPEAL 51 4. "WhsLt is the effect of a calm, judicial attitude, and iwrhen is that required! 5. How is the principle of monopoly to be used in making a sales-appeal f 6. How is the liking for what is unique counter- balanced by the force of conservatism, and how must -the salesman adjust the balance in making a sales- appeal f 7. Illustrate the value of new points of view in re- gard to old things. What are the limitations of nov- eltyt 8. How can the habit of obedience to command be used in making salesf 9. How do the return coupon and return postal card -work into this principle? VIII PROPORTION AND EMPHASIS The mind of man is practically capable of giving attention to only one thing at a time. If I am talking with my wife about an important matter, and you rush up and begin to tell me a story, unless you secure my attention I shall not hear a word you say any more tlian if I were deaf. If I am a business man in an ofl5ce, and five or six persons are trying to speak to me at one and the same time, I can give attention to only one, and probably will turn to the person who speaks most loudly and insistently (immediately becoming dis- gusted by his loudness and insistence, and throwing him out), or I may give my attention to a person stand- ing perfectly still with folded arms, attracted because he is doing something different from the rest. Attention having been secured, it must be held un- broken until the arguments or appeal have had time to sink in. You may state your case clearly and fully, yet if not enough time has passed for the more or less slow- working mind to take in the impression, there will be only a vague picture left. When a camera is used to take a picture the plate must be exposed just the right length of time. If the time is too short, there will be no picture at all, but only a confused collection of marks ; or if the exposure has been too long, the picture will blur and run into a confused mass. The mind of another person must be exposed to your argument just the right length of time if the best effect is to be secured. A short-story writer will present one picture in his 52 1 PROPOETION AND EMPHASIS 53 imaginatiye creation after another. He may be able to say what he has to say in the first ten lines ; but if not enough time has passed for that picture to make its photographic impression he keeps on using words, say- ing the same thing over and over in different forms and from different points of view till he knows he has got the right development, when he passes on to the next imaginative picture. Then the salesman, letter-writer, or advertisement- writer, as well as the public-speaker or teacher, must judge nicely the proper portion to give each argument or imaginative appeal. He is painting a picture on the mind of another; the foreground must be larger, the background smaller, to create the illusion of perspec- tive ; arms and legs must be of exactly the right size, the small details must be filled in with just the right full- ness or completeness so the large or main points will not be buried or thrown into ecUpse. In speech we get this proportion by emphasis. Em- phasis teaches us to pitch our voices just so they will be heard comfortably according to the surroundings, according to the natural hearing of the person we ad- dress, and according to the importance of our subject. In writing we get the same effect by the vigor of our language, by capital letters or italic, or by putting a thought into a very short paragraph. Correct emphasis depends on knowing the condition and nature of the mind of the person addrest. When we know that, an instinct guides us. Personal sales- men have the great advantage of seeing before their eyes the person to whom they speak and adjusting their emphasis accordingly, and likewise timing each item of their appeal correctly, just so as to make the impression clearly and then pass on. The writer must go out and see typical human beings of the kind he is to write for. 54 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS until in his imagination he can see them, see them so vividly that he can seem to feel just how much to write and just how strongly to emphasize it. That is why a writer must be endowed with a strong imagination. He must be able actually to see his customer sitting in the chair beside him. Since correct emphasis in writing is a more difficult matter, let us consider that for a few moments. First, what is already in the mind of the person who will read this, what competitors are clamoring for his attention, what general demands on his thought are likely! To get attention, the important thing is to send the appeal in some way that is different from the rest, not enough different to be freakish, but just enough to create a fresh sensation in the brain. Then what four or five things constitute the whole picture, and how long can I depend on holding this particular reader's attention f If I know he will read only a twenty-line letter, I must proportion my argu- ment so I can get it all into twenty lines. If he will read a two-page letter, why, I must proportion it ac- cordingly. Eiiowing that the mind pays attention to only one thing at a time, I must consider each point in the pres- entation, I must drive it in just hard enough so it will become clearly fixt in the length of time at my disposal, and then I must pass on to the next point, giving each its due proportion. At the end, I know that I have got each essential point in its proper size or proportion, I have driven it under the skin so that it will stick, and I have not indulged in an excess that will create a revulsion against me. Usually I give a skeleton argument, according to reason and the rules of logic. To save timQ I con- PROPORTION AND EMPHASIS 55 stantly resort to the imaginative method of using words or pictures that will start currents in the brain along the paths of habitual association, for they are the quickest elements in any appeal. If my time is reduced to an instant, my only chance lies in an imaginative picture like those used by Cream of Wheat or Pears' Soap, and my whole thought is to find a picture that wiU set as many of the brain-currents to moving as pos- sible that are good for my business object. But great care must be taken to see that there are not any cross- currents. In order to economize time so that we may preserve our proportion, the very name of the thing should sug- gest its quality. **How to Do Business by Letter'* was selected as the name of that book, because it told so clearly the nature of the book. It was the best adver- tising catch-line that could be devised, so that no special or additional one was needed. The character of the type used should harmonize with the thought, and so far as possible the paper on which it is printed, the magazine with which it is associated, etc., etc. Successful emphasis and proportion indicate the true artist, who is master of his craft, and knows the human mind. Assignment VIII By way of illustrating the principles of proportion and emphasis, let us try the following experiments: Let the teacher or a student read the next section in an absolutely even tone of voice, without emphasis, and let each member of the class afterward write down as good an account of what he has heard as possible. Then let the teacher or a student read a condensed and unemphasized summary of the points, and at the ,-4 56 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS end let the members of the class give an account of what they have heard. Then let the teacher read the entire section with emphasis and a view to making every member of the class understand every point, and explain or emphasize by special remarks any portions that in his knowledge of the class are not likely to be understood. Let us see how much more intelligent an account the members of the class can now give of the section. It should be understood that interim reading of the section is prohibited. The first two experiments can be tried one day, the final experiment a second day, and on a third day the three sets of reports can be read together and compared. This plan will help to master an important section, and at the same time illustrate the principles of this one. IX ANALYZING A BUSINESS The adyertising^ and selling side of a business is its most vital part. No man can make a success of half a dozen different unfamiliar businesses at one time, and no student of advertising and salesmanship can make a success of his study unless he specializes on ONE BUSINESS, and tries to get to the bottom of that. Unless he does concentrate on some one business, there is no possible chance that he will get to the bottom of anything. What shall that one business bef Local conditions and circumstances must determine. It might well be the school paper, the success of which in a business way a class might devote itself to. Or it might be some local business such as the shoe business in a great shoe- town like Brockton, Mass. With individual students it might be whatever business they expect to enter. If no special business offers, nothing could be better than a study of the grocery business, for which a full series of practical exercises has been worked out in an appendix. Groceries are universal, and grocery stores can always be found. A person's mother at home can answer most practical questions, and in the mail- order grocery catalogs a written text-book on the grocery business is within the reach of all. However, in a class it would be well, after the pre- liminary study of human nature that has been made up to this point, to take a vote on the business to be 57 58 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS analyzed^ and having decided upon it, to follow it through to the end without deviation. If possible, it should be a business in which customers can be called on personally for oral sales practise. More distant customers should be appealed to by letter along the same lines as the oral appeal is made. Adver- tising, either by newspaper or handbills distributed from house to house, should be called for in the nature of the business if all-round practise is to be afforded. Running a small newspaper of any kind affords ideal practise. The readers may be interviewed with the idea of finding out what service the newspapers can render them. Then the editorial side should proceed to render that service. On the basis of that service an appeal should be made in oral salesmanship for subscriptions, and also for advertising in its columns. When that advertising is secured, the department should study the businesses of the advertisers so as to teach them to shape their advertising so it will bring returns and make them willing to continue. Time may prevent much personal sales-soliciting for subscriptions, but what can not be done personally can be done by letter, and the sales-talk will furnish precisely the best mate- rial for the letter. First, oral sales-talk, then written sales-talk, these two alternating more or l^ss throughout the work, is the right combination. It is impossible to know what people want, and how their minds act, without actually going to see them and talking with them. Only when this information has been received, can successful sales- letters be written. Other letters should usually be answers to correspondence received. The style of letter-writing is the conversational style, and going out and talking is the very best way in whidi to learn what conversational style is. ANALYZING A BUSINESS 59 Here is the system of analysis for any business, and the writer has used it with success in the study of several hundred. Sometimes one point is of more im- portance than another, or is of no importcmce at all; but allowances must be made in a common-sense way. The study of competition gives a broad outlook and something for comparison. In the case of a patented invention or a copyrighted book, there is the indirect competition of all other devices and all other books. Modem books must compete with all the classics. All things that are not indispensable compete with each other for a place in the Uf e and mind of individuals, for one person can make use of only a very few of all the good things that may be afforded. Sheer lack of brain- power to think of the thiQg may prevent it from getting even first attention. The important thing is to get a true conception of the relation of the business to the actual world. Only when such a true conception has been acquired is there any chance for practical grasp of the vital problems. The advertising outlook is so much broader than the personal salesmanship outlook that in this consideration we should be guided by that. We first start with the broadest view, and gradually narrow down to the details that intensive study makes interesting. Adver- tising skims the field, sales letters begin to work it slightly, while personal salesmanship works it in the most intensive way that is possible. Which is in practise most importcmt must be judged individually in each case. But in our study we start with the broad outlook and narrow down to the details when we have really grasped the relation of the business to the outside world. 60 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS System of Analysis 1. What is your competition! I would not refer directly to your competitors in any sales-appeal, but I must address a customer in whose mind are the argu- ments of your competitors. You must know what those arguments are, and go about saying that which will offset or counterbalance them in the mind of the cus- tomer. If you have to compete with lower prices, it is necessary to talk frankly on the subject of prices and point out in a common-sense way that your customer can't afford to take that which costs less and is cor- respondingly lower in quality, and why or how he wiU make more money in the end by paying a little more and getting something that is right. 2. Then you should consider what you have that nobody else in your territory has. You may say, Nothing. Unless you have something that your cus- tomer can't get as conveniently from anybody else, you have no basis to ask for more than your natural share of business. You may give better service, you may even give only a pleasanter manner and fairer treat- ment. Advertising, which keeps the customer con- stantly informed, is a service. You must find out what it is that makes one of your good customers give you his business in preference to giving it to the other fellow — not what you think ought to make him, but what you know from actual investigation does make him. The thing you have which nobody else really has (whether anybody else can get it or not is another matter) is what really makes a man buy from you, and which you ought to drive home hardest of all in your sales-appeal. 3. Talk is not enough, however, to get orders. Argu- ment must be supplemented by proof. You must con- ANALYZING A BUSINESS 61 sider how to prove your claims, and if you can make your claims in the testimonial words of other people, even if you can't quote their names, you have gained a splendid point. A bunch of conventional testimonials in small type is worth little, even if you can get them and use them at all. Qet a testimonial that is really a splendid record of facts, and play it up in good type with a clear black- letter heading. Or reproduce sales-orders, or give records of sales, or ANY FACTS THAT WILL TEND TO PEOVE YOUR CLAIMS. Records of facts that will pass in a law court are what you want, not praise or any form of **hot air," either of your own or of anybody else. 4. Ask a man to do something easy that he can reasonably do, and make it as easy for him to do it as you can. A return post-card carrying a trial order or a bit of information you ought to have is a good thing, and you should have a printed post-card form to use as often as possible with your sales letters. Don't for- get to be VERY CLEAR AND SPECIFIC as to what you want done, and provide a convenient way. Don't ask a large decision when a series of small decisions can be substituted, and don't ask a man to commit himself beyond recall when you know that what he gets on approval he will want to keep and pay for. 5. Getting your facts right is much more important than the wording of your sales-talk, or letter, or circular, or advertisement, and if you haven't the preceding four points, it doesn't matter much how well you word your appeal. But if you have the right basis, consider the follow- ing points in connection with the wording: (a) Have you covered, even in a brief letter, every point with absolute clearness, just as you would explain 62 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS to a child f It is a mistake to assume that every busi* ness man knows this, that, or the other, and that it would be foolish to refer to such points. When a man is reading hastily he wants everything before him or else he is likely to overlook something because it is not clear enough for instant perception. Don't compel him to figure out what is wanted. Let him see at a glance. It is useless to write a letter so short that it doesn't tell your story. You can always emphasize your strong points in the letter and tell the complete story in an attached printed circular. In any case, the story must be told completely enough to produce conviction. (6) Do you present your points in the correct order of sales-appeal f Namely : Creating desire in general for the service you are prepared to give; Showing how your plan works, so that people can depend on their own common-sense judgment as to the likelihood that you are right; Backing up your statement by proofs; Throwing a personal tone into your appeal so that a customer will feel like doing what you ask ; Ending with a quick, safe, and easy method of com- plying with your wishes. In making a sale, when you know you can't hold him in court and do not wish to, you may even sign a man's name for him, printing it if you please so there will be no suggestion of imitation. (c) Do you strongly, tho briefly, emphasize FACTS that wiU catch attention at the outset and fix it; or in a letter do you emphasize mere words which wiU have no meaning unless your letter is read through f Capitals and the underscore should be used to make three or four prominent facts stand out so they will catch atten- tion at the very first glance. They take the place of ANALYZING A BUSINESS 63 blaek4etter heads in a circular, not emphasized words in conversation. (d) Are your strongest points put in very short paragraphs (of two or three lines each) f (e) Is your talk or letter or circular of the precise length that the particular class of people you are ad- dressing would like — short and crisp for business men, longer and more detailed for the slower-minded! In any case, have you told your whole story with proper emphasis f (/) Is your appeal, whether oral or written, enthu- siastic enough 1 Extreme energy of expression is neces- sary to make a man feel like ordering in most cases. Seldom does a tame letter or a tame talk do much good. (g) The man who has developed a business part way to complete success knows more about it than any other human being on earth, and he is the one who knows most about the merits of his goods, his competition, and his customers. The outsider who would succeed must cling very closely to the man who reaUy knows the business ; he must be merely a mouthpiece. Then when he has perfected his canvass or written his letter, he should be very sensitive in observing whether it seems just right to this man who knows most about the busi- ness. The points criticized by that man may not be the right ones, but his uneasiness is pretty sure to indi- cate that something is wrong which ought to be righted. PAET II CORRESPONDENCE Introductory THE FORM OF THE LETTER When a gentleman who is weH-drest, neat, and in- telligent-looking steps into an office, he is likely at once to be accorded the attention a gentleman should have, and it is favorable attention. If his trousers bag, his collar is dirty, or his hair uncut, he also attracts atten- tion, but it is unfavorable attention, even suspicion and a feeling of contempt. The common herd that are neither good nor bad get little attention of any kind. The form of a letter makes almost exactly the same impression. It is a matter of art whether it has good margins, a proper proportionate drop from the top, and even arrangement of paragraphs, salutation, etc., and is correct in every little detail of punctuation. A letter which is like the punctiliously drest gentleman com- mands immediately the attention necessary to get its contents properly read and considered. People give such hasty glances to letters when they are received in large numbers that the first impression is almost the k^ to first success. Margins are a matter of art. The top of the letter should not look crowded, but at the same time the mass of the letter should not drop below the center of the page. The date-line should be well up unless the letter- head is a large and heavy one. If the letter is short, the side-margins should be wide, but in typewritten letters never less than an inch on the left and three- quarters of an inch on the right, and paragraph in- dentations about the same. Pen-written letters may 67 68 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS have less margin and less indentation, say three- quarters of an inch. The best-looking letter has the effect of about the same margin all around except that there may be a little more at the bottom. Spacing is somewhat a matter of taste, but single- spaced typewritten letters should have a double space between paragraphs and above and below the salutation. Pen-written letters do not need extra spacing. The date-line should always be placed to the right of the center-line of the page; it should include the fall address, street, town, state — as well as the date written and punctuated thus: Nov. 5, 1919. When it is long we abbreviate the month, when short we do not. Omit ^ ' th " after 5. The address of the person written to is usually placed at the top of the letter on the left-hand side, flush with the margin, in not less than two nor more than three lines. The town in the second line may come flush with the margin or be indented as a paragraph, and a third line, if indented at all, should be indented as much more, so as to present a pleasing slope to the right. In social and semi-social business letters the name and address may come at the end, flush with the left-hand margin, and this is usually considered best when the name (as ''My dear Mr. Jones") is used in the salutation. The best business usage does not insist on this, however. The salutation should always come flush with the left-hand margin. It is old-fashioned to indent it. And it should be followed by a comma in social letters usually, and a colon in business letters. The semicolon, still taught in some schools, is absolutely taboo in busi- ness practise and the colon and dash, while still widely used, are not considered by careful letter-writers to be as good as the colon alone. THE FORM OF THE LETTER 69 The Nations Gash Register Ck>MPANy 0AXiozfjOHio. Hareli 6, 1916. Mr. SlMrvln Cody, Chicago, lilt Dear Ibv. Oodyt I have jttst r«o«lT«4 yoqp letter of Karoh i. I still feel our Daytoa people oumot be interested In this St the present tiae and therefore do not advise, attempting it. Tory truly jowig JVS/UtO OFFICS HAKAOSa. BT7BINKSS STYUB, MARGINS AND ARRANGEMENT FOR VERY SHORT LETTER 70 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS In bnsmess letters, **Dear Sir*' for single men, "Gentlemen*' for companies or firms, and *'Dear Madam" for all women are standard and established. The old or English form ''Dear Sirs'' is out of date, and *'Dear Miss'* is taboo; but for young girls ''Dear Miss Jones," with the name, is used whenever there is any excuse for it. In social letters or semi-social business letters, "My dear Mr. Jones" is a little more formal than "Dear Mr. Jones," and both are desirable when there is a certain degree of personal acquaintance. In very formal official letters, "Sir" alone may be used, but occasions for it are very, very few. The body of a letter should begin as a paragraph. The older style of beginning the body of the letter directly under the end of the ^salutation is rapidly pass- ing out of use. The paragraph indentation should vary from five typewriter spaces to ten according to the size of the letter, but for common letter-writing about eight spaces is most desirable. Pen-written letters have slightly less indentation as a rule, from half to three- quarters of an inch. The close for a business letter should start just to the left of the center of the page, only the first word should begin with a capital letter, and it should be followed by a comma. "Tours truly" is the commonest formal busi- ness close, "Very truly yours" is a degree more cor- dial, and "Cordially yours" is justified in letters in which a certain intimate personal relationship is sug- gested, as between a school principal and his prospective pupils. * ' Sincerely yours" should be reserved for social letters or business letters to actual personal friends, while such a close as "Faithfully yours" has an indi- vidual personal touch suitable for a; somewhat aggressive professional man for example. THE FORM OF THE LETTER 71 ASEKQ-MONXHXy lOUlWAL OF UTBI/«r CMTia^ ^BUSHED ON THB PIMT AMD SlXTESKTH OF lACH MOHTH lUBUCAnON OmCEt 6)1 SOUTH SHERMAM STRICT- CHIOAOO 99 ^*t Sr. Codyt Z h«T« iMML BMailas fop a loot tlat to ivito yoB m Boto tliankiiig you for- tJio lotto'r foy •oot ttao nzAL. fhoro In no dotibt that «• !»▼• lAdlEod litorary solidarity In Aasrloa. Our pooplo bOTO boon abserbod in to aony difforont thingo tbat tboy hoTo not had tiao to f onnilato and ditonao litorary otandardat thor u^ otlll a vol'torlac ■aos. Oar cotmtnr bat boon rapidly ooaiag into a position of iittomational proainanoo^ and that Miot bring f ith it a oonao of national dig- nity and ad doubt national litorary aolf?rttUf atlen* M9tt oordlally yovra^ uia S!«ff « .Ul. T,t.9ttif^ ntOFKSSIONAL STYLE, ABRANOEMBNT SUITXD TO LONG LETTER 72 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS The signature should always be clearly legible tmlesa it is printed on the letter-head. It is a great nidsanee to get a letter from a man and not be able to make out his name. Women should place *'Miss'* or *'Mrs.'* in parentheses before their names in writing to strangers, or sign their personal name and write their husband's name with Mrs. below in parentheses. It is very em- barrassing, not to say rude, for a woman to sign initials like a man, or fail to indicate whether she is married or single. The envelop should have the address in the lower half, well spaced out, the body of it a little to the right of the center, but never crowded up against the right- hand margin. The name, the street, the town, the state should each have a line to itself, with good space betweem it and the next item. The last item should be an eighth to a quarter of an inch from the bottom of the envelop the first item a trifle above the middle, and the space between equally divided between the items. The ends of the lines, except the last, may have commas or no punctuation. Periods are wrong. If the address is long, it is desirable to put one item in the lower left- hand comer, on the same line as the state (the last line). The punctuation of a letter is formal and conven- tional as far as the opening and close are concerned. In the body of a letter the comma is used only when required to make the meaning clear. As a rule, the letters of persons trained on book-rules are over- punctuated. When no confusion will result it is justi- fiable to omit a comma regardless of a rule. Trans- posed phrases and clauses when short need not be set off by commas, yet contrast or distinction may always be shown by inserting a comma, regardless of rules. Im business letters the essential rules are very few. THE FORM OF THE LETTER 73 Rules for Commas Rule 1. Words, phrases, and clauses in a true series^ should be separated by commas, including a comma before '*and" preceding the last item (omitting the comma before the **and,'' tho still common, is not now regarded as the best usage). Rule 2. Clauses and participial phrases that are merely explanatory are set oflE by commas, while those which are restrictive are not set off. Rule 3. Transposed words or clauses are set off by commas, unless short so that no confusion would be likely. Rule 4. "Words or phrases thrown into the sentence are set off by conunas. Rule 5. In compound sentences, a comma should pre- cede the *'and'' or **or*' if the subject of the last part is exprest (a true compound sentence), and should nearly always precede **but," or be used before **and" or "or" when it is followed by some disjunctive word like *'also** (if indeed a semicolon is not required). If clauses are short and closely coimected, no commas need be used even when required by this rule, and when they are long, and grouping by commas will help easy read- ing, commas should be inserted even when they would be contrary to the rule. Rules for Semicolons Semicolons are used for only three purposes, to sep- arate sentences which are short and closely related; to separate groups of words which are themselves sub- divided by conmias (as items of goods in an order when there are several descriptive items) ; and before "but" and other disjunctive words like "and also" in com- pound sentences when the second part is strongly con- trasted. 74 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Rules for Colons Colons are used only after salutations and words equivalent to **as follows.'* The dash indicates an ab- rupt transition, or is used as a mild colon to precede summaries. Other marks do not offer difficulty, but require merely attention to their use. How to Study Punctuation With these rules engraved deeply and permanently on the mind, explain each punctuation-mark in the let- ters in this book. How to Master the Form of Letters The best exercise on the form of letters is to copy the model letters through this book till this can be done without error and in handsome artistic form. Ten or a dozen letters of different kinds should be copied. THE CONVERSATIONAL STYLE IN LETTER- WRITING Natural and Easy Ways to Begin a Business Letter* DON'T begin all your letters in the same well-worn, stereotyped fashion, as : **In reply to your esteemed letter of the 12th inst., we beg to apprise'*; ''In answer to your letter of the 5th inst., we have the honor to inform you"; **We are in possession of your favor of the 28th Feb., to which we hasten to reply"; "Tour esteemed letter of the 16th inst. is duly to hand, in which you advise me to take good note"; '^ Referring to your esteemed communication of the 16th inst., please send." YOU WOULDN'T TALK LIKE THAT. Don't write like that. The Right Way Begin at once on what you have to say, and acknowl- edge incidentally the letter you are answering. For example, begin (if the letter contains an order) : **We thank you cordially for the order contained in your letter of the 16th inst., just at hand, but wish to inquire." If letter asks a favor of some kind, begin : "We have read yours of the 16th carefully, but can not see our way at present to grant your request" ; or, f» ^The use of capital letters in the text happily illustrates the peculiar intensified emphasis characteristic of "business Bnfflish. 75 76 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS "We fuUy appreciate all you say in your letter of the 16th iiist.y just received, but*'; or, "I should very much like to do what you ask in your letter of the 16th inst., but.*' If the letter asks information, b^in to give the infor- mation at once: "Yes, we have such a machine as you describe in your letter of January 16th, and are sending you our catalog, in which you will find full description of it on page 000**; or, **We are sending you our catalog, in which you wiU find the information you ask for in yours of the 16th — pages 000 and 000**; or, **It gives us pleasure to quote you on the articles mentioned in your favor of the 16th inst., as follows:'* etc. Natural and Easy Way to Qose a Business Letter DON'T dose your letter with a set phrase that your customer will see every time he gets a letter from you, and so know that it means nothing. Business letters are too short to be filled with words that do not mean the most that words can mean. Don't say: *' Trusting we may have a continuance of your valued patronage, we are, your most obedient servants"; or, ** Soliciting your further orders, we remain. Dear Sir*'; or, *' Trusting this will be satisfactory, we are.** Say anything that is natural, friendly, and intelli- gent, and do not insist on ending your letters with "we are" or *'we remain." These are not bad words, but they are greatly overworked. Get variety and intelli- gent meaning into the ends of your letters. THE CONVERSATIONAL STYLE 77 "Thanking you cordially for your order, we remain/' is a standard form that may be used when a mere form is required. "We shall be very glad if the quotations we have given meet your requirements, and you will favor us with your order. Truly yours.'* "If you need anything more in our line, we hope you will remember us. Very truly yours.** "We are anxious to do everything we can for the convenience and accommodation of our customers, and hope you will remember us when you have further orders to place.'* **We hope we have succeeded in pleasing you, and trust you will afford us another opportunity of serving you.** If the letter is not one requiring what would corre- spond to a graceful bow on the part of a salesman taking leave of a customer, simply write ** Yours truly," "Yours faithfully," or whatever form seems most ap- propriate, and sign your letter. The habit of always forcing in some meaningless close is a bad one. Polite- ness and a pleasant manner are always appreciated, however, if they are genuine. The moment they be- come ** machine-made" they lose their force. Therefore, be genuinely polite in all your letters as well as in your personal dealings. How to Acquire an Easy Business Style NEVER USE IN A LETTER WORDS YOU WOULD NOT USE IN CONVERSATION. They make your letter seem stiff and formal, and pre- vent your getting into sympathy with the man or woman to whom you are writing. 78 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Words to be avoided are: Same (as a pronoun — ^the same), herewith, beg, esteemed, apprise, have the honor. There is a simple method by which you can acquire an easy and natural style in letter-writing. Imagine that your customer is sitting opposite you. Talk to him in your letter just as you would if he really sat there. Never use a word in writing that you would not use in talking. Plunge at once into what you have to say. Say it naturally and without effort. Be sure you say everything your customer will want to know. When you have said what he will want to hear, stop. Example Mr. John Jones, Pueblo, Colo. Dear Sir: Replying to your esteemed favor of the 6th inst., we beg to advise you that at present writing we are out of Merchant brand all-wool socks of the size you mention, but consignment is now en route to us, and we expect to have a full stock not later than the 20th. We are hold- ing your order, and as soon as goods arrive we will give same our prompt attention. Hoping this will be satisfactory, we remain Yours faithfully. The Burley Merchandise Co., Ltd. A Better Style Mr. John Jones, Pueblo, Colo. Dear Sir: We are very sorry to say that just at this moment we do not have in stock Merchant brand all-wool socks of the size mentioned in your order of the 6th. We have a THE CONVERSATIONAL STYLE 79 shipment on the way, and expect to receive it in a very few days. As soon as the goods arrive we will fill your order and dispatch it at the earliest possible moment. We trust you will suffer no inconvenience from the short delay. Very truly yours, The Burley Merchandise Co., Ltd. Very simple notes are often worded in awkward com- mercial phrases. Stiff formality is especially objec- tiooable when the occasion is unimportant. Secretary's Letter of Acknowledgment Dear Madam : Mr. Jones requests me to acknowledge receipt of the book you were so kind as to leave yesterday, and to state that he hopes to see you soon and thank you in person* Respectfully yours, "Bequests,** ^'acknowledge receipt,'* "state'* are commercialized words and so to be avoided in a note like this, which should have some grace and literary good manners. Here is a better version : Dear Madam : Mr. Jones wishes me to thank you for the boojc you kindly left yesterday at his oflSce. He was sorry that he was out at the time, but asks me to say that he hopes to see you very soon and thank you in person. Very truly yours, Simple Letter Enclosing Check to Pay a Bill Original: Gentlemen : We b^ to enclose our check for $134.60 to cover your invoice of July 14:th, which we enclose. Please receipt the invoice and return to us at your early convenience, wi twUeve ns. Yours truly, 80 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Changed : Qentlemen : We are enclosing our check for $134.60 in payment of the accompanying invoice. Will you kindly acknowl- edge receipt? We thank you in advance. Yours truly, The slight changes in this letter do not amount to much the first time or the second time, but the thousandth time the accumulated impression is vast. A Letter of Endorsement Poor: Dear Sir : I have received a copy of your book entitled ''Busi- ness Correspondence," and beg to advise that I have ex- amined it with care. I find if a remarkably practical and useful work, full of common-sense ideas and well fitted to be found on the desk of any correspondent Permit me to congratulate you on your success in this regard. Yours truly, Better : Dear Sir : I have been reading your book on ''Business Corre- spondence," and it has interested me more than any- thing else on this subject that I have seen for a long time. Your suggestions are full of common sense, and I am sure they will really help any correspondent who may apply them to his own work. They have helped me, and I am eager to see anything else on this subject you may write. Congratulating you, I am Sincerely yours, THE CONVERSATIONAL STYLE 81 Answer to an Inquiry The following letter is given as a model in a recent book on business letter-vrriting. Gentlemen : In answer to your communication of Dec. Ist, with reference to the character and business stability of a certain firm in this city, would say that upon investiga- tion we find said firm to be financially embarrassed, and utterly devoid of honorable, reliable business principles. We can not recommend you to do business with them. Very truly yours, Beserve and restraint should always characterize a letter like this. Greater force often lies in what is left unsaid. Gentlemen : On receipt of your letter of Dec. 1st we made investi- gations, and as a result we do not recommend credit Iransactions. Yours truly, The Telegraphic Style This is poor : Dear Sir : I enclose herewith return copy of lease favor J. H. Jones, same having been executed on behalf of this com- pany. Please* deliver to owner and acknowledge receipt hereof. Yours truly, "Herewith" and **hereof " are good words to avoid- especially the latter. What is the objection to a simple, straightforward statement in natural English t The fol- lowing is shorter as well as simpler : Dear Sir: Will you kindly hand to J. H. Jones the enclosed lease, which has been duly executed by the Company, and acknowledge your receipt of it. Yours truly. 82 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Colloquialisms and Slang Since business letters are written in conversational English, the standard of purity is different from that which applies to literary English. Slang may be defined as words or phrases which have a touch of vulgarity about them which prohibits their use in writing of any kind, and also in conversation. Colloquialisms are homely expressions which do not shock the refined ear in conversation, but which are out of place in careful literary compositions. Colloquialisms may be used in letter-writing if neces- sary to make the meaning clear and forceful, but slang should be strictly avoided. AN ILLUSTRATIVE CHAIN OF LETTERS The Inquiry Cranford, N. H., March 30, 1919. Messrs. Jones & Co., Boston, Mass. Gentlemen : I wish a dress made to order, and write to know what you can do for me. Do you send samples of spring dress-goods t And do you have anything which shows styles and how to take measurements} Oblige, (Mrs.) Bertha M. Smith. The Response Boston, Mass., April 1, 1919. Mrs. Bertha M. Smith, Cranford, N. H. Dear Madam: In accordance with your request of March 30, we take pleasure in sending you our spring catalog under sep- THE CONVERSATIONAL STYLE 83 arate cover, induding a large variety of sample pieces of sammer dress-goods, representing aU the latest and prettiest weaves. We •believe that we carry the largest line of high-grade dress-goods in this country, and the name * 'Jones" is a synonym for excellence at a moderate price. If you will write us more in detail, we shall have the greatest pleasure in assisting you to make a suitable selection. We trust we may hear from you again in a short time. Yours very truly, Jones & Co., By S. D. It is not necessary to be stiff even if you are formal in a business letter. In this letter and the others in this chapter, colloquialisms would be out of place. You can not talk to a strange lady in the same free style you would to an intimate friend. The Order April 9, 1919. Gentlemen: I have decided to have a dress made of the goods like the enclosed sample, in your style No. 997. I will have it full silk-lined, price $40, exactly as described in the catalog. I have filled out a measurement-blank, and enclose it. I don't see how I can be quite sure that the dress will fit me unless I have tried it on. I think I may go to Boston the latter part of the month, and if you can have it ready I might try it on then. Very truly yours, (Mrs.) Bertha M. Smith. 84 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Acknowledging the Order Dear Madam: April 11, 1919. We thank you for your order of April 9 and riiall hope to please you in every way in filling it. You will re- member, however, that it is stated in our catalog that at least half the price of a made-to-order garment must be paid in advance. We ask this not only of you but of every one, for you can readily understand that this is the only protection we have. While ready-made gar- ments may always be returned and money will be re- funded, we can not take back made-to-order garments or exchange them. We guarantee, however, that we will give you a per- fect fit, and that you will find the workmanship and style unexceptionable in every way. If the dress is not made precisely as you order it, your money will be re- funded promptly. You will see, therefore, that you, too, are fully protected. The most convenient ^ay will be for you to send the entire amount in advance. If you wish, however, you may send half, and the other half will be collected when the goods are delivered. As soon as we hear from you we will begin work at once, and if you are to be in Boston you can call and have the dress fitted in our workrooms. We hope we may be able to please you. Yours truly, Jones & Co. The Inquiry Montpelier, Vt, Jan. 10, 1919. Coventry Supply House, Coventry, N. Y. Gentlemen : I have your catalog, and have looked all through it to find the kind of gun I want, but it does not seem to be THE CONVERSATIONAL STYLE 85 there. All the guns described in the catalog are rifles, and I want a light shotgun — a good gun for little money. Do you have any guns of this kind? Do you sell furs? My wife wants to use some in mak- ing up a jacket. If you do not handle them, can you tell me where I can get them? I shall be very much obliged if you will let me hear from you immediately. Very truly yours, Martin Fisher. The Response'*' Jan. 16, 1919. Mr. Martin Fisher, Montpelier, Vt. Dear Sir: We suspect from your letter of January 10 that you do not have our regular winter catalog, and take plea- sure in sending you a copy under separate cover. Probably the catalog to which you refer is our special catalog of rifles in which no shotguns are described. If you will look on pages 95-96 of the catalog we are send- ing you, you will And a number of shotguns described and quoted. Some are priced very low indeed, yet we fully guarantee everything we sell, and you may be sure that you will find nothing better of its kind on the market. We do not handle furs not made up into garments. For the sMns we would refer you to Messrs. Back, Becker & Co., Washington Street, Boston. If you ask them for '* scraps*' and tell them exactly what use your wife wishes to make of them, possibly you can get small * Observe tbat the response is fall, courteous, and helpful, tho the subject-matter seems unimportant. Heads of houses could not afford to write such letters, but employees at low salaries may easily be trained to do so, and carefully prepared letters may be adapted so ag to be used many times. 86 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS pieces at a low price which will serve as well as expen- sive whole skins. We hope you will look our catalog through carefully at your leisure, for we know you will find many ex- cellent bargains. We carry only new and high-class stock, and permit our customers to return, at our ex- pense, any article they do not find exactly as represented. If at any time you receive any goods that do not please you, tho we have filled your order exactly as you have sent it, still you can return the goods and we will refund your money, less forwarding charges. We are always pleased to answer questions, and will do everything in our power to aid you. Yours truly, Coventry Supply House. Assignment IX Supposing that we have selected a business which we have studied with care so that we can apply to it the System of Analysis, and have chosen some one item of goods which we understand well enough so that we know what questions customers might ask, let us — 1. Formulate the question orally and then in a letter of inquiry, 2. Answer the question orally, and then in a letter replying to the inquiry, 3. In reply to No. 2 place a conditional order, first stating the order orally and then in the form of a letter, 4. Acknowledge the order in an appreciative way, first orally, then in a letter. 5. We may repeat these four steps in the study of another item of goods, and if necessary a third item, until this interchange of business can be executed with some tact, human feeling, and intelligent sympathy. II ORDERING GOODS AND HANDLING INQUIRIES Two Kinds of Letters — ^Buying and Selling In business there are two things — ^buying and selling. Successful buying consists in knowing what to buy, and the only important thing in buying is to specify every- thing you want and make it perfectly clear just how you want it. Buying-letters should be just as brief as possible — they can't be too brief in the mere matter of words if they cover clearly every essential point. Selling-letters, on the other hand, must be as long as the prospective customer will read — and must display all the fine art and highest skill in letter-writing. It is in these letters that the fine art of business English is dis- played, and in which the true art of advertising must be constantly exercised. Ordering Goods In ordering goods be sure to— 1. Make a list, or arrange in a column, if there are several items, to avoid confusion, 2. Give sizes, styles, and all other details you possibly can, or clearly explain what you want, 3. State how money is sent, or how you intend to make payment, 4. Indicate whether shipment is to be made by mail, express, or freight. Remember that if goods are to be 87 88 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS sent by mail, money should usually accompany the order, including an allowance for the postage. The letter can not be too brief , but it must be dear and complete. A Poor Letter Ordering Goods Ashford,* Feb. 8, 1919. Whittington & Co., New York.* Gentlemen : Please send as soon as possible Band-McNally's atlas,' a dozen handkerchiefs, five cakes of soap, and some writing-paper and a half a dozen pens. Send as soon as you can,* and I will pay on arrival.* Yours truly, Martha Martin. 1. The address is not sufficient, since the state is omitted. If the town is small, always give the county. 2. Always give the street address when you can. 3. Band, McNally & Co. publish many atlases at many prices, and it would be impossible to know from this statement what was wanted. There are many grades of handkerchiefs, many brands of soap, and a great variety of paper and pensi Not a single item in this order could be intelligently supplied. 4. This is practically a repetition of the language with which the letter opens. 5. Small consignments of goods are usually not shipped to a distance unless the price is paid in advance. In any case, there should be a clear statement as to just how the goods should be forwarded, whether by mail, express, or freight, unless there is a free wagon-delivery from a large local store. OBDEEINO GOODS, HANDLING INQUIRIES 89 The Same Letter Properly Written Ashford, Conn., Feb. 8, 1919. Messrs. Whittington & Co., 3 Whitehall St., New York City. Gentlemen : Please send as soon as possible the following: 1 Rand-McNally's Popular Atlas of the World, $2; 1 doz. ladies' white linen handkerchie&, the best value yon have at about 25c. each; 6 cakes of glycerine soap, 10c. a cake, 6 for 50c. ; A box of ladies' cream note-paper and envelops, rough finish, unruled, about 35c., or any special value you have of this grade. I enclose money-order for $5, and will ask you to refund any balance in my favor or prepay forwarding charges. Yours truly, (Miss) Martha; Martin. End. M. 0. Notice in regard to this letter — 1. That while it is not necessary to prefix ''Messrs." to a firm name, it bespeaks your culture and education, as well as your courteous disposition, to be careful in these details. 2. When different articles iare ordered, each item shoxdd be given a line by itself — ^that is, should be made a paragraph, even if, as in this case, the various items are separated by semicolons and form parts of a single sentoacid. This is a case in which the sentence includes several paragraphs. 90 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS 3. Observe that items of this sort should be separated by semicolons, while after the last one you place a period. .The semicolon means, in a practical way, ** There is more to come," while the period means, ^'This is the last item/* 4. Always describe what you want so fully that yon are sure the clerk will know exactly what to send you. Never send an order by mail for something you are your- self in doubt about. It is better to write first for infor- mation. 5. Many women have an idea that it is independent to sign initials (so that a stranger receiving a letter does not know whether it comes from a man or a woman), or else the simple given name without Miss or Mrs. ; but the only courteous way is to relieve the stranger of the em- barrassment of guessing whether you are married or single, and avoid ridiculous blunders by writing Miss or Mrs. before the name in parentheses. Only vulgar people write it without the parentheses. Answering Inquiries Before answering any letter be sure that you under- stand fully all about the subject concerning which you are going to write. If you do not understand clearly every phase of it, make inquiries until you understand. When you understand the matter yourself, explain everything clearly, point by point, to the customer. Think of the customer as a little child, and tell him aU about first this point, and then the next point, and then the next. Think carefully just what he knows, and just what he would like to find out. Try to put your- self in his place. ORDEfiING GOODS, HANDLING INQUIRIES 91 A Poor Answer to a Letter Ordering Goods (Letter-head and date.) Miss (Mrs.!) Martha Martin, Ashford, Conn. (!).^ Dear Miss^ or Madam: We hereby* acknowledge receipt of your esteemed* order of the 8th inst., which has had our prompt atten- tion.*^ We are unable to ship the goods, however, since you do not state what quality and kind of goods you wish, and make no enclosure of remittance.* If you will supply us with the necessary information as to quality and kind of goods desired, and will remit a sufficient amount, we will give your order immediate attention. Yours truly, 1. Do not insult a customer even by the hinted criti- cism of a question-mark. 2. **Dear Madam" is sufficient. 3. Such words as ''hereby," ''herewith," etc., are usually unnecessary in a letter, and help to give it that forbidding formality which repels and deadens interest. 4. Useless jargon, quite meaningless. 5. How many business letters contain statements of this kind, which really mean nothing, even if they are not untrue ! 6. The writer evidently did not know what she wanted, and detailed information should have been sup- plied. The Right Answer to This Letter Martha Martin, (Letter-head and date.) Ashford, Conn. Dear Madam : We have received your order of the 8th, but are 92 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS unable to fill it until we find out a little more exactly what you want. Do you wish Rand-McNally's Popular Atlas of the World, price $2.00? We sell a great many of these. What price do you wish to pay for handkerchiefs, and do you wish white or colored, ladies' or gentlemen's size? What brand of soap do you prefer, and what price would you care to pay? We have ladies' fancy writing-paper, put up 24 sheets and 24 envelops in a box, at 25c. to 50c. a box; also very good note-paper by the pound at 20c., envelops to match 10c. a package. It will be cheaper for you to send the necessary amount of money in advance, and let us forward by express, you paying the charges when you receive the goods. Of course, we wiU let you exchange or return any goods you do not like. As soon as we hear from you we will give your order prompt attention. Very truly yours, . Notice — 1. That as ''Martha Martin" did not write *'Miss" or '*Mrs." before her name, no title can safely be used. 2. That m selling by mail you must give the smallest order as much attention as the largest. The small buyer may become the big buyer ; and besides, the greatest suc- cesses have been based on uniform courtesy to all. 3. That the ignorant customer wants suggestion and help — ^which should be sympathetic, and not officiously obtrusive. 4. That every item spoken of should have a paragraph to itself, and the facts should be stated in perfectly sim- ple language, without any trade terms. OEDBBING GOODS, HANDLING INQUIRIES 93 5. That while a letter ordering goods may be as short as you can make it, a letter explaining difficulties must be sufficiently long to cover fully all the details. A Poor Reply to Letter of Inquiry (A customer writes to say, "I am thinking of buying a piano. I want something good, and cheap. What would you advise? Have you silver G strings for a violin? I have a pretty good violin, but the Q string grates somewhat, and I thought possibly a silver string might be better. What do you charge for Chopin's ''Nocturnes?'') Feb. 3, 1919. Mrs. John Farewell, Aberdeen, N. Dak. My dear Madam, In reply to your esteemed favor, which seems to have no date,^ we are sending you our complete catalog, in which you will find full particulars of all the styles of pianos, violin-strings, and music which we have, with prices attached.^ We sincerely hope you will be able to make a suitable selection, and that we may be favored with your valued^ order at an early date. Trusting this information may be entirely satisfac- tory,* we beg to remain,' Yours truly, 1. Almost an insult to the customer to remind him that he has not dated his letter. 2. ''Attached" is used in a technical commercial sense and might confuse an ignorant person. This ref- erence to prices may just as well be omitted, for the customer in looking over the catalog will find the prices. 3. ** Valued*' is meaningless here. 94 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS 4. A word greatly overworked, and having little or no distinct meaning. 5. This last sentence has been inserted merely to fill out and make a close. It is just as well to omit it en- tirely and write simply, ** Yours truly." The Same Letter Rewritten The letter quoted above is a very stupid one, and is precisely the kind that is likely to drive a customer away just when relations have been opened and an excellent sale is in prospect. Any salesman who met a customer in a store in this indifferent fashion would be discharged without ceremony. Blank & Blank, Chicago, 111., Feb. 3, 1919. Mrs. John Farewell, Aberdeen, N. Dak. Dear Madam: We are much interested in your letter just received and are sending you our catalog. About what price did you wish to pay for a piano, and for what sized room did you want it? We have a great variety, and many excellent instruments at as- tonishingly low prices. If you will kindly tell us just what you had in mind, we shall take great pleasure in advising you to the best of our ability. Quite possibly a silver string would improve the tone of your violin. We can send you one for $1.00. We enclose a little folder with prices of standard music which we carry. You will find Chopin's Noc- turnes quoted on pages 3, 9, and 12. You wiU also find them in some of the general collections described on page 2. If you do not find just what you want, write more in detail. ORDERING GOODS, HANDLING INQUIRIES 95 We shall look for another letter from you in a day or two, for we feel sure we can please you, and you can always depend on fair and courteous treatment from us. Very truly yours, SELLING LETTERS— WITH THE INQUIRIES THEY ANSWER The First Inquiry Mar. 3, 1919. Messrs. Macy & Co., New York, N. Y. Gentlemen : I understand you sell men's furnishings by mail. Have you anything that will show fully what you oflEer? I wish to buy, but should like full information in regard to what I purchase, and also should like to know if I may return anything I do not like. An early reply will oblige. Yours truly, Henry Farley. Reply to the Inquiry Mar. 4, 1919. Dear Sir: In compliance with your request of yesterday we hasten to send you our complete catalog, in which you will find a detailed description of our entire line of goods. We make it a rule to protect our customers in every possible way. If goods are not satisfactory, they may be returned at our expense. We also forward C. 0. D., with privilege of examination. We believe that we have the finest goods in our par- ticular line to be found in New York, or anywhere else. 96 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS You will find us prompt and ooarteous, and anxious to do anything we can to serve you. Our salesmen and correspondents are at your disposal, and we shall be glad to give you fuller information at any time if yon let us know just what you are looking for. Trusting we may hear from you again at an early date, and have the honor of filling your orders, we are Most cordially yours, The Follow-up Letter Mar. 16, 1919. Dear Sir: About two weeks ago we had an inquiry from yon in regard to our line of goods, and wrote you immediately, sending you our catalog. We should be glad to know if the catalog reached you promptly. If it did not come to hand, please let us know and we will send another. We are confident that we have the best goods in our line to be found in New York, or in any city, and at reasonable prices. You will not find anywhere a house that will extend you more courtesies, or deal by you more fairly, nor will you anywhere get prompter ser- vice. We pride ourselves on the promptness with which we fill all orders. Many of them are fiUed the very day they are received. May we not hear from you shortly and know in what way me may serve you? Yours truly. The Second Inquiry Mar. 20, 1919. Gentlemen : I want a pretty pink and blue cravat for about 50c. I do not care to go higher. I want one that will wear well and look rich. What would you recommend! I ORDERING GOODS, HANDLING INQUIRIES 97 i: also want some shirts and collars. Can you recommend iti. your 50c. unlaundered shirts for wear? Do you think ii your 10c. collars are as good as the 25c. onest* '!' As soon as I hear from you I will send you an order. Yours truly, Henry Farley. 1-: IT:. Answer ta the Second Inquiry Mar. 21, 1919. Dear Sir; We think we have such a tie as you describe in your letter of yesterday, and if you will send us an order, with as full a description as possible of what you want, we will exercise our best judgment, and believe we can send you something pretty. In any case, you know, it may be returned if you do not like it, and we will make another selection or refund your money. The fronts of our 50c. unlaundered shirts are rather small, and, of course, the material is not of the finest. We have something at 75c., which you will find de- scribed under No. 4786 on page 32 of the catalog, which we can recommend in every possible way, and we believe that you will find this a better bargain than the cheaper shirts, tho they are as good for the money as you will find elsewhere, and, if anything, a little better. We do not hesitate a moment in recommending our 10c. collars, in quarter sizes. We can fit you perfectly, and you will not be able to tell the difference between these and collars costing double. Remember that you get two of these for one of the others. We shall hope to receive your order at an early date. Very truly yours. * This seems a foolish question, bnt may have a certain meaning not fally exprest which the correspondent must divine and answer intelli- gently and politely. 98 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS The Order Mar. 30, 1919. Gentlemen : Please send me your neatest pink and blue 50c. cravat, two 75c. unlaundered shirts, and half a dozen of your 10c. collars. I enclose $5, and will ask you to return any balance remaining. Yours truly, Henry Farley. Acknowledging the Order and Asking Information Mar. 31. 1919. Dear Sir: Thank you for your order of yesterday, with remit- tance of $5. Unfortunately you omitted to give the size of shirts and collars. We would suggest that you send not only the neck-measurement, but the length of sleeve desired. In measuring the sleeve, measure from the seam on the top of the shoulder to the wrist. As soon as we know the sizes desired we will give your order prompt attention, and you will get the goods within a day or two. Once more thanking you, we are Yours truly, April 3, 1919. Gentlemen : My neck measure is 16 inches, and sleeve 33. Kindly send the goods as soon as possible. Yours truly, Henry Parley. ORDERING GOODS, HANDLING INQUIRIES 99 A Complaint'*' April 5, 1919. Gentlemen : I expected to receive to-day at the latest the goods ordered of 70a March 30, but they have not reached me. Let me know by return mail when I shall get them. Yours truly, Henry Parley. Answer to the Complaint April 6, 1919. Dear Sir: The goods ordered by you March 30, you will remem- ber, we were unable to forward until we had received the sizes given in yours of April 3. It takes about one day for us to select the goods and fill out invoices. These were dispatched yesterday, and notification mailed you. No doubt you have received the goods before this. We hope you will be pleased with what we have sent you, and that we may be favored with additional orders from you in the future. Yours truly, Goods Received; Customer Dissatisfied April 6, 1919. Qentlemen : The goods I received from you came this evening. The shirts and collars are all right, but I do not like the cravat at all. I wanted something quiet and sober, and you have sent me a flaring, high-colored thing. I send it back by post, and will ask you to send me another, such as I want. Yours truly, * r Henry Farley. : * This complaint 1b absurd, but reonlres just as polite an answer M if it were well founded. 100 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS A Pleasant Letter of Adjustment April 7, 1919. Dear Sir: We are very sorry to see by your favor of the 6th that the cravat we chose did not please you. We are glad you acted promptly and returned it, and no doubt we shall receive it to-day or to-morrow. As soon as it comes to hand we will choose another that we hope will please you better, and send it at the earliest possible moment. We are always anxious to please our customers, and you will find us ready at all times to make every pos- sible effort to meet your wishes. We trust we shall be more fortunate this time in our selection of a cravat. Very truly yours, The Customer Impatient April 10, 1919. Gentlemen : A day or two ago I received your letter dated April 7, in which you said you would send me another cravat at once for the one I returned to you. I have not yet received it, and wish you would trace it. Yours truly, Henry Farlqr. The Company Always Polite April 11, 1919. Dear Sir: We regret to know by your letter of the 10th that the second cravat sent you had not come to hand. It was posted on April 8, but the post-office is often a little 4oW with parcels of merchandise, and it is our experi- ence that goods sometimes lie a day or two before they go out. OEDEEING GOODS, HANDLING INQUIEIES 101 If you do not receive the cravat by the 14th, let us hear from you again, and we will do what we can to trace it. Hoping, however, that there will be no more delay, and that the article when received will prove satisfac- tory, we are Very truly yours, A Follow-up Letter for a Later Order July 25, 1919. Dear Sir: Some time ago we received a small order from you, which we hope we filled to your satisfaction. We are mailing to you to-day our new autumn cata- log, and ask you to look it over carefully, for we believe we have as fine a line of goods as you will get anywhere, and at most reasonable prices. You will find us exceptionally prompt, and always courteous. Anything you do not like may be returned at our expense, and we wiYL send you something else in its place, or refund your money. So you see that you take no risk whatever in shopping by mail. May we not hear from you again soon t Faithfully yours, Assignment X. Letter Ordering Goods The writing of clear, definite, and complete orders is an ioLportant thing in every business. In a manufac- turing business, raw material must be ordered, and in a mercantile business, orders must be placed to replenish the stock. In this assignment we shall confine our- selves to orders for goods described in the printed matter which we use as our text on that business. Let us write a letter containing an order for twelve items, being sure that every detail necessary to filling the order has been stated. These letters should be ex- 102 HUMAN NATUEE IN BUSINESS changed between members of the class and carefolly checked over to find omissions or unnecessary words. If defects are found, either the person finding them may write a letter asking for the missing information, or the teacher may require the writing of a second or third letter ordering goods till this work can be done with business-like completeness and accuracy. Assignment XL Writing and Answering Inquiries The class may be divided into two portions. Mem- bers of each half may search the printed matter of the business that is studied to find questions which would be fair, inquiries, even if they themselves know the answers. Then section one will exchange letters with section two, and they will proceed to answer the in- quiries as in a real business house. Some original search and investigation may be necessary to get the answers to the questions. This will lead to a deeper study of the business than had been made, and outside persons familiar with the business will have to be interviewed. These may be any employees in that line of business with whom it is practicable to get in touch. Assignment XIL Making Sales-Arguments When the information required by the preceding assignment has been secured and discust so that all the points are understood those receiving the inquiries should answer them with a view to making sales. If the arguments do not seem sufiScient, the reply may be an evasive letter making objections; but if it appears to be a successful sales-presentation, a letter containing an order should be written. When orders are not given, a follow-up letter should be written in an attempt to strengthen the sales-appeal. OEDERING GOODS, HANDLING INQUIRIES 103 Assignment XIII. Caring for Delayed Shipments After orders have been placed, each member of the class should write a letter complaining of delayed ship- ment, and the other member of the class to whom it is addrest should reply with a tactful, soothing letter cal- culated to produce patience. Assignment XIV. Adjusting Complaints When finally the goods are supposed to have been re- ceived, a letter may be written by each member of the Irwo sections to some member of the opposite section making complaint as to the condition of the goods, and a pleasant letter of adjustment should be written in reply. Ill SYSTEM IN HANDLING CORRESPONDENCE How to Write One Hundred Good Letters a Day You write one hundred letters a day. They all seem to be different. In any large correspondence, the majority of the let- ters will be routine — that is, on one, two, or three general subjects. They may all have the burden, **Pay up"; they may all say, **Buy my goods''; they may be answers to inquiries on one particular line of goods; they may be answers to complaints about shipments. Carefully think over the letters of any typical day. Divide them into a few classes. Take up first the largest class. With carbon copies of a day's letters before you, choose a number which are typical of the largest class. Bead half a dozen of these aloud in succession ; you will be surprized to find how much alike they are. There is a great likeness ; there is a little difference. The first thing you want to do is to find out the best ways of handling the part that is common to all. Spend an entire evening studying that type over. Try to think of new, good ways of expressing your meaning. Drop your old hack-phrases and get new, natural ones. Spend several hours in writing one letter in different ways. Choose the best ways — ^not one, but several. Then take up another letter of the same class, and work on that very slowly. Refer to any good models you may have at hand, to any correspondence you may receive of this kind. Make one really good letter. 104 SYSTEM IN CORRESPONDENCE 105 'With, this good model in your mind you can vary in a multitude of ways in your dictation on the spur of the moment, tho without making any essential or very im- portant change ; and if the model is good, the variations can. be made correctly tho quickly. Then take up another class of letters and master that. But master one kind of letter at a time — ^take a week for it if necessary. A great deal of time spent in prep- aration of this kind will save vastly more time in the routine of your work, and you can compose in a few seconds a letter just as good as if you spent a day over it. The chances are, indeed, that when you are once fully prepared, you will write a better letter if you 'write quickly than if you write slowly. Forms and How to Use Them Successfully Demosthenes had a book containing forty or fifty pero- rations suitable for any occasion. We find those form-paragraphs used again and again in his greatest orations. He studied until he found the very best possible way of saying a certain thing, or several good ways, and then lie stuck to them. Form-Sentences Do not attempt to write form-letters in ordinary cor- respondence. Use form-sentences. Study carefully the easy and natural ways of saying some of the things you have to say often. Find two or three ways of saying the same thing. Improve those forms whenever you can. Then use them judiciously. Beware of falling into a rut. Don't use the form 106 HUMAN NATUEE IN BUSINESS I because it is a form and easy; use it because in that form you have found the best possible way of saying what you have to say. That is why Demosthenes used his form-paragraphs. When to Use a Form-Letter If you have a large number of inquiries, all just alike, it would be folly to do otherwise than follow the best possible reply that you can devise with the most careful study. Get a form and let the typewriter copy it. If you have a large number of inquiries all just alike except for the addition of some slight question, begin or end your letter by giving the special information, and in the rest of the letter follow your form. When you write a circular letter to persons you have never heard from or can not distinguish, divide those persons into classes according to profession, habits, or education and position in the world, and write an en- tirely separate form-letter for each class, adapting that letter to the class just as carefully as you would to an individual. When Not to Use Form-Letters Never use f orm-letters in writing to persons you know are different, whose letters to you differ ever so slightly, or who will feel somehow that you are putting them in a wide class. The only good form-letter is the one which each reader will think was a carefully planned letter to him alone of all the people in the world. Learn to Freshen Your Letters Letters as well as advertising need to be freshened occasionally, and freshened in a radical way. It is not enough that the same customer does not get a particular form-letter twice. If letters are always worded in the SYSTEM IN CORRESPONDENCE 107 same general style, written on a letter-head that has long been familiar, and carry the same general arguments, they are not going to have their maximum of success. It is impossible for one man to invent many different styles, and when you want a new style it is advisable to get a new man to do it. While one letter-head used year in and year out, so that it is an established trade-mark, is a good thing for all routine business, soliciting letters should be sent out on a constantly changing style of paper and printing. Vary the color and quality of the paper, the arrange- ment and design of the type, and provide a new but characteristic design or cut. The changes need not be great ; but the impression of the whole should be fresh. No mistake could be greater than to abandon a well- composed literary form. Phrases worked out with great difficulty and tested by success should not be discarded without careful consideration. Change is desirable, but it should not be too radical. Indeed, if one has worked out a dozen good ways of putting a thing, those dozen ways may be combined in thousands of styles, and the fresh combination is a fresh letter. And after one good form has been used till it grows stale and is laid aside, one may often return to it after a time with great success. Every good letter and advertis- ing form should be kept in a file for constant and ready reference, and the good things that have been done should be often reviewed that nothing of value be lost till it is completely exhausted, if that time ever comes. At the same time, a man with brains must be constantly behind every set of forms or they will certainly lose their potency. When a series of form-letters have been sent out to a list of persons who ought to give good business but have failed to do so, it is well to sit down and dictate to each 108 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS person on that list an original letter even if it is not as good as the regulation form. A remark or two may be written by hand at the bottom or the side, and the signature should always be in the handwriting of the dictator, even if a firm name is signed. Variation in the general appearance of letters may be secured by using different typewriters and sizes of type, and different colors of typewriter ribbons. But the power behind all these efforts at variation is the restless, resistless, energetic, and determined man. A prize-fighter may receive a blow over the heart and not be affected by it, or a blow over the eye, or in the pit of the stomach ; but let him get all those different blows in succession, from a man who takes him wherever he seems to be weak, and after awhile he will succumb. The same is true of the customer. He may not yield to solicitation on this argument, or on that, or on some other ; but he may yield on all combined, put forth by a man who is never weary. It takes energy and hard work to write continually fresh letters. Nothing is harder than originality main- tained at high pressure. But it is for work of that kind that a man is paid; and he is usuaUy paid according to the amount of work he does. System in Freshening Publicity Even if an enormous amount of advertising and letter- writing is being done, each new advertisement and each new soliciting circular-letter is an experiment. The wise man will have a series of experiments in hand all the time. He will get up a new letter or a new advertise- ment every week and will put it out where he can test it. He will watch it with the greatest care, continually checking up results. The failures he will drop. The successes he will have in readiness for a new campaign. SYSTEM IN CORRESPONDENCE 109 He will never go into a large campaign with that which has not been thoroughly tested, any more than a rail- road company would build a new bridge with steel that had not been tested because they had built one bridge and found it all right. If you are promoting business in any way, see that your testing department is always busy. This form-paragraph system is peculiarly applicable to complaint-letters. Complaint-Letters One of the most important kinds of letters in all branches of business is the letter answering complaints made by customers, and this subject may well be en- larged upon and illustrated at some length here. All such letters should be extremely polite, friendly, and soothing. A correspondent in the claim-department of a rail- road company once said to his manager, '^That man makes me so angry I don't know what to do with my- self.'' "You are paid,'' said the manager, "to sit and take such irritating letters as his, and act as if you really enjoyed them." The man who was so irritating said afterward he sent his large business over that line because they were always so good-natured he really had no excuse to take it away. A Poor Answer to a Letter of Complaint A customer writes: "More than a month ago I sent you $2 for a set of Smart's books on English. After two weeks I had heard nothing, and wrote to you. In reply to that letter I had one from you saying you would trace the books, and if they were lost you would 110 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS send me another set. I have heard nothing since. Now you've got my money, and I have nothing. Unless you either send the books or return my money immediately I shall refer the matter to my lawyer. (Letter-head) Coventry, Jan. 2, 1919. ^ Mr. John Boche, Norwich, Conn. Dear Sir : Four letter of the 29th ult. surprizes us somewhat. Tou must know that sometimes goods go astray, even when the greatest possible care is taken. Besides, our responsibility ends the moment we deliver the goods to the post-office and get our receipt. If you have a friend in the city and he will call, he can see our receipt from the post-office at any time. As a matter of ac- commodation to our customers, however, we always do what we can to locate goods that go astray, and in case of loss assist in making claim. If you doubt our re- sponsibility or standing, you may write to the Com- mercial Bank of this city, to whom we refer by per- mission. We send you another set of books, however, and would ask you kindly to notify us if the first set turns up later. Trusting we may be favored with your patronage in the future, we remain Yours truly, Barwell & Barton. However cantankerous a customer may be, whatever mean things he may say, whatever provoking insinu- ations he may make, no wise business man will allow even the tone of his letter to be affected in the least degree. In writing to that customer he will employ the same terms of warm cordiality, and show the same SYSTEM IN COREESPONDBNCB HI sympafhetic interest as in the case of a mild complaint from his most intimate personal friend. Indeed, it is when a customer is irritated that you need to use your utmost powers of soot&ing sympathy. Nothing is more effective than to say that the writer will give the matter his immediate personal attention, and act precisely as he would if a friend had suffered. The Same Letter Rewritten Jan. 2, 1919. Mr. John Eoche, Norwich, Conn. Dear Sir: We are exceedingly sorry and greatly surprized to see by your letter of the 29th ult. that you have not yet received the set of Mr. Smart's books which you ordered so long ago. You certainly have been most patient to wait so long, and we quite understand your feeling in the matter — ^indeed, we should feel precisely as you do were we in your position. We trust, however, that you wiU not hold us respon- sible in this particular case. The receipt we hold shows that the books were promptly dispatched by parcel-post on receipt of your order. We try to forward the same day the order is received. It sometimes happens that the post-office is remiss, and many shippers hold that their responsibility ceases the moment the goods are turned over to the post-office. We, however, always con- sider the interests of the customer as our own until he has actually received the goods in good condition, and found them to be entirely satisfactory. We are sending you to-day another set of books. If the set first dispatched should turn up, we beg that you Vnll notify ns and we will forward postage for its return. 112 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Thanking you for your patience and courtes^y in this matter, we are Very truly yours, Barwell & Barton. Assignment XIV. Form-Letters Thinking of the business which we have been analyz- ing, while we study the Form-Chart for Complaints on page 113, let us first consider one by one whether these paragraphs apply to that business. Such as do not may be checked off. Then for each paragraph let us write from the customer such a letter of complaint as that paragraph might be an answer to, mentioning some specific goods and making the letter complete in every respect. Finally, let us use the paragraph in a complete letter properly answering the complaint. Only one letter under each of the five headings may be writ- ten, if that seems desirable. SYSTEM IN OOKKESPONDBNCB 113 fipljiiipii IMii^Piiiiiiilli {Miiiitiiil 1111 i l-filiilli; Practise Assignment ILLUSTRATIVE STUDY OF THE GROCERY BUSINESS (The grocery business is here studied in a way to illustrate how any business may be taken up, and two or three weeks might well be spent on this model by way of practise even if an entirely different business is to be studied. First, we most study one item of goods at a time, the most typical of the business, until we see what questions customers will ask about it, and how those questions should be answered. Then we will take another item, and so on. Each query will first be answered orally, and then in a letter as if it came by mail. Out of the general letter-writing will come circular letters, which in turn will be expanded into booklets or condensed into advertisements.) Learning to do Business It is impossible to teach business in general — ^we must know one business, no matter what, if we are to learn how to apply the general principles of business management. Success depends on exact knowledge of goods, exact knowledge of customers, and a simple, tactful, energetic, common-sense handling of these business facts. Generalities in business breed vagueness, and vagueness in business is the chief cause of failure. The only way to escape from the degenerating influence of super- ficial vagueness is to study some one business at first hand — ^leam business by doing real business if possible, or at any rate study- ing a real business. The Grocery Business Open to all As we all have to eat, every mother of a family must be a buyer of foods, and any school-child can go out and ask his mother the fine points on groceries. No doubt the mother, if set system- atically to study the subject, can learn a good deal, too. Then, at every comer there is a grocery store at which students may call and make first-hand observations, and get their questions answered. Any scientific suggestions on advertising which they 114 SYSTEM IN CORRESPONDENCE 115 maj offer ought to be appreciated by the grocer who wants to get the busiiiess from his competitors, as any grocer easily can do if he knows how to advertise scientifically, as well as how to buy good groceries at right prices. Success also depends on studying competition, and the mail- order ''Grocery Lists'^ of Sears, Boebuck & Co. and Mont- gomery Ward & Co., with which all grocers have to compete, are aTailable for the asking, and these give a complete text on the grocery business, including all the salesmanship that produces a large volume of orders, tho, since it represents the competition, students can not copy a word of it, but nevertheless can see what they must equal and offset by better arguments. Method of Study 'An pupils should provide themselves with mail-order groeery lists, which may be had for the asking on a post-card. All inquiries of customers should first be answered orally t^ way of practise on oral salesmanship and preparation for written salesmanship. Parallel models and Exercises for the written salesmanship will be found in the preceding pages of this book. Supplementary Study of Clothing and Furniture Business Next to the grocery business, the most open to universal obeer- Tation are the clothing and furniture businesses, in which the same general principles of merchandising must be applied in a slightly different way. Ssrstematic Study of Human Nature Beal salesmanship depends on handling different kinds of eustomers on a basis of thorough understanding of practical business psychology. The greater part of this work must therefore be devoted to exercises on different methods of appeal to different kinds of people. The lady, the busy business man, the farmer, the reason- able and easy-going customer, the irritable customer — all need to be handled differently, and the pupil needs prolonged practise on adjusting his manner to human nature conditions. Such practise is perhaps the most effective possible preparation for real sneeess in life in every department, whether business, professional, or public. 116 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Training for the Private Secretary on How to Manage a Business Eyery stenographer, every bookkeeper, every elerk is an assist- ant to the general manager, and advancement depends directly on increased knowledge of how to relieve the manager of responsibilities, how to do more and more things that would otherwise have to be done by the manager himself or some one higher up. When the stenographer begins to understand how to manage a business, how to be a little substitute manager, she is made a private secretary, she gets an advance in salary; when the bookkeeper or clerk learns more about managing a business, he is made an assistant manager or a department manager. Salesmanship, advertising, systematizing — ^are all merely phases of the broad general subject of How to Deal With Human Nature so as to Get Eesults, How to Manage a Business Eficiently and Economically, How to Succeed. A Foundation Course for All Business Workers This systematic study of business in all its phases and branches —of the VITAL ELEMENTS AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL BUSINESS SUCCESS— should be the foundation work of all girls and all boys, all mein and all women. It is the real KEY TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS. Study of the grocery business, the clothing business, the furniture business, is nothing in itself — but knowing something about how to conduct these is the best possible preparation for being a successful doctor or lawyer, for example, a good railway derk, an efficient government consul, or even a good wife. We offer here the broadest x>ossible training for practical success as an American in any walk of life. EXERCISE 1. All pupils should be provided with a grocery list, or printed catalog of groceries, such as may be had from any of the mail- order houses on post-card request. Subject, SUGAR. What are ''granulated," "loaf," "pow- dered," "brown," "cane," "beet," and "H. & E." (Have- meyer & Elder) sugars f What kind of sugar is sold at retail at about wholesale costf Get from the local grocer his price-list of sugars. What kind of sugar is needed for making jelly f For icing SYSTEM IN CORRESPONDENCE 117 cakef For coffee or teaf For general table usef For eooking, as making brown bread or fruit-pudding f After a careful reading of Chapter I, ''The Oonversational Style in Letter-Writing,'' open "How to Deal with Human Nature in Business" to page 82, ''An Illustratiye Chain of Letters, '^ and study out for yourself a plan for dealing with an inquiry from a customer in regard to sugar, considering especially how you would make a difference between an oral reply and a written letter, EXEBCISF 2 The Customer's Inquiry Addressed to H. E. Harriman, Wideawake Grocery, comer Blank and Blank Streets, your Town and State (fill in actual streets and towns when you write). What is your lowest price on sugar f Will it make jelly f Is it clear f Have you a powdered sugar free from chalk f Oral Sales-Talk Give the salesman full information as you have learned it above and explain that sugar gets dirty because dipt- out of a barrel, as it is sold in small quantities, while Mr. Harriman, immediately after opening a barrel, puts all the sugar into dust- proof paper bags in pound, five-pound, ten-pound, and dollar-size bags, so he can absolutely guarantee its cleanliness. The best bargain he can offer is .... lbs. of best granulated cane-sugar for a dollar with an order for two dollars' worth of other groceries. Freedom from adulteration guaranteed. Explain this in a pleasant eales-talk, supposing the teacher is the customer who has just entered the store and made the inquiry, and try to effect a sale of a dollar's worth of sugar with a two- doUar order for other groceries. Make the talk as short as possible, yet get in the strongest possible arguments in an ea^y, conversational tone. EXEBCISE 3 Letter Answering Inquiry Write the price-list of sugars on a little slip of paper to be enclosed with your letter, and then write a letter in reply to a customer's inquiry as indicated above, making in writing the 118 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS same sales-effort to get an order for one dollar's worth of sngar with two dollars' worth of other groceries, without in anj way <Shecldng a possible purchase of smaller amounts at the list prices. EXEBCISE 4 The Order The customer would like to order a dollar's worth of sugar at the special price quoted, but does not know what to order in addition. Oral Sales-Talk Find out what are the commonest groceries required in all households, and in a pleasant sales-talk suggest to the customer how he may make up the general order amounting to two dollars required to secure the special low price on a dollar's worth of sngar. Get the exact current prices on whatever you suggest, and be sure you suggest only common things every one would be likely to need and about which no special sales-talk might be requiredi EXERCISE 5 Letter Acknowledging the Order Studying the form on page 84 of ''How to Deal with Human Nature in Business," write an acknowledgment of the order for a dollar's worth of sugar as indicated above, and suggest a list of common articles, with exact prices, out of which the order for two dollars' worth of other groceries may be made up. We will suppose deliveries are free and customers have charge- accounts when they write, or pay cash when th^ come to the store. EXEBCISE 6 A Second Inquiry A customer wants the finest kind of loaf sugar, in small tablets, a powdered sugar for icing that can be guaranteed, and the best sugar for making fruit-puddings and f ruit-csake. Can you guar- antee purity f Oral Sales-Talk In this case price is not a consideration, but prices should be mentioned incidentally to prevent further inquiries. Explain that the best loaf sugar is ''Domino^" put up in sanitary paper boxes SYSTEM IN COBBBSPONDBNCE 119 at the refinery, but which costs a cent a pound more than ordinary loaf sugar. As it is put up in another state and shipped as inter- state commerce it is subject to the United States Pure Food Law. Show on the package the guaranty of purity under this law. Show the original package of powdered sugar, with the same guaranty. Try to convince the customer that he is taking abso- lutely no chance whatever of getting adulterated goods, but do not make him suspicious by overdoing it. Use a 'firm, clear state- ment; and a certain amount of reserve in manner in your sales- talk. EXERCISE 7 Letter Answering the Second Inquiry After studying the letters on pages 84, 85, and 86, write a pleasant and complete reply to the preceding inquiry, covering aU the points made in the oral sales-talk. EXERCISE 8 Tea and Co£Fee The United States is a great coffee-drinking nation, as England is a great tea-drinking nation, Germany a great beer-drinking nation, and France a great wine-drinking nation. In the United States tea and coffee are usually sold together, but the sales emphasis is on coffee. Bead the article on coffee in any good encyclopedia, and note that most of our coffee comes from Brazil, and little or none from the East Indies or Arabia. "Mocha and Java" is there- fore merely a brand name or general descriptive name for a coffee supposed to resemble in flavor what real "Mocha and Java" formerly was. For the most part new brand names now take its place. "Lipton's Coffee" may be had in cans like **Lipton's Tea." The points on coffee are the plumpness of the berry, the freshness of the roasting, and the care with which the coffee is roasted to just the right point, and, back of aU, the age of the coffee (the best coffee having been kept a long time). Note, also, that even a very cheap coffee will yield a rich coffee flavor if properly made — ^that is, heated just to or just ^ow the boiling point and kept there for half an hour or so. 120 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS It spoils coffee to boil it hard. Coffee is made clear by mixing part of an egg with the ground coffee before the water, which may be either cold or boiling, is poured on. When coffee is left stand- ing on the grounds and then warmed up, it is spoiled. Coffee that is a little over-roasted is disagreeable. Tho coffee is sold in the berry or ground, it is always better to grind the coffee fresh each time just before making. EXEBCISE 9 The Inquiry I have had a great deal of trouble in getting good coffee. What can you recommend as the very bestf Oral Sales-Talk on the Best Coffee Find out what canned coffee is most widely used in your locality (perhaps Lipton's), and first call attention to that. Then try to sell your own bulk coffee which you get freshly roasted every other day, telling where it comes from, describing the plumpness of the berries, and stating its age. The price of the two will be the same — ^perhaps 35 cents. EXEECISE 10 Letter in Reply to Inquiry Give the same sales-talk in a letter, as briefly yet as enthu- siastically and convincingly as you can. EXERCISE 11 Letter Ordering Goods Write a letter placing an order for an assortment of groceries, including two kinds of sugar, some special tea, and some special brand or grade of coffee. Indicate how shipment should be made, how the goods are to be paid for, and precisely where they are to be sent. Study carefully "How to Deal with Human Nature in Business," Chapter II; pages 87, 88, 89, to the middle of page 90. SYSTEM IN CORRESPONDENCE 121 EXEBOISE 12 Repljring to an Imperfect Order If a enstomer calls at the store you ean ask questions and gradually find out what is wanted. Let the teacher play the part of a customer ignorant of what he or she wants, and asking vaguely for ''coffee." Let the pupil ask the necessary questions, or make the necessary suggestions to lead the enstomer to a proper sale. EXEBCISE 13 Reply in a letter to a vague order for five pounds of coffee, a pound of tea, ten pounds of sugar, and enough other groceries to make up five dollar's worth, a five-dollar bill being enclosed. Study carefully ''How to Deal with Human Nature in Business," pages 90-94, to top of page 95. EXEBCISE 14 An Inquiry for a Good Grade of Coffee at 20c. A customer states that he has seen an advertisement of coffee at 20c.y and wants to know if it is good coffee. Oral Sales-Talk Explain that for advertising purposes the firm has specially selected this coffee, knows it is roasted just right, and guarantees that if it is cooked according to directions it will prove entirely satisfactory. Explain that some people want to pay the highest price for coffee, and that which looks a little plumper, is a little more uniform, or is a little more carefully handled is picked out and sold at the higher price, but if care is used (care that costs nothing) an entirely satisfactory coffee can be had for SOc., especially if it is made strictly according to directions. EXEBOISE 15 Letter to Sell an Advertised 20c. Coffee SupxKNdng the inquiry in Exercise 14 came by mail, make the ezplanation suggested in the Oral Sales-Talk and also suggest that to reduce transportation charges it will be advisable to send an order for any other groceries that may be needed, such as (mention common articles always needed). 122 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS EXEBOISE 16 A Follow-Up Letter If at tlie end of ten days no order has been receiyed in reply to the preceding, write a follow-np letter, briefly but sharply emphasizing the sales-points already stated. EXEECISE 17 Second Letter of Inquiry In reply to the follow-up letter referred to in the preceding exercise the customer writes to say that he would be willing to try five pounds if Mr. Harriman will give a positive guaranty that it will be satisfactory, and will refund transportation charges both ways in case it is not; and to make up a good shipment he wHl send an order for flour, salt, canned tomatoes, canned com, canned beans, and dried apricots, if prices are quoted. Answer this letter, giving the desired guaranty with a second explanation of why the coffee ought to be good, but layuig special emphasis on the condition of guaranty that the method of making shall be as directed. Also quote prices on the articles mentioned — actual prices furnished by some grocer or taken from some current price- list. See page 97. EXEBCISE 18 The Order Write a letter containing the order, specifying how the goods are to be shipped, where, and when, and state how payment will be made. This letter will be from the customer to the house in reply to the offer made in the preceding exercise, and the guaranty on the coffee should be repeated in the order. EXEBCISE 19 Complaint The customer calls up on the telephone to say that the goods have not been received, and they must come to hand at once or he will withdraw and cancel the order. SYSTEM IN COBEESPONDENCE 123 Oral Sales-Talk Explain in a pleasant tone of voice that it takes time to pack np such an order, time to get it on the wagon, which is not always jnst starting out, and time to deliver it; but undoubtedly it is on the way and will be received in a very short time. EXEBGISE 20 Answering Complaint by Letter Supposing the same complaint comes by letter, the goods having been sent by express. Explain that the express company calls with its wagon only once a day, the goods went out on the first express call after the order was received, and very likely th^ will already have come to hand when this letter gets to the customer. EXEBGISE 21 Customer Dissatisfied A few days later the customer explains that the coffee is no good and wants his money refunded with transportation charges both ways, saying he will send back all the groceries ordered. Oral Sales-Talk Supposing the customer calls at the store and makes the com- plaint, in a very irritated and aggressive tone, begin by asking how the coffee was made, if it was boiled, and if boiled about how long it was boiled. The customer may reply that it was im- possible to make coffee on a gas-stove without boiling it hard, and he wouldn't have any coffee that had to be made in an impossible way. In reply to this (which the teacher should put forth as representative of the customer), suggest that on nearly all gas-fitoves there is a very small burner with only three tongues of flame, and as soon as the coffee boils up it can be set over this small burner turned quite low and left there for half an hour without boiling. Or an asbestos lid may be placed over an ordinary burner and the gas turned rather low. No doubt on the trial the coffee was over-boiled, a very hard thing to avoid, but a very important thing. Gall attention to the fact that fire- less cookers will cook anything simply by the heat in the dish which has once come to a boil; and that shows that we do not 124 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS need as mach heat to cook food or make coffee as we have been in the habit of supposing. Ask the customer if he will not try this suggestion. EXEBCISE 22 Answering a Letter of Complaint If this complaint comes bj letter it will not be possible to ask questions; but supposing you can guess what the trouble is, deftly suggest in your letter what may be done, why it would be a good thing to make another test, and yet reassert that the company will live fully up to its guaranty if necessary. EXEBCISE 23 Study carefully Chapter III on the use of form-sentences and paragraphs. Rewrite the letters called for in Exercise 3, Exercise 5, and Exercise 7, making the fullest possible use of the following form- sentences to strengthen your work: '^ Beet-sugar will not make jelly. There are other objections to it. That is why we do not handle it at alL We supply only the very best granulated cane-sugar, which we buy direct from the refinery." ''Cleanliness is one of the most important points in all grocery buying. You are not intentionally buying a supply of filth and germs dangerous to health. Yet that is just what you get from the grocer who shovels out your sugar from a barrel as you order it, often with dirty hands. Anyway, think of the dust and germs from the air that can not help getting into an open barrel I ''We take our sugar, as soon as we receive the barrels, directly into a clean storeroom. The clerk in charge thoroughly washes his hands with soap and water. Then he transfers all the sugar immediately into pound, five-pound, ten-pound, and twenty-five- pound dust-proof, moisture-proof, germ-proof paper bags, which are all ready to hand out to the customer whenever he places his order. Do you know any other grocer who takes as much pains as the doctor does when he goes into the operating-roomf How much better is it to have a grocer who keeps the germs away than to depend on a doctor who is skilful in caring for you after you get sickl " "We sell sugar at ABSOLUTELY COST PRICE FBOM THE SYSTEM IN COBRBSPONDBNCE 125 REFINERY as a means of advertising our general grocery business. When sugar is selling ordinarily for 6 cents a pound, we sell 20 pounds for a dollar in connection with an order for other groceries amounting to $2 or over. You have to have salty flour, potatoes, canned com, canned tomatoes, coffee, tea. Our prices are just as low as you can find anywhere. Just con- venience us both by including these necessities in your order for sugar and get that greatest of all food essentials in SANITARY ORIGINAL PACEAGES for less than most grocers pay their jobbers. Won't you do it!" EXERCISE 24 Rewrite the letters called for in Exercises 10, 15, and 17, using the following paragraphs or sentences whenever you can strengthen your work: "We handle Lipton's Coffee in airtight tin cans at 35 cents a pound, and we feel sure you will find it very satisfactory. Most of our customers prefer our own BEST COFFEE at the same price. It has the advantage of being freshly roasted every other day. That keeps the flavor and especially the aroma at its best. This coffee is picked out by our Mr. Harriman himself. We know that it is at least three years old. Age is required to ripen coffee. Not a bag is accepted which is not uniform and exclusively large, plump berries, showing plainly those little white flower- membrances that always go with a well-developed coffee. No doubt you have noticed them in some good coffee. Most grocers put out as 'best coffee' a mixture that admits more or less inferior berries. Perhaps they allow themselves to be imposed on; but Mr. Harriman refuses to let his customers suffer from his easy-going temper. When he buys and offers for sale the 'best' he insists on having ABSOLUTELY THE BEST." ''Some people insist on having the best, and are quite willing to pay whatever the best costs, even if a slight superiority doubles the price. Our 20-cent coffee is as good as the average coffee sold in this country, regardless of the price charged. Much coffee called 'best' is no better in the cup. The looks make very little difference to most people, and occasional small or irregular berries do little harm if the coffee is CAREFULLY AND FRESHLY ROASTED EVERY OTHER DAY, and the MAKING IN THE POT IS RIGHT." "If you will make your coffee EXACTLY AS WE TELL 126 HUMAN NATXJRE IN BUSINESS YOU TO, we wiU POSITIVELY GUABANTEE 70U wiU get a better eoffee-flayor in your morning cup from our 20-cent coffee than jon ever have got in the past from a 35-cent coffee. It takes time to make good coffee. The Arabs, those past-masters in coffee- making, will not touch coffee that has not stood oyer a low fire for three-quarters of an hour. But it is FATAL TO BOIL COFFEE hard. '* "Here is our recipe for niaking GOOD coffee: Grind medium, not too fine; use a tablespoonful for each cup; mix enough for six cups with a third of a raw egg, right in the bottom of the pot, till you hare a paste (this prevents all sign of muddiness) ; add cold water, measuring carefully with a cup and adding a little less than a cup for the pot; bring to a boil, and then let the coffee stand for at least half an hour as nearly at the boiling- point as possible without boiling. If you use gas, turn the gas Tery low and stand the pot on an asbestos lid. It takes half an hour to get the flavor from under the inner layer of the coffee- bean.'' IV HOW TO DEAL WITH HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER ONE When to Write a Short Letter and When a Long One DON'T "WRITE EXACTLY THE SAME KIND OF LETTER TO ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE. Consider: Do you always write a short letter when- ever you can! Do you have a weakness for long letters? Stop. The first step toward ** system in correspon- dence" is the ability to write a long letter when a long letter is required, and a short one when a short letter is best. Write a Long Letter to: A person of leisure. A woman. A customer who has asked you a question. A customer who is angry and needs quieting down, and will be made more angry if you seem to slight him. A man who is interested, but must be convinced be- fore he will buy your goods. Write a Short Letter to: A busy business man. An indifferent man on whom you want to make a sharp impression. A person who has writ- ten you about a trivial matter for which he cares little. A man who wants only a record or a piece of infor- mation. A person who needs only the slightest reminder of something he has forgotten or overlooked. 127 128 HUMAN NATUBE IN BUSINESS Never write a longer letter than you have good reason to believe will be read all through. A busy business man will never wade through a long explanation. If the person to whom you write has plenty of time, and wants to hear what you have to say, write as long a letter as your time and brain will permit. The a person may write short letters because he finds it hard to write long ones, he likes to get and read long ones that clearly state all the matters he is desirous of know- ing. A woman will usually read through the longest letter, and likes a full explanation. When a customer writes for special information, it is discourteous to cut him off with a short letter, and the discourtesy is usually felt keenly. When a customer has become very angry about some real or fancied wrong, and has given a great deal of time to thinking over his troubles, the only hope of keeping his business lies in writing him a long, sym- pathetic, heart-to-heart, frank talk, conceding all you can, and doing your utmost to get him into a reason- able frame of mind. It will pay for the special effort. TWO How to Write a Letter That Will Get Attention It makes a great deal of difference whether you are writing to a man who knows little or nothing of you, soliciting him to give you his time and attention ; or to one who has written to you for information. It is one thing to circularize a list of names, and quite another to get orders from inquiries sent in response to adver- tising. When you circularize a list of names, the first letter HUMAN NATUBE BY LETTER 129 sent serves the purpose of the newspaper or magaziiie advertisement. It must above all get attention, and get it in a very effective way, for circularizing is at least twenty times as costly as general advertising, and the circular is just about as likely to be put in the waste- paper basket as the advertising pages to be turned over without being looked at. A first soliciting letter must be constructed on pre- cisely the same principles as an advertisement: It must attract attention ; it must fix the attention immediately on something that will correspond to a want (alive or dormant) in the reader; it must state clearly and con- cisely just what you have to offer; it must give some proof; it must indicate the price and the simple and easy way to get the thing offered. The great danger is that you will say too much. A first letter should be no longer than a fair advertisement. Attention should be attracted by color of paper, odd- ity of envelop, a beautiful picture, especial neatness, high-priced stationery, or the like. These things take the place of display in advertising. The attention should be fixt by some strong, direct, personal appeal to some known want. For example: **Can you spell! I have the only home-study spelling- book ever published, and it gives results — which I dare say is true of nothing else you ever tried in this line." There is nothing like frankness in explaining your method, and just how your medicine or your machine or your plan of instruction works. This should be done briefly, but very pointedly. While testimonials are generally enclosed on a sep- arate sheet, the strongest indorsement you have, if it exactly fits your customer, should be given in the letter ; or you may make some general indorsing statement, calling attention to testimonials. 130 HUMAN NATUEE IN BUSINESS Finally, state clearly just what you want your cus- tomer to do, and arrange everything conveniently and to his hand, even to providing a blank and saying, ''Sign here/' There is nothing like making things easy. Circular Letter Soliciting Advertising (Letter-head Collier's Weekly) December 31, 1903. Dear Sir: Under separate cover I send you a Bemingtooa art calendar, the first of a series for 1904. Bemington's work will appear exclusively in Collier's hereafter. Please accept the calendar with my best wishes for the new year. It is gratift^ing, in looking back over 1903, to note the progress Collier's has made. In the first place, Sherlock Holmes has developed a great follow- ing. Winston Churchill, the author of **The Crisis" and '*Eichard Carvel," has been secured, serially, for Collier's — something no publisher ever accomplished before. Charles Dana Gibson, America's leading artist, draws exclusively for Collier's and one other publication. Collier's cameras and Collier's correspondents have been on the spot where world-history was making. The great men in public life have written for Collier's of events they themselves are making. An editorial page unsurpassed in its scope and whole- someness has given Collier's readers a comprehensive view of the best thought on all subjects the active man of affairs desires. Our advertising summaries show a total approxi- mating 400,000 lines for the year. This is a 20 per cent, increase over last year's business. It is another step iD the healthy growth begun five years ago. HUMAN NATUBE BY LETTER 131 May 1904 be a year filled with success for your busi- ness! With best wishes, I am Very truly yours, Condi Nast. Notes Perhaps the most difficult subject on which to write a circular letter that will get attention is advertisement soliciting. I get three or four such letters every day. I glance at them and throw them in the waste-paper basket. One never thinks of answering a circular so- liciting letter. I have only a certain amount of money to spend on advertising, and I have made up my mind pretty well where I wish to place it. Now and then a canvasser comes into my office and persuades me into something, but the above is the only letter soliciting ad- vertising to which I ever gave my interested attention. It was an imitation of typewriting, on good linen paper, with a neat, simple head printed in green ink. The letter was in green type. The effect was odd, but pleasing. The calendar came at the same time, and was worth having. That gift got my attention. So I read the letter. I was interested in what had been done. The figures seemed to carry some proof with them. "When I finished I should have been willing to do something for that man. But he hadn't asked me to do anything, and his letter did not really convince me that I should place my advertising in his medium. 1 should have listened with interest to any argument he might have presented. This letter was very effective in getting attention, and in setting forth how the periodical was reaching its readers; and it offered some proof of advertising value 132 HUMAN NATXJRE IN BUSINESS in the number of lines printed during the year just passed ; but I think it should have done more then and there. Had I been writing that letter I should have enclosed a postal card asking what advertising was con- templated for the year to come, and what classes of people it was especially desired to reach, also what space would most generally be used. With that information, an advertising manager might bring special proof of re- sults secured by others in that line, and also proof that the periodical went to the class of people the advertiser wished to reach. It would have been well, indeed, to give in the letter itself at least a line in regard to the class of people who read Collier's. Most good advertising matter wins on some one or two strong points ; but if it could be strong on all points it would win more. THEEE How to Write a Letter that Will Develop Interest Whatever a first letter does, it must get the attention of the receiver — ^it must make a favorable impression. As the letter must be brief, the interest may not be very deep. The susceptible customer will respond at once; the less susceptible customer will need to have his in- terest developed. The second letter should be just like the first, only longer, stronger, more detailed. Try to develop the want and make it alive by showing the customer just how much better oflf he would be if he had the thing. Then tell once more, and more in detail just how your appliance or scheme works, just what it is. If you have three good indorsements in the first letter, give six or seven in the second. Once more enclose blanks and point out every step necessary to be taken, in- cluding **Sign here.'* HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 133 Many people are Indolent, and much business is lost by making the process of getting a thing too long or hard. The ideal way would be to reduce the necessary effort to that of signing one's name to a postal card and dropping the card in a letter-box. The thing is to get a man to decide while he feels like it. Often it is a good thing to give some inducement for iimnediate decision — ^a slightly lower price, easier pay- ment, or some small premium. If these are not prac- ticable, an argument for immediate action may be in- troduced, as in the case of soliciting life insurance. It is said that almost any man you meet on the street will say he believes in insurance, and is going to take some out next month, or next year, or *' later." The thing is to make him decide now. Great care should always be taken never to enclose too much in a circular letter. Only one thing at a time, and not too much of that! Your letter the first time may be note-paper size, typewritten, double-spaced, one note page and a few lines on another. The indorsements may be printed on the lower half of the second page, where they can not be missed. Three or four good ones are enough. A booklet describing more in detail how the thing works, or the story of its development, may be enclosed for those who have leisure for, and want more reading-matter. The second letter may be single-spaced full letter-size, with twice as many testimonials. It should be the very strongest argument you can possibly make. Your motto in this letter should be "Now or never." Letters to Get Life Insurance Business One of the most successful life insurance agents I know recently sent me a couple of letters which appear to me to meet the two main objections more squarely and 134 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS successfully than any letters I ever saw before, and I have seen a large number. The first is devoted to the questions of delay — ^putting the matter off. It sets a date — ^May 30. Pass that date, and your neglect costs you $190. Here is the letter. Dear Sir: I desire to call your attention to the fact that in life insurance the rate is always figured at the nearest age, that is, you will be rated at your present age until six months after your birthday; therefore, if my record is correct, your age changes on May 30, increasing the cost of $10,000 insurance $8 for every year during the con- tinuance of the policy, which aggregates with 5 per cent, interest for the period named, $190. This increased cost can be saved by taking the insur- ance NOW, or before you are rated one year older. If you are contemplating taking any insurance, you, of course, do not care to pay more than is necessary when you can secure it at a less price by acting now. I enclose herewith statistical statement on the above policy. Yours truly. The second great objection to meet is, ** Can't afford it!" To meet this, offer the cheapest thing in life in- surance that is to be had. When a man says he can not afford it he is usually thinking of a high-priced policy. If he were confronted with an offer of life in- surance at **fire insurance rates," he would probably be startled, and the objection of cost would be over- come as far as it could be. Here is a letter accompany- ing a statement in which $10,000 insurance is offered for $115. The clever argumentative comparison to fire in- surance would catch many a business man, for most HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 135 business men would be horrified at the idea of failing to carry fire insurance on their buildings and stock. This is the letter : Dear Sir: Term Life Insurance is now written at practically the same proportionate cost as is Fire Lisurance. You would never permit a valuable building to go un- insured against loss by fire. Why should you insure the PROPERTY which is the product of your life-work, and let the LIFE that produces the property go un- insured? In event of a fire, there is likely to be a partial loss, while your death must be a total, irrepa- rable loss to your family. I take the liberty of enclosing herewith a statement for a Convertible Term Policy which I know will prove of interest to you, as it has these great advantages : 1. It gives you excellent protection at the very lowest premium. 2. It grants you the option of exchanging the policy at any time for any other contract issued by the Com- pany without medical examination. 3. It enables you to exchange this policy within the next five or seven years and secure the benefit of your present age and lower rate, giving you the choice of any other policy written by the Company upon your paying the back difference in premiums with interest. 4. It gives you insurance temporarily while you are deciding what permanent contract suits you best. 5. It secures approval of the risk now, while, if de- layed, you might not be able to pass examination. The policy has the very important feature of being paid in an annual income to your beneficiary for a cer- tain number of years, if you so desire. I should be pleased to make an appointment at any 136 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS time oonyenient to you, and discuss this matter more in detail. Yours truly, I believe that if insurance men would concentrate upon these two points, and persistently follow out this course of hammering away on the added cost of every year, figuring it out in cash, and also persistently keep low-priced insurance to the fore till there is an oppor- tunity to talk the higher-priced — ^they would win in- evitably over the men who spread themselves over the whole subject. There is another point on which I wish to give a word, however. The endowment is a favorite policy, but I never saw a statement which showed me just what I could expect to get. Most men are a little slow at fig- ures. A calculation balks them. Everything should be figured out so that it can be seen at a glance, and no calculations, even the most simple, should be required of the reader. Make a little table. FOUB How to Write a Letter That Will Compel an Answer Many business men (most business men, in fact) are afraid to say anything irritating to a possible customer for fear they will frighten that customer away. But scientific irritation is often one of the most useful things in the world. There is a large class of men that will re- main deaf to all your arguments, all your testimonials, all your persistent hammering, but will respond to ju- dicious irritation. I found that out when I was review- ing books and wrote to publishers for review copies. It was a kind of advertisement soliciting. Often my earnest requests were ignored, but very seldom my HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 137 irritating letters ; and I learned to write them so that I almost never got a refusal. The publisher was slightly annoyed ; but he did what I wanted him to do. Next to the irritating method of getting an answer is that of good-humored persistence, or frank appeal for courtesy from man to man. The irritating type: *'Dear Sir: Will you be cour- teous enough to mark the enclosed post-card and return it. When one man addresses another, even tho unsolicited, innate courtesy would prompt an answer. **To give this answer honestly will require but a small effort on your part, and I ask you as a personal favor to me to grant this courtesy." The postal card with this letter, self-addrest of course, may contain exactly the questions you would like an- swered, as for example, "Are you in the least degree interested in !" "Have you had time to read any of the matter sent you?" "If you are not now in a position to take this matter up, are you likely to be at any time in the future!" "When, approximately, would you like an- other copy of any of the circulars sent you?" "Would you like more evidence that we have exactly the thing for yout" "Do you prefer not to be troubled further in this matter?" The postal card may be arranged to be checked, with blank dotted lines, and the man's name may even be written at the bottom of it, so all he has to do is to cheek. It is important to know when to stop writing to a posdble customer, and in the majority of cases about the third letter is the time to iSnd out. Only those who in- dicate continuing interest should be followed up. It will usually be cheaper to drop the dead ones and look for a new and fresher list In many cases the money 138 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS will be much better spent in direct advertising, where new inquirers will respond with fresh enthusiasm. Letters to Compel an Answer A poor letter: In writing an irritating letter to compel an answer it is important that the greatest care be taken not to be discourteous or give any real ground for offense. The following letter was written by an amateur who overdid the matter, and succeeded in making an enemy: Dear Sir: There are two kinds of men who consider my propo- sition— ^the wide-awake kind and the slow kind. The wide-awake man may have reasons for not closing with my offer; but if he does he knows what they are and states them frankly and courteously. I have written you several times, and it would be only courteous in you to let me know whether you have received my letters, and if they have interested you. I enclose a post-card, and I appeal to you as a gentle- man to take a few seconds to write upon it your feelings on the subject I have been presenting. Truly yours, One post-card came back with the inscription, "My feeling is that you are an ass.'* The reference to wide- awake and slow kinds of men was a mistake. A better method : A simple device for compelling an answer and one which has been proved to work more often than any other is to write a personal letter stating your case briefly and making a simple, courteous, inoffensive in- quiry concerning what you want to know. Coming at the end of a series of soliciting letters, such a letter as this is not likely to bring an answer. When sufficient HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 139 time has elapsed (ten days or two weeks) enclose a copy of this letter with the following : Dear Sir: I enclose a copy of a letter which I sent you two weeks ago, I shall be greatly indebted to you if you will have the courtesy to reply at your early convenience. Very truly yours, This contains just the right amount of irritation not to oflfend, not the least part of which is the device of enclosing copy of the letter previously sent. Here is a letter that might be used in some cases: Dear Sir: I have written you a number of times in regard to a matter that is very near my heart. I should like to in- terest you in what I have to offer. I have now said, however, all I can say, and do not wish to trouble you further if it is useless to do so. As a gentleman, appealing to a gentleman, I want to ask the courtesy of a line from you on the enclosed post- card stating whether or not it is worth while to address you again. If you reply, I shall certainly appreciate your consideration. Truly yours, A letter of this kind should not be longer. Another form : Dear Sir: I have written you three times but have not had the courtesy of a reply to any of these letters. I admit that I wrote unsolicited, and that you were not under obligation to reply except as your personal interest or your sense of courtesy might prompt. I trust that this ** personal interest'* or ** sense of 140 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS courtesy" will prompt you to use the enclosed post-card to give me a brief answer to at least one of the questions. Yours truly, The card might read: Have you any interest in the subject of 1 Do you believe that I have anything of value to oflfer you? May I expect to hear from you later? When? Just what would you like if you were able to find it ? FIVE How to Do Business With a Reasonable Customer It is so easy to get along with a reasonable customer that there is danger that he will be badly treated. He is given the worst selection of goods because all the best have been picked out for the chronic kickers; little attention is paid to explaining things to him, because it is known that he will understand all the circumstances when they are explained. He is sympathetic and sees your point of view at once. Being sympathetic is, in- deed, a sort of weakness of his, and you naturally take advantage of him. The result is that some day your reasonable customer betakes himself elsewhere, and while he answers all your letters politely, you never find out just why he trans- ferred his trade to some one else. Here are a few rules for guidance in dealing with a reasonable customer so as to keep him as a permanent asset of the house, for the reasonable customer rightly treated is as good as a dividend on the stock any day, and not only a dividend for this year, but for next, and so on indefinitely. Never let the smallest matter go unexplained. An ap- HUMAN NATUBE BY LETTER 141 pearance of being arbitrary is most destructive of busi- ness. If you are slow in replying to a letter, even, ex- plain briefly what has caused the delay. If you can not get 'an order out just when promised, write in ad- vance of any complaint and teU just why, and just what may be expected. Never argue. State your case fully and clearly, and if your customer is not convinced, turn squarely about and try to arrange some plan that will be satisfactory to him. The reasonable customer wants to get matters set- tled as quickly as possible, and nothing is so sure to drive him away as dragging things out tediously. Be frank. State your position in regard to a rise in prices, for instance, or refusal to handle certain goods, or the. like, and let the customer come to appreciate your view. As a reasonable man he will do so in time if you are right. It is quite a mistake to allow your attention to be drawn away from the reasonable customer to attend to the complaining or difficult one. Business is done with the reasonable customer. He is the one to concentrate on. Then do the best you can with the others. A System to Keep Reasonable Customers Satisfied The great trouble with the easy and reasonable cus- tomer is that he never makes any complaint, and you don't know but that he is perfectly satisfied till one day you find he is no longer on your books. Then you won- der what in the world has happened to him. The majority of one's customers are likely to be of the reasonable kind, and it is on them that your income chiefiy depends. It is very important, therefore, that you have a system that will automatically attend to com- plaints which are never reduced to writing, but are just 142 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS as real even if they exist only in the minds of the cus- tomers. Every correspondent should observe these rules : 1. Answer every inquiry fully, however trifling; ex- plain fully everything that may Seem arbitrary or pecu- liar, however slight it may be. The man who neglects trifles because they are trifles, is a fool, since the biggest orders are given because the smallest ones have been so well cared for. Look on every small order as a test, an experiment, which may lead to the largest — at any rate to a large total in a year. 2. Always explain delays. If for any reason what- ever, even if the fault is not your own but your cus- tomer *s, a delay occurs, write and explain it. If it con- tinues for ten days or more, write at the end of ten days and report progress. Nothing is so irritating as seeming negligence; nothing so pleasing as unsolicited attention. 3. Whenever you can, call the attention of your rea- sonable customer to some special bargain or quality or the like. Usually these favors are reserved for the diffi- cult customer ; but it will pay just as well to give them « to the reasonable customer — ^probably it will pay better. Being attentive is largely a habit and a custom. If this habit, if this custom, is established in a business house, it will probably be found that the foundation has been laid for a great and permanent business. This habit of attention to customers applies especially to busi- ness done by mail. The mail-order customer is at a distance and there is nothing to remind you how he feels. You must go by faith. The only thing that will keep you up to the mark is a habit that aj)plies to every one and is always in force. These attentive letters are very rimple and easy to write, and no particular models or examples will help HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 143 to make them any clearer. They need not be long, un- less length is necessary to explain fully what you have to say. The essentials are simply that they be filled with the spirit of courtesy, and that you do by others as you would that others should do by you. The Golden Rule of religion is also the Golden Rule of business. Here are a few simple examples: Dear Sir: We are sorry to say that we are entirely out of the style of sideboard you have ordered, and we learn from the factory that they have none on hand ready for im- mediate shipment. A new lot will be ready in about ten days, and if we do not hear from you we shall forward the sideboard you wish as soon as it is ready. If you prefer, we might give you something a little different; or if delay would inconvenience you we will return your money. We trust, however, that it will be satis- factory to you if we ship in about ten days. Very truly yours, Dear Sir: We were positively assured by the factory that the sideboard you ordered would be shipped to-day. We have reason to believe, however, that there may be a delay of another day or two. We are doing everything we can to push the matter on. Very truly yours. Dear Sir: We are pleased to inform you that the sideboard was shipped yesterday. We have asked the factory to follow it with a tracer, to prevent unnecessary delay in transit. Ysry truly yours, 144 HUMAN NATUBE IN BUSINESS SIX How to Do Business With an Irritable Ctistomer Irritable people are usually aware of it. It is more often than otherwise a physical matter — ^ill-health or a nervous disposition. The irritability means little or nothing. It is simply something that must be borne. Now the average man is irritated by irritation. He can not stand fussing and fuming all the time; he dis- likes a scold. He therefore scolds back, or shows his irritation in the words he uses. Many an irritable customer can be made a permanent friend by simply treating him all the time in a polite, easy, friendly manner, never showing the slightest of- fense at any exhibition of irritation, but rather being obsequiously polite at all times. As I have said, the ir- ritable person usually knows he is irritable, and he is grateful to one who ignores it and treats him as tho he were the best-natured man in the world. And such gratitude often leads such persons to extremes of busi- ness devotion. Controlling one's temper in letters is largely a matter of habit. Many people only half do it. They try to do it, but allow a lot of nasty little digs to creep in. The tone of their letters is in that case more disagreeable than if they were frankly offensive. In a business house the irritable customers should be picked out and given to the correspondent who is con- stitutionally good-natured, and has learned the wonder- ful art of being professionally polite and sympathetic. Such a person should the complaint-correspondent al- ways be. No letter with, even a slightly disagreeable tone should ever be allowed to pass; but when a cus- tomer is irritated, sympathetic good nature should 1 HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 145 especially abound. A sense of htunor, too, is invaluable ; but much discretion must be used if banter is indulged in, for we must remember that the average person is too stupid to comprehend it. Good humor in letter-writing is something that can be learned and practised just as much as anything; and there is perhaps nothing that a firm can so well afford to pay for as this. The correspondent should reflect that this is an element worth money, and that he gets his salary in part for displaying it. When he has mas- tered it he has a right to ask for a raise. Nagging Letters and How to Handle Them A customer who is always complaining and nagging writes as follows: I return your invoice for $165 for a page advertise- ment in your magazine, and also a copy of the advertise- ment, in which I have marked half a dozen errors which I corrected in the proof, but to which you paid no atten- tion. You make me say, like an idiot, *' common,*' when I wrote *' uncommon," and '*then,'* when I wrote "when.'* I do not choose to pay $165 to be made a fool of, and I decline to pay on the ground that I did not order the advertisement as it appeared. Please write it off your books. Yours truly, A poor reply : Dear Sir : We have your letter of the — ^th, and have read it with a good deal of surprize. Don't you think $165 a rather large price to charge us for a couple of minor typo- graphical errors, which were perfectly obvious to even the most casual reader as errors? If we are obliged to take this bill into court to collect it, don't you imagine 146 HUMAN NATUBE IN BUSINESS that the impression that you are a fool would be inten- sified rather than lessened t We are willing to make a reasonable allowance for the annoyance caused you by the errors; but we can not admit that the value of the advertisement was seriously injured by them. If you wish to secure the cash discount on this in- voice, payment must be made before the 10th of ihe month. Very truly yours, After a letter like tiie above, your irritable customer would die rather than pay the bill. A better reply: Dear Sir: We thank you cordially for calling our attention to the two gross errors in your advertisement. We have been trying to trace the responsibility for the neglect in taking notice of your proof -corrections, and we assure you we shall make every effort in our power to avoid such a thing in the future. We know how annoying errors are, even if they do not destroy the business value of the advertisement. In this case, most fortu- nately, the ordinary reader could hardly help perceiving that something was wrong, and making due allowance for it. Suppose we give you an extra quarter page in our next issue? While we feel sure you will get just as many answers to this advertisement as if it had been all right, still we heartily appreciate the annoyance the matter has caused you, and we wish to make what recom- pense we can. Accordingly we enclose a credit for the extra quarter page next month, and trust you will find it advantageous to continue your full page. With deep regret, Yours very truly, HUMAN NATUEB BY LETTER 147 The invoice should not be enclosed in this letter, but should be returned in a separate envelop by a later mail. The sight of it before the letter has had a chance to do its work might rouse him again. The chances are that nothing further would be heard of the matter and the account would be duly paid. The dispute is thus nipped in the bud and settled before it has had a chance to grow into a sore. Some business houses would neglect the matter and let it run along till several hun- dred dollars' worth of business had been killed because a settlement had not been reached. Delay in matters relating to money is nearly always fatal. SEVEN How to Do Business With a Woman An enormous amount of business is done with women, or on account of women ; and yet the average man knows less about dealing with a woman than about any other item in the list. Much depends on the class of women one is trying to reach ; but the following suggestions apply to the average woman : Always be scrupulously, formally polite to women. The formally polite manner is the one that has most influence with them. They prefer, too, to receive letters in "smart*' envelops, on rich-looking paper, with the social air about them. Women believe in dress, and stationery is the dress of a letter. Business men, as a nile, prefer plain, simple good taste in stationery, and rather suspect anjrthing with an air of smartness. A few polite phrases should always be put into a let- ter which goes to a woman; but the facts should be stated very simply and plainly, without argument. 148 HUMAN NATUEB IN BUSINESS Reasons, explanations, arguments are not for women; or if an explanation is required, it is best to cloak it in polite phrases and make it in the nature of an apology and a promise that the same thing will not happen again. When a matter of business is opened with a woman, it should be prest to a conclusion as quickly as possible lest she change her mind, but if her answer is *'no,** it is often possible ten days later to bring it all up afresh, in a new light, and have it decided over again and possibly in your favor. The great thing is to do it in a fresh way, and lightly, so as not to be boring. Thousands of women are frightened away when they are forced to a point. Things must be laid before them and they must be left apparently utterly free to do as they like. It is often useful to praise or recommend a little the course you do not want them to pursue, lest they think you are all on one side and go to the other extreme through suspicion. It invariably takes a good deal of time to do business with a woman ; but you can not drop a matter and sup- pose that any progress will be made while you are at- tending to something else. Never be surprized if you do not get a reply from a woman. She always expects a man to write two letters to her one. The Deference Due to Woman Probably more than half the business done in this country is done for women, or at the instance of women, or in some way because women wish it, even when they do not appear in the transaction in any way. The money expended for the home, for clothes, and for food, all passes through the hands of women and their desires HUMAN NATUEE BY LETTER 149 turn the current in this direction or the other. If the advertiser and correspondent could only find out what would influence the women, and would exercise the in- fluence, the results would certainly be well worth the greatest effort. It is my observation that women are largely influenced by what everybody believes, by the sentiment in regard to an article that pervades the air. The flrst time a thing is announced, a woman is not likely to jump at it. She wants to wait and see if anybody else is going to get it. When she begins to feel that all the world is after it, she will join in the rush. The individual woman, too, is peculiarly susceptible to the repeated appeal, if it is light, fresh, and tantalizing rather than boringly persistent. A woman is also particularly susceptible to offers of something for nothing. Some offer that requires noth- ing more than the expenditure of a post-card is the best means of getting into correspondence with a woman ; and then she is to be led on step by step. Again, the appeal to women must be almost entirely through the senses or the emotions. Dainty colors, graceful shapes, clever suggestions for the pleasure of herself or friends, and above all lightness of touch in dealing with the matter, and the absence of eagerness to make a sale, are points to consider and cultivate. Letter to sell wall-paper : Dear Madam : Permit me to suggest a little scheme for the decoration of your drawing-room. It is but one of many that we could execute at very small cost, and if you do not like it, we should consider it a kindness if you would criticize it freely and permit us to modify it to meet your ideas. Your furniture, you say, is for the most part reddish 150 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS mahogany, and you have several south windows afford- ing plenty of light. Why should you not paper the walls with a rich wine-colored tapestry paper — a simple tulip pattern in broad stripes rising to the ceiling and terminating at the top like interior oriental columns f The molding should be quite in the comer. We have recently furnished a room for one of the great houses in this style and color, only of course in real suk tapestry- But the paper looks so much like the silk at a distance that you could not tell the two apart. Then you might have fish-net curtains falling straight to the sill, with little green silkoline hangings at either side. Curtains to the sill only are all the rage just now. The whole is very inexpensive. The curtains would not cost more than a dollar a window, and we could furnish the paper for only 40c. a roll, an exact imitation of the paper we are putting into another great house that costs $8.00 a roll. We are selling it at this price as a special leader this season. If you do not like this plan, we have a number of other good schemes which we should be pleased to offer you. If you wish this particular pattern, however, we would advise you to order at once, as it will not last long at the low price we are putting upon it. We sold four hundred rolls of it yesterday, and what is left is not likely to last long. We have some very pretty French bedroom-papers that are great bargains at 20 cents a roll. Hoping that we may be fortunate enough to please you, and placing our best services and our entire stock at your disposal, we remain Very truly yours, Many women have tastes for that for which they iare quite unable to pay, and they dislike to ask for any- HUMAN NATUEE BY LETTEE 151 thing cheap. It is therefore always well to offer some- thing quite cheap, while talking of things that are ex- pensive, saying a good word also for the cheap article. A woman will always buy the most expensive thing she can afford, and there is little danger of spoiling a sale for that which is high-priced by offering the low-priced, and a sale may thus be obtained. How to Write to a Lady on a Delicate Matter Embarrassing situations frequently arise in which men feel wholly at a loss as to how a delicate matter should be discust with a woman. For example, sup- pose a young lady in your employ shows a tendency to be frivolous and to neglect her work, and you wish to call her mother's attention to the matter. It is probable that if you tell the mother she will tell the girl, who will be furious with you, and you may stir up no end of discord in your office. Or perhaps among your em- ployees some woman becomes rebellious and proceeds, as women are capable of doing, to make all kinds of trouble. How shall you deal with such a person? In the first place, these occasions are unpleasant in the extreme, and there is no way of avoiding the unpleasant- ness. But the best thing to do is to face the situation at once and be perfectly frank. A woman may be looked on as a child. Treat her with consideration, but with firm authority. Write to her fully once, and then let her alone. Often by firnmess and frankness a trying situation may be wholly dissipated, and a rebellious woman transformed into the most loyal and hard-work- ing servant. Let her have her way unrestrained, and there is no telling where the trouble will end. The majority of women are easily frightened, how- ever, and it is an art to broach a difficult matter deli- cately enough. 152 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS On other occasions delicate or squeamish subjects are to be dealt with in writing to a lady who is a stranger or a mere business acquaintance, and it seems almost impossible to find a suitable way to present the matter. It is a fact, however, that almost any subject can be treated with almost any person without giving offense if it is done in the right way. To find this right way is a very diflflicult matter, but it can be found by effort. A letter of this kind may be rewritten a number of times, each phrase weighed and slightly modified, and the whole tone changed by the change of a word. If a letter of this kind does not seem right, patiently hunt out the word or phrase in which the fault lies. Often a single word may cause the offense, tho it seems as if the whole composition were wrong. Consider carefully the atmosphere surrounding each word, and the side suggestion with which it may be weighted. And in conclusion let me say that the secret of the control of every situation lies in one's own self-control. Delicate Letters My dear Mrs. Blank: You will probably be surprized to have this letter from me, but there is a little matter in connection vrith your daughter which I thought you would be glad to have me bring to your attention, and I am taking the liberty to write to you about it as a friend might. Miss Blank has been such a familiar figure in our office and we have liked her so much that we regard her as one of our business family. I hope you will regard what I have to say as strictly confidential, and something growing out of my sincere friendship for you and your daughter. The fact is, Alice has been rather thoughtless in her relations with ^ HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 153 some of the young men in the office. I have tried to caution her myself, but you know a man is so awkward about these things that he finds himself unable to say anything directly without giving offense, which is the farthest thing from my thought. I would suggest simply that you question the young lady, without men- tioning the fact that I have written you, and when you have found out the facts in the case, just call her atten- tion to the unbusinesslike air of her manner. A slight warning, I am sure, will cause her to change anything that might be in the least degree objectionable to any one. Miss Blank has been a faithful and competent em- ployee on the whole, and I sincerely hope we may have the advantage of her services for a long time to come. "With best wishes, Sincerely yours. Note. — Observe that the writer wraps his hints in a cloud of words. A short letter would not do at all in a case of this sort. A Frank Letter to an Employee My dear Miss Blank : For your own sake, as well as for the good of the busi- ness, I wish to call your attention to something which I am sure is no more than passing thoughtlessness on your part, but which produces an unpleasant impression. I have observed that your conduct toward some of the young men is not quite as reserved and dignified as it seems to me a conservative business organization would require. I am fully convinced that there is no essential harm in anything you have done, only a little youthful thoughtlessness. Nor would I wish to have you repress your spirits entirely. Just be a little more cautious. 154 HUMAN NATUBE IN BUSINESS Please do not show this letter to any one else, nor mention the matter. I am writing to you purely as a friend, and to save you from possible embarrassment from other sources. I value your services highly, and I certainly hope we may be favored with them for a long time to come. With the kinaest wishes for your welfare, Very sincerely yours, A sensitive girl might be deeply wounded even by as moderate a letter as this ; but if she survives it she may change her conduct completely and become a model em- ployee. Letters of this kind, if prompted by kindness which is fully exprest in the letters themselves, tho difficult to write, may accomplish their purpose. That they are disagreeable duties may be true ; but often we can not avoid them. Undue brevity and bluntness are the things principally to guard against. Even when much firmer and more pointed letters than these are required, they should be written with true literary reserve and polite deftness. EIGHT Giving a Letter the Proper Tone — How to Write to your Superior It is a difficult matter for some people to give a letter just the proper tone, and they dread writing letters which have a personal bearing. Yet success often de- pends in a high degree on being able to give just the proper tone to a letter on all occasions. In writing to a superior one should write freely, frankly, land sincerely, but always with a certain defer- ence, restraint. Opinions are freely submitted, the in- itiative is taken, and one goes ahead according to his HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 155 best judgment. Yet the superior is kept fully informed, and his advice is asked politely whenever occasion arises for it. The opportunity to suggest or direct is always offered, but if advantage is not taken of it, the work proceeds just the same. One person may be just as competent as another, but a certain tone in letters will make all the difference. The tone that wins is the tone of deference, respect, and the flattery of attention. And yet this is only a tone, for independence, energy, and promptness to act are the things that are really valued. Any cringing sub- servience is resented, and so too is any obvious flattery. To attain this tone, which is perfectly natural to some people and so difficult to attain by others, one must keep oneself in the right frame of mind, thinking of the superior as the ideal boss even if it is necessary to idealize him a little, and then being perfectly sincere, straightforward, and natural. Eespect yourself as well as your superior, and at all times be a gentleman, and never forget that you are a subordinate. The right tone in letter-writing is not a matter to learn and put on. It is wholly a matter of keeping oneself in the right mood or frame of mind. If one is not in the right frame of mind, the right kind of letter can not be written, and it should simply be postponed tiU the frame of mind is more propitious. If you are irritated, wait until the irritation has passed away; if you despise your superior and believe him a fool, don't write to him. Think what the ideal superior would be, and write to the ideal, not to the real one. At the same tune do not allow yourself to be frightened or over- awed. Cultivate respect for yourself, remember what is due to you, and quietly exact it by taking for granted that you are going to have it. 156 HUMAN NATUBE IN BUSINESS Letters to Superiors Too formal : Dear Sir: I have to acknowledge receipt of your conmmnica- tion of July 29, and in accordance with your request I am enclosing my report for the month just past. Hoping it will meet your approval, I beg to remain Very truly yours, ■ Too free: Dear Sir: As you request, I am sending you a report upon the work we have done during the past month. July is not- the most brilliant month in the year for results, but we have done some hard work all the same. I have got a new system worked out for handling the men, and look to see big results from it next month. With the best of wishes for much business, I am Yours truly, Too subservient : Dear Sir: I hasten to comply with your request of July 29, and enclose a detailed report for the past month, trusting it will meet your approval. In comparing results for this month with those for June, I beg you to bear in mind the fact of the season and the difficulty of doing business in the hot weather. I am glad to say^ how- ever, that we did better this year than in the same month last year. I have been thinking of a plan for handling the men which I should like to discuss with you as soon as pos- sible. I believe it will give increased results, but I should not venture to try it without your approval. May I ask you when you think you will be able to pay us a visit again t Trusting our efforts may have your kind approval, Respectfully yours, HUMAN NATUBE BY LETTER 157 A better letter; Dear Mr. Clark : In response to your request of July 29 I am sending you a fuU report of our work for the past month. The record is not up to that of June, of course, but it is far higher than for the month of July last year. So I do not feel dissatisfied, tho I should like to do still better. I have been thinking of a scheme for handling the men which I believe will add 20 per cent, to our returns, and with your permission I am going to try it next month. It is simply this: (The plan is briefly described.) If you see any objection to it, I should be glad if you woxdd let me know at once. Unless I hear from you to the contrary, I shall start it about the tenth of the month and try it out. It may not succeed, of course, and I do not guarantee it, but I think we can afford to take a chance on the experiment. I hope you will agree with me, for I should like to see what will come of it. Eldredge is doing very well — ^better than I expected. I am not so well satisfied with Keith. I wish I knew how to stir him up a little and make him work more. Hanley is doing as well as ever, and I think we ought to give him a raise this autumn. Do you think the firm wiU agree to it? I should like to put on two new men in September, but I can not do it unless I am given a little larger allowance for at least a month. It is im- possible to make a new man pay his way in our busi- ness in less than a month. "We shall be glad to see you whenever you can get this way, and I hope it may be in the near future. In the meantime, however, you may be sure that we will keep hard at work. Sincerely yours. 158 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS It always pleases a superior to be told little details of the business, so that he feels he is keeping in touch with everything ; but he doesn 't want to be troubled on small and unimportant matters which the subordinate should settle for himself. The right tone in a letter depends on the right attitude of the person. If the attitude is right, the tone can easily be cultivated. NINE How to Write to a Subordinate Some people get on well with servants and some people do not. Those who fail usually do so because they do not see things from the subordinate's point of view. Unless the superior can see things from the subordinate's point of view, it is not likely that the subordinate will see things from his superior's point of view. It is often the duty of a superior to handle many subordinates or agents by mail, and to get the most work possible, of the right kind, out of them. To accomplish this, the superior should be able and willing to do the work required himself. If he has done it and can do it, then he knows how it ought to be done, what it is reasonable to ask, and where difficulties are likely to appear. Only when a superior is and feels himself on a level with his subordinates, and makes them feel that he is on their level, will he best succeed in writing to them in the correct tone. The successful manager writes to his subordinates fa- miliarly, yet maintaining a certain respectful tone such as that which he expects from them. Respect must be mutual, and if the superior does not respect his subordi- nate, his subordinate will not respect him. The art of letter-writing depends largely on the power to say things by not saying them. A little restraint HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 159 where freedom had previously been shown, a little failure to commend where commendation had before been given, a little coldness where there had been warmth before— -these are the most telling methods of criticizing and rebuking. If a subordinate is so dull or so blind that he will not understand, a frank, friendly, open talk (on paper or viva voce) is the only resource. In dealing with reasonable human nature in all direc- tions, nothing is more essential than always giving your reasons and explaining your motives for everything, at least to the extent of not seeming arbitrary. Some masters rule by fear, and by their arbitrary methods get a great deal of work out of subordinates; but the mo- ment such a master is out of the way, all effort relaxes. The sympathetic master keeps his men at work just as well when he is away as when he is on the spot, and that is the only kind of master a man can be by mail. Letters to Subordinates Too crusty: Dear Mr. Blank : I see that your man Keith is not doing as well as he did a month ago. We can not have any going back- ward. If you can not keep him up to the standard, it is your business to get somebody else who can be kept there. I note your plan in regard to handling the men, and will let you know later whether I think there is anything in it or not. As a rule, I think it is better to stick to what has been proved. We hire men to work rather than think up schemes. I can't tell when I shall see you. It may be next week and it may not be for .a month. Yours truly. 160 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Too vague: Dear Mr. Blank : I have your report for July and have placed it on file. I wish you would write me in detail just what each man is doing, for I like to keep in touch with what is going on. I shall probably pay you a visit the coming month. Tho I should like to get over by the 10th or 15th, it may be the end of the month before I can manage it. Hoping everything will go on smoothly, Very truly yours, The man who writes a letter like this creates the im- pression he is not giving, proper attention to the busi- ness, and his subordinates are likely to get careless and not work up to their capacity. Qood letter to a subordinate: Dear Mr. Blank: You did pretty well in July — ^better than last year. Your new plan for handling the men sounds well, and I sincerely hope you can work it out to success. You have my hearty cooperation in anything that promises to bring results. I wish you would run over the men and give me a pointer or two on each one. We want to be generous to those who deserve it, you know, tho of course we expect good value for what we pay. In that matter I have to depend largely on your reports, and I hope you will make them as detailed as you can consistently. By the way, I heard an unfriendly report from Har- rison 's district the other day. It didn 't amount to much, but I think it would be worth your while to keep an eye on what is going on over there. I see Billings wasn't in his usual form last month. It might be well to touch him up a little, tho he has always seemed to be a good man. HUMAN NATURE BY LETTER 161 I am sending down some new printed matter. I wish you would let me know what you think of it. It is al- ways important to the firm to have an unbiased expres- sion of opinion from the men in the field, for they have a better opportunity for observation than we do here in the office. I am not quite satisfied with the sixteen- page booklet; but I couldn't see just how it ought to be improved. If any suggestion occurs to you, don't be afraid to send it on. I heartily congratulate you on the good work you and your men are doing, and I hope you wiU keep it up and improve on it. Cordially yours. The writer of this letter manages to get in a good deal of criticism, but without dampening the ardor of the man to whom he is writing. He mingles criticism with ap- preciation in a free and judicious way. This letter is very colloquial, tho not precisely slangy. Colloquialism is winning when a superior writes to his subordinate, but slang would be undignified. Perfect dignity, with cordial and friendly frankness and free- dom, is the ideal for the superior. Assignment XVI. Sales Letters to Different Types Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 are best studied in connec- tion with planning general sales letters. We will suppose three different kinds of persons, one a woman, whose names have been given us as good customers for the business we are pushing, and to each we write a carefully planned letter soliciting his business, either long or short as the character of the person requires. Each of these three letters we follow up with a letter to develop interest. On the ground that the references have been made by a mutual friend and we wish a 162 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS definite statement, let us write a final letter, to compel an answer, which shall be pointed yet always courteous. In reply to the letter to compel an answer some other member of the class will write in one case a mild, reason- able letter, in another an irritable letter, and both of these are to be handled by the original writer. The woman may make two different replies, one reasonable and one irritable, and each should be handled according to Section 7. Assignment XVII. Letters to Superior and Subordinate Finally, let the members of the class write letters to the teacher in the proper tone as a superior making suggestions in regard to the conduct of the work of the class ; and let other members of the class reply to these letters in the proper tone of a teacher to class-members or subordinates. COLLECTIONS BY MAIL I BELIEVE that money can be collected by mail as surely as by personal application, and more easily, but it takes more time to do it. First, try to see that your customer gets value for his money. Write to him often on that subject, and make him understand clearly just what you are making him pay for. Never neglect an account or let it drag. I have found that many people think that if you don't press them for payment for some time you neglect doing so because you feel you have not given them good value, and therefore that they are not as much under obligation to pay you as they thought they were. During the past season I let my collections fall behind because I was too busy with new business to attend to them, and I found several of my clients thought I had forgotten them altogether and did not intend to enforce payment ; and having made up their minds they were not going to be made to pay, it was hard for them to get the paying idea into their heads again. Without doubt the most effective means of making col- lections is by continued irritation. You can be sympa- thetic, argumentative, but be slightly disagreeable too. This may at first be only a slight abruptness in your style. And remember that irritation requires repetition. The simplest kind of dunning letter sent five or six times becomes irritating. 163 164 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS It is a difficult matter not to give offense to good cus- tomers by your irritation, and you should remember that whenever you see any signs that you have gone too far and your customer feels you are giving him more then he deserves, you ought to apologize and apologize profusely, even to a dead-beat. Praise his scrupulous business honor, and all that. Go back to plain €uid simple letters. After you have called a man a thief — almost, and then gone back to some very short, simple dunning inquiry such as, ''Will you let me know when I may expect something on this account!'* your debtor will begin to think you are getting desperate. If you learn the art of writing irritating letters, and keep at it patiently, I do not believe you will ever have much occasion to use a collection-agency. A collection- agency is solely a machine for irritation, until you get ready actually to sue. Usually the man who would be good for a judgment will not let a case go to trial unless he feels he can win. If there is no dispute, and a man is willing to let a case go to trial, it is generally because he has nothing and is judgment proof. If there is a dispute, I say, compromise, even when you fully believe you are right. Compromising is cheaper than law. The following letters were originally designed to col- lect a balance of $9 due on an American credit book- offer when $1 deposit had been paid and the books had been sent on one week's approval. The first letters are sales letters to prevent the return of the books. A personal criticism showing how to apply the general principles in the books to the man's own particular business is not given till the final payment has been made, and this is emphasized as a sort of in- ducement to hasten the payment. While the nominal approval time is one wed:, in prac- tise one month has to be allowed, and it is not until the COLLECTIONS BY MAIL 165 account is six weeks old that with the fourth letter the irritating process of collection is begun. I place great emphasis on the importance of laying a good ground- work in preparation for the real collection effort. In a straight sale no such elaborate preparation would have to be made^ and the series might begin with the third letter. Note that the fifth letter is a very stiff one, pretty sure to draw a response. If any are offended, yet pay, I always apologize and smooth them down. The sixth letter is a straight-out mild one that brings around many who were offended by the fifth and are put in good humor again by the sixth, yet would have paid no atten- tion to the sixth had it come first. The ninth letter is a printed agency-form, and so is the tenth. The eleventh is a warning that the account will be turned over to a solicitor if collection is not made. The point about the agency-letters is that they have a bright red seal in the middle and look legal — a change of venue has been taken. The wording of these letters makes little difference. On 30-day merchandise accounts, I should follow the practise of Marshall Field & Co. and send out a state- ment about the 20th of the month as a slight reminder that payment on the 10th or 15th has been overlooked. This is in addition to the regular statement on the first of the month. Many manufacturers send out d. brief letter just before the end of the month asking remit- tance so the account will not have to be carried over to the next month on the books. "When a statement is sent out the first of the second month after, I would write a pleasant sales letter, call- ing attention to the account and mentioning any new items which the customer might like to buy. I would always make the first collection letters sales letters ask- 166 HUMAN NATUEE IN BUSINESS ing for new orders, if the business is such as to permit this. Letting an account run along without writing any let- ters is to me highly objectionable, as statements may never reach the attention of the responsible man who draws the checks, but simply be filed by the bookkeeper. A letter will probably get to the right man, and a sales letter in which incidental reference is made to an ac- count due can not be offensive to any one. If these friendly sales letters do not bring the remit- tance, at any rate they have laid the ground for more irritating collection letters such as No. 4, No. 5, etc., in the following series. With the groundwork laid, few business men can be offended by these severe letters. If only statements are sent with no letters, a first letter in this severe veiu nearly always gives serious offense. When there is a discount for cash which I want taken, I always write a friendly note (form at the end) remind- ing the customer of the date before which payment must be made in order to get the discount. Two or three days after the date I write another saying if the account has been overlooked I will gladly allow the discount still if check is sent by return of post. Many disputes and much hard feeling would be avoided if this system of notification by letter were followed more widdy. I append a sort of final letter for small accounts. Letter to Go With Invoice; Always Required on Approval Shipment Dear Sir: I take pleasure in sending you my Private Instruction Manuals for Business Men on approval, as you request, and enclose memo, bill for additional, giving you credit for the already paid. If not desired, the manuals should be returned within a week. COLLECTIONS BY MAIL 167 Getting more business is a matter of '' selling Eng- lish," and also of getting a great number of minor details exactly right. YouTl never succeed unless you study these details point by point and master them — or if you do succeed you will not be able to repeat your success. My private instruction manuals are the only publica- tions on earth where these seemingly commonplace little details are set down one after the other in such a way that they will actually enable you to book the orders if you follow the instructions step by step. They have done it for many others, and they will do it for you. But even more important is my personal letter of criti- cism, in which I show you how to apply these principles to your own business, how you can win out and actually make more money. Be sure to tell me what your business is when you remit and I will let you have this letter of personal ad- vice and criticism at once. Yours faithfully, 1st Collection FoUow-Up Dear Sir: It is some ten days since I sent you on approval my Private Instruction Manuals for Business Men, and no doubt you have bad ample time to look them over. I write to ask you to report on them at once. Bemember that in these manuals you are not buying an ordinary work at a high price. You get a vast collection of small details you can find nowhere else, every one of which has been tried out by experience, and which has helped many business men actually to get more business. But the most important thing is the personal criticism I will give you if you decide to keep the manuals. This 168 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS alone is worth the total price. It is important for you to have an expert show you where you have failed in judging your customers, and how to prove your own merits, offset your competition, and secure orders or collections you might have. If your follow-up system is weak, I will show you why. If you are planning an advertising campaign, I will put you on the right track- All things considered, my proposal is an extremely reasonable one. You. get the personal letter of criticism as soon as you remit, if you state what your business is. Will you not favor me with a check, or at least in- form me if you will keep the manuals? Yours faithfully, 2nd Collection Follow-Up Dear Sir : I sent you a set of my Private Instruction Manuals for Business Men on one week's approval; and as you have not returned them, tho more than three weeks have elapsed, I take it for granted that you are satisfied and expect to remit. You get more for your money on this offer than any- thing else I know of. This is a practical system for business men packed with more useful good things than any of the high-priced correspondence courses in advertising or salesmanship, yet the cost is but . In the personal criticism I will show you what your weaknesses and your strong points are. A man ought to check himself up now and then and see where he stands. A remittance will be appreciated. State your special line of business and get the criticism at the time you pay. Yours faithfully, COLLECTIONS BY MAIL 169 3rd Collection Follow-Up Dear Sir: The Private Instruction Manuals, with which you get personal service equal to the full amount charged, were sent you with one week for examination, and billed at the cash-in-advance price. Tho more than a month has elapsed I have not received the balance due. I am extremely anxious to get this matter closed up without further delay, and ask you to let me have a check at once. Yours faithfully, 4th Collection FoUow-Up Dear Sir: I am surprized that a courteous business man like you should not only neglect the balance due on account of my Private Instruction Manuals for many weeks and even months, but also should fail to make courteous reply to the letters I have written. If you don't intend to pay this bill you can, at least, let me know that fact. The enclosed stamped return envelop is for a check or for the REASON WHY NOT. A good reason cour- teously given will be highly acceptable, and that is something it is always within your power to give. Yours faithfully, 5th Collection FoUow-Up* Dear Sir: I have written you four times about the balance due on the Private Instruction Manuals for Business Men you ordered many weeks ago. ^ Letters like this and No. 8 can be written only to persons you know will neTer send you any more business — ^tbe actual dead-beats. 170 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS If you don't intend to pay, just say so, and I will pull off my coat and jump in for worth of fight. I al- ways enjoy spending money to make a man pay his bills. If it is a case of oversight, now is the time to make good and keep your reputation clean. Any excuses or explanations will also go safely in the enclosed return envelop, and if you have them, remember I can not read your mind unless you speak up. Yours for quick action^ 6th Collection FoUow-Up Dear Sir: You received that last collection letter of mine and it didn't make you open your eyes and take notice! Well, well, weU ! Eeally, I need this money badly just now. Won't you go out of your way, as a personal favor, to let me have a check by return mail or within a week? Yours in earnest hope, 7th Collection Follow-Up Dear Sir: What kind of business man are you, any way, not to have the courtesy to reply to any of the six or seven let- ters I have written you about the enclosed account t I want this money, or I want to know when I can have it, or why I am not going to get it. Courtesy is cheap, even when money comes hard, and I shall expect to hear from you by return mail. Very truly yours, 8th Collection Follow-Up* Dear Sir: I want to ask you a few heart-to-heart questions: Are you honest or a dead-beat? You know. If * See note on No. 5. COLLECTIONS BY MAIL 171 honest, an explanation of why you don't pay the en- closed bill will tend to prove it. Is the enclosed bill disputed by you in any particular t If so, I want to know all about it, and if you are honest you will tell me. Please save us both unpleasantness by dealing frankly and fairly with me, and suggesting some settlement of this claim. Very truly yours, A Reminder to Take Cash Discount Dear Sir: I hope you have received the shipment of which we made you via on the . I would remind you that Sept. 15 is the date for taking the cash discount of 5 per cent. If for any reason it is not convenient for you to remit by that date, please no- tify me promptly. Yours faithfully. Final Reminder on Cash Discount Dear Sir : If you have overlooked the cash discount of 5 per cent, on your account, which should have been taken Sept. 15, I will still allow it if you will let me have check by return of post. A discount of 5 per cent, is too large to be lost if a man can possibly avail himself of it. It is an extra discount I have given you in this form, i^nd failure to take it doesn't look well for one's credit. If for any reason you do not find it convenient to remit, I shall expect you to set a date when I may look for payment, or let me have some explanation. Yours faithfully. 172 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS For Small Accounts Overdue Dear Sir: The enclosed small account is considerably overdue, and I sincerely hope you can favor me with a check by return mail. I am sure if you make a little effort in this matter you can clean up the account. Won't you please try, and let me have a word from you within the next few days! Cordially yours, For Very Small Accounts Long Overdue Dear Sir: I have spent 50c. on postage and stationery in trying to collect your small account. I can hardly afford to sue you. If you don't intend to pay it you can say so and save us both annoyance. Courtesy certainly requires a reply to this letter without delay. Very truly yours, Collections from Dealers The best kind of letter to get money as a rule from dealers is one that is slightly irritating but not sufl- ciently so to be offensive. Most collection letters are too considerate. For example, you say, "If possible, kindly remit the enclosed statement before Oct. 24." You should say, '*Your account as represented by the enclosed statement is already considerably overdue, and as I must have money by Oct. 24 to meet obligations, I must request that you let me have a check by return mail. **I have sometimes let your accounts run a little longer than I should. When you need acconunodation and I am in a position to give it, a request to me will always be honored. COLLECTIONS BY MAIL 173 "But now I am in need of accommodation from yon, and I shall be very greatly disappointed if you do not make a special effort to send me at least all you can on this account at once." If a man does not respond to a letter like that, you ought to go after him at once with something like a sharp stick, hinting that he is not doing just the right or honest thing. If he gets angry, smoioth him down, but the sharp tone of your letter is the thing that will bring in the money. A Collection Letter that ''Drew the Money Like a Poultice The following letter drew from one concern this ac- knowledgment of its effectiveness: "We are in receipt of your exceedingly gentle and well-worded * touch' of the 4th inst. and you will note the result enclosed. Our only regret is that you could not receive it by the 10th as you desired. If your book- keeper words all his letters as he did ours, we would judge your bad accounts would be very limited, for it drew the money from us as a bread and milk poultice is supposed to draw inflammation.'^ Gentlemen : We like to feel that all of our customers are our good friends, and in times of trouble we find pleasure in know- ing that we have friends to depend upon. The advances in the prices of some raw materials have made it necessary for us to go into the market and buy very heavily for future requirements. These supplies will have to be paid for very soon, and therein lies the trouble that we want to tell you about. We enclose statement of your account, and hope that you are sufficiently friendly toward us to be willing to stretch a point and send us a check by return mail. 174 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS At the present time we have between a thousand and fifteen hundred open accounts on our books, and a little anticipation on the part of our customers will relieve our necessities without overcrowding our friends. We trust that you will look at this letter in the spirit in which it is written and not consider it a dun, but as a friendly request from one merchant to another. Yours truly, Another Successful Collection Letter Dear Sir: I have a couple of notes coming due on the 20th and 30th of this month, and should appreciate it if you could let me have a check that I can use in paying the first of these. Will you favor met The enclosed calendar-card will be handy to carry in your pocket-book — ^accept it with my New Year's com- pliments. If you will send money at once I will gladly present you with a copy of my Commercial Map of the United States — ^the only map ever published on which you can trace 62 railroad systems through the network at a glance. Cordially yours, Assignment XVIII. Collection Letters Let each member of the class prepare a series of ten collection letters for general use in the business studied, considering the different classes of people, and getting a sufScient variety of appeal so that if sent one after the other they will not grow stale, and including special let- ters for large and small accounts or special occasions. In this we will follow and carefully adapt the series given in the text-book. VI USING WORDS SO AS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS ONE The Personal Touch I HAVE spoken a great deal about knowing the cus- tomer. Nothing will help so much as the habit of visual- izing him so that you really see him sitting by your chair (with your eyes shut if not with them open) and feel his presence. Then alone can you write as you would talk to him. In the schools, imagination is supposed to be the power of fancy or imagery, or else it is constructing a chain of circumstances that are unreal. Often this is in reality guessing. If there is anything that is condemnable in business it is the habit of guessing. IN BUSINESS YOU MUST KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING or you are a failure. Absolute knowledge is needed nowhere so much as it is in business, and especially in writing let- ters and advertisements. The reason why so much matter sent out fails is that it is based on guesswork and not on knowledge. The business imagination I speak of is just the oppo- site of the habit of guessing. It is learning to know your man so well you can actually see him even when he isn't there. But you will probably see better with your eyes closed than with them open. When you begin to get this imagination you will show in your letters the confidential, personal tonjs, the easy 175 # .V 176 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS talking maimer. You become reaUy personal. Yon speak to your customer as *'you" and refer to yourself as ''we" or "I." You begin to feel that confidential, talky tone in your letters. You don't put "scenery" (conventional sales-talk) into your letters, because if you can see your man you know he doesn't care for that. You give him what he wants, not a purely imagi- nary and theoretical line of "letter-talk." Everything you say counts, it hits the mark. The way to build up that imagination is not by sit- ting still and trying hard. No. You can not do better than go out on the road and see the trade. Then when you come back you will know how the trade looks. If you talk with customers you will know what they have to say, how they think, what they like, and what they don't like. You will have FACTS and not guesswork as to what the imaginary man really is. If you can not go out on the road as a salesman, take every opportunity to observe those who drift into the office. Talk to them whenever you can, make yourself agreeable, and try to be useful to them. When you be- gin to try to be useful to every person who comes along in business you are very likely to begin to seU some- thing and get your reward for making the sale^ There is a great deal in being able to put a helpful, personal tone into a letter. You can not do it unless you would naturally be helpful to the real person. Many business people, and women especially, like to be coldly impersonal in letter-writing, while a few go to the opposite extreme and become offensively familiar. There is a happy medium, and it differs with the kind of person to whom you write; but even in the most formal correspondence the nice personal adaptation of the style to the personality of the one addrest is the WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 177 result of a well-developed business imagination. The result is what is called TACT. Enthusiasm the Comer-stone of Success English that bites into the minds and hearts of men is more a matter of the thought than of the expression. If you think clearly and accurately, and develop a good supply of enthusiasm by means of the imagination, you will express yourself with great force. When a man thinks very clearly, he seldom violates a rule of grammar, no matter whether he knows any- thing about grammatical rules or not. If he puts in punctuation marks just to make his meaning clear to a common-sense, ordinary person, he will not need to know anything about the rules of punc- tuation, for he will punctuate correctly without imy rules — at least as far as simple business English goes. If he works up a passionate enthusiasm for his busi- ness, he will be very likely to write advertising letters fiUed with power. Getting enthusiastic is at the bottom of all salesmanship. If you want to write a powerful letter, forget all about the art of business English, and sit down and put a hard, telling fact, into a short, straight-from-the-shoulder sentence. If necessary, make that sentence a para- graph (if it is important enough), or emphasize some phrase in it by underscoring or capitalizing. Then give another straight-from-the-shoulder fact that you feel ought to convince any sane man. Then an- other. "When you have finished, tell your customer just what . you want him to do — something you believe he can and will do — ^and place in his way every means to do it easily. Last of all, tell him, command him, to do it. Unless you can analyze your business, analyze your / / 178 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS customer, analyze your goods from the point of view of the use the customer can make of them, and WORK UP TOUR OWN FAITH AND ENTHUSIASM, you are not likely to write any letter that will bring orders. Only the man who can convince himself that he has the ONLY PRODUCT OF ITS KIND AT HIS PRICE has any right to try to write sales letters or other adver- tising matter. When a man's own faith and enthu- siasm master him, he can not help writing effective sales English if he only tries hard enough and long enough. TWO How to Condense We condense for two reasons: 1. To economize the attention of the reader. 2. To save the cost of high- priced advertising space. Most business men put the second reason first; but it is insignificant as compared with the other. Advertisements and letters which pro- duce their telling effect in the shortest possible time will be read by more people, and will get more business from those who do read. Buying people are more ready to spend their money than waste their time. The Secret of Condensation lies in choosing wisely the things that will really appeal to the reader. Knowledge of the reader is, therefore, the matter of greatest importance. Having, by long and calm thought, chosen success- fully, you should express what you have to say in com- plete and faultless English, as if what you were actually saying were all you ever thought of saying. NEVER clip out small and seemingly unimportant words, making your condensed form jerky and ragged. WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 179 The omission of a few small words immediately suggests to the sensitive reader that you have been laboring to condense, and he is rendered suspicious. The smallest thing to excite suspicion will destroy at once the con- fidence necessary to establishing business relations with a stranger. Successful condensation requires time and patient thought ; and must be tried many times before it proves perfectly successful. Great care must be taken to cling to every good point once established. Too many business men weary of the old thing, and try something entirely new, to their great loss. When you must choose between two points, weigh both carefully in the mind; perhaps try both in some way on an actual customer; having finally decided on one, let the other be utterly forgotten, that it may cease to haunt your mind and throw it into confusion. NEVER try to condense by cutting out words and phrases. Choose afresh the things you will say, and write as if you had never written before, putting wholly out of your mind the longer form. It is often necessary to let time elapse, so that you will have forgotten the longer form. If the condensed form seems to you im- perfect, it will certainly seem imperfect to the reader. Unless you can convince yourself that you have said all you really need to say, your condensed form is not per- fect Many personal salesmen have a knowledge of their goodSy of their customers, and of surrounding conditions, and the enthusiasm to make a personal sale, yet they can not write good letters simply because they can not con- dense. Either they say too much — so much the ordinary man will not read it at aU— or they give it up in despair and say practically nothing. It usually takes a good long letter to sell anything. 180 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Begin by writing out your arguments just as you would talk them. Imagine your customer sitting by your ^ide and that you are talking to him hard for an order. Do not stint the space. You must learn to express yourself fully before you can express yourself briefly. When you have written page after page of talk filled with enthusiasm, and covering every point, as if you were trying to compose a book on the subject, go back over your matter (have it in typewritten form so you can read it easily), and put in head-lines that will sum- marize each subject er argument or fact. Try to make these head-lines not mere indications of what is to follow in that paragraph, BUT STATEMENTS OF FACTS. Be sure that this fact is so clearly stated that the moment an outsider reads the head-line he will know exactly what the fact is before he reads the explanation. There is always a fact at the bottom of every sound argument. Put your facts into head-lines so that the man who glances over your book will know the im- portant facts about your business even if he does not read your explanation at all. Make these head-lines tell your story as you go along, in the proper order of appeal to your customer's own selfish interest. This will make an excellent circular to accompany your letter. With this long argument, divided up by proper head- lines, each head-line stating a fact, you can make up a letter almost out of the head-lines; but you want to weave them into a close, logical argument, filling them out a trifle so they will make a continuous brief story. That will be a condensed sales-letter, and an effective one, too. Above all, make your arguments FACTS — ^not talk, not mere words. Facts condense easily. Usually the letter-writer starts out to write a con- densed letter first. It is much better to begin by writing fully, putting your whole sales-talk on paper, in the 1 WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 181 right logical order, and then choosing from it PACTS that will tell. The man who can drive home facts in conversation will soon learn to drive them home in a letter, and that will be condensed letter- writing. An Example of Condensation This series shows the method of condensation. The colloquial phrase, ** Letters that Poll" (which would not be permitted in literary composition), was a great dis- covery, since it was common usage among business men and doubled the business brought by the second letter. This was first used as a letter and then as a page advertisement. It is about as short as a letter on this subject could be made, and is unusually terse and strong. The short paragraphs at the opening got immediate at- tention because they looked easy to read. The First Full Letter Dear Sir: You write letters, and the succ^ of your business de- pends to a large extent on the letters you write. Do you have a system by which you improve those let- ters from week to week, month to month, year to yeart Or do you make the same old mistakes over and over, and waste money in the same old way, sending out the same old bad letters! Undoubtedly you do, for ninety-nine out of every hun- dred business men do. There has never been anything to help them to do better. I have devised a system for the composition of good business letters, like the ^stems in bookkeeping, adver- tising, etc. What is advertising worth if you don't know how to handle the inquiries when you get them? What are trial-orders worth if in your letters you do 182 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS not handle your customers in the right way when you get themt Letter-writing is the key to the whole situation. The time will come when it will be regarded as the most im- portant element. There is a great deal to letter-writing besides a little grammar. There is the ART OF GETTING BUSI- NESS BY LETTERS. I teach that art. My method of teaching is direct and simple. In the simplest and most practical way I tell you what is cor- rect English, and what is not; what is an easy way to begin a letter, and what is not ; what is the common way of preparing a circular letter, and what is the winning way. I show you a real business letter with all its errors, and then I point out the errors, one by one, in notes, finally rewriting the letter as a model letter. You see your own faults as in a mirror, and know just how to correct them. This course is only just published, but you will see that I have the strongest kind of indorsements from some of the best business men in the country. They say that I have really done something worth doing; that I have crowded my lessons with good things. You can not doubt their testimony. But that doesn't matter! Examine the lessons for yourself. Send the first cash payment of $3, and I will send you at once the first three lessons of Part I and the first three lessons of Part II. If you don't find a lot of good things in them, send them back and I will refund your money. The rest of the lessons I will mail weekly in sealed envelops. You will get much more value out of the lessons by being stimulated every week than by getting all at once. I will not send all lessons at once. WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 183 This new 50-lesson course of mine is really the equal in every way of any of the much-advertised courses on advertisement-writing which sell for $40. But I offer a minimum of personal instruction and all the printed lessons for the very low price of $10. If you want a full course of personal criticism drill on a weekly parcel of carbon copies of your daily letters, I will give the Com- plete Course and 25 personal criticisms for $25 cash. Or if you send $10 cash for the printed course, you may have the personal instruction at any time within six months for $17 cash, or $20 in instalments, $5 down and $5 a month. The regular price of the criticism drill alone is $25. Better get these lessons so that you will be prepared to do better work when the autumn rush comes. Begin to think NOW. Cordially yours, A Page Advertisement or Short Letter *'HOW TO WRITE LETTERS THAT PULL*' Are you aware of the advantages of advertising by circular letter— if you can write LETTERS THAT PULLt Here are some advantages : 1. You can say enough to get orders by return mail. 2. You can try out a given proposition on 1,000 names for $15 — ^a page in a magazine costs $100 and up. 3. Letter-writing is the still-hunt method of advertis- ing— your competitors don't find out all about it the first day. But CAN YOU WRITE LETTERS THAT PULL? You can if you use the Smart System. What is the Smart System? It consists of 50 cards, mailed two each week, on one 184 HUMAN NATUEE IN BUSINESS Bide of each card just the terse pointers you want, on the other side illustrations in the form of actual business letters. I give you the latest and best information on follow-up systems, how to collect money by mail, how to manage agents, how to deal with women, how to write a hundred good letters a day, when to write a long letter and when to write a short one, and fifty other pointers even more important. In short, I give you a complete system, easily learned and applied directly to your every-day correspondence to make your letters pull more and more with every step you take. Then I my- self advise you personally how to make TOUR letters pull. Business men who have investigated know that I have a good thing. Lyon & Healy put in my system for all their leading men. The Dodge Manufacturing Co. sent me a check for $60 after one of their men had taken my i^stem complete and worn the cards out with han- dling. The Sherwin-Williams Co. first ordered it for some of the men at their home office, and then for the managers of their branch offices. Scores of the biggest business men in America have used my system with the greatest enthusiasm. I can not begin to tell you here the nice things they say about it. My system costs $10 cash. Send me $1 by return mail, at my risk, and I will send you the first three in- stalments of the system with full information and com- plete outline. If you don't see MONEY in it for you, and many times the $10 the system costs, send back the cards and I will refund your money instantly, without a word. But I know you will WANT to send the other $9 and get the system complete, for I have never had a return or heard a single word of dissatisfaction. My clients are more enthusiastic even than I am. What is so eloquent as the endorsement of big busi- WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 185 ness houses who reindorse their indorsement with checks! One-inch Magazine Advertisement **HOW TO WHITE LETTERS THAT PULL'* Sidney Smart, the leading authority on letter-writing, gives in his 50 Instruction Cards for Business Men scores of the most successful letters ever sent out in this country, and describes all the latest devices and wrinkles for soliciting by mail, collecting money, handling agents, etc., etc. Strongly endorsed by adv. mgrs. of Marshall Field & Co., Lyon & Healy, and many others. One man increased orders from letters making quotations on gears from 25 per cent, to 36 per cent, vnthin 60 days — nearly 50 per cent, more business. Address Flatiron Building, New York, or 3 New Oxford St., London. THBEB Emphasis in Business Writing There is a very important technical point in connec- tion with business writing as contrasted vnth business talking which every person in the business world ought clearly to understand, yet which almost no one does miderstand. That is emphasis. In talking, we emphasize adjectives, saying, **This is VERY good,'' "It is the BEST on the market,'' etc. In business writing, emphasis must serve a different object. When you have buttonholed a man he has to listen to what you have to say, but letters, circulars, and advertisements are always read more or less hastily if read at all. The IMPORTANT FACTS should there- 186 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS fore stand out so that they will be caught by the person who only glances. This may lead to more careful read- ing of the whole document. In an advertisement the important facts are, or should be, put into head-lines, in large, strong type. Every head-line ought to make an important fact stand right out on the page, not some meaningless phrase or catch- word, for the fact will be appreciated by itself, even by those who give the most casual glance, and the mere word or phrase will not be understood unless the whole is read. In a circular the black-letter head-lines over the suc- cessive sections or paragraphs should give a series of facts which, taken by themselves, will tell the whole story, and especially the important facts that ought to stand out. The head-lines read alone, by a person glanc- ing over them, ought to make complete sense even if the text is not read. Sometimes facts in the body of the text are also conveniently put in black letter or capitals so they will stand out. In letter-writing, head-lines may sometimes be used to advantage, but there are three methods suited to the typewriter which may be used to great advantage — un- derscoring, capital letters, and placing sentences or even clauses and phrases in short paragraphs by themselves. Never underscore a mere word that by itself wiU make no sense ; never capitalize a word or phrase that is merely a link in the argument ; never put into a separate para- graph a sentence or part of a sentence that does not state some solid fact. Displaying what are thought to • be clever phrases is the bane of inexperienced writers. The danger of all kinds of emphasis is excess. The woman who underscores every other word in her letters, the advertiser who puts half his advertisement into black type, the letter-writer who makes every sentence a para- WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 187 graph and throws in a few underscores and capital let- ters besides, completely defeats his own purpose. But by a careful use of all three of these means of emphasis, the strong facts in the sales-argument may be made to stand out so clearly that the shortest possible length of time will suffice to give a fair impression of what may be said. Then if the reader is interested the long paragraphs will be read, and his first interest will be carried to complete conviction. A long letter with these devices combines the efficiency of the very short letter and the long letters in one ; in other words, they enable the skilful writer to get a long letter read as surely as a short one would be. Seldom more than two phrases should be capitalized, not more than three or four underscored (it is easier to read underscored matter than capitals), and three or four short paragraphs are enough Aq Example of Display for Emphasis New York, June 20, 1907. Dear Sir: The highest-priced editorial-writer in the world, ARTHUR BRISBANE, has just come from an interview with MRS. EDDY at her home. Se got the whole story direct from her. Look for it in the AUGUST COSMOPOLITAN. Think of Mrs. Eddy's story told by herself, trans- lated in the words of Arthur Brisbane ! It will be the greatest magazine article that has ap- peared in years — ^rivaling the daily paper in its impor- tance and timeliness. 188 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS The August Cosmopolitau's first edition wiU be over 500,000. How much a possible second edition may be we can only conjecture. We have been favored with your advertisement for one issue. I am going to suggest that you place a defi- nite six-insertion order and I will call the insertion you have had as part of that order so that you will receive the 12^ per cent, discount on the business you have already placed. Or why not place your business on a "tf *' basis and you will be entitled to the long-time discount of 12^^ per cent, credited every six insertions. Are you with me for the August issue, and shall I expect your order through Mr. W. D. McJunkin — ^forms close July 3dt Very truly yours, Gridley Adams. First Letter to Get Inquiries for $500 Machine Sent to Select List of Wood-working Manufacturers Dear Sir: We have been told that you are using an old style plane jointer''* on glue-work at an actual loss of $200 to $700 a year for one machine as compared with the modem continuous-feed glue-jointer now used by nearly EVERY up-to-date wood-working manufacturer in Orand Rapids, for example, and other factories all over the country. We should consider it a favor if on the enclosed postal card you would inform us whether your business re- quires a glue-jointing machine of this kind, and whether or not we are mistaken in supposing you have not yet put in one of the modem machines. * This Is a machine which smooths boards on one side, and cuts a tongne on one edee and a groove on the other, so that narrow pieces can be glned together to make the wide boards required for table-topa and other cabinetwork. WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 189 If you are interested, we should like to lay some facts before you. Begging the courtesy of a reply to our inquiries on the enclosed postal card, whether you are interested or not, we are Very truly yours. Falls Machine Company. Manager. Answer to Inquiries Brought by the Preceding Letter Dear Sir: We take pleasure in sending you catalog describing the Falls Continuous-feed Glue-Jointer. The continuous-feed glue-jointer has been on the mar- ket for about four years, and we were the originators of it. It has been displacing the old machines with aston- ishing rapidity, so that we have recently had to move into a new factory to enable us to keep up with our orders. The biggest and best people in the wood-work- ing trade throughout the country are putting it in. Here is just what the machine will do for you : If you have three common jointers on your floor to-day, one modem continuous-feed machine will do the work of all three, saving not only the wages of two operators, but power, space, etc., besides, and giving you a greater range and better work. That couldn't mean less than $25 a week to you, or $1,000 in a year — ^twice the cost of the machine. If you have now only one machine on jointing, costing you, say, $10 or $12 a week to operate, and sup- posmg it is very slow work, the same operator will do the work in three or four hours on the continuous-feed machine, and have the rest of his time for other work. Even if you can operate the machine but three or four hours a day on the average, you save at least $5 a week, or enough to pay for the machine in 100 weeks. 190 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Then consider that when you have a rush of work, as all factories have at times quite apart from natural growth, of which you must take care, you will be able to handle it. Can you afford to waste, or throw away, say, $500 a year which your competitors save and either add to their profits or use in competition against yout Of course you can 't. It is not a question of affording to buy the machine, but affording to get along without it. And in buying a continuous-feed jointer, insist on having a drive-gear such as the Palls machine has. We know that a worm-gear has given trouble again and again, and it is obvious that the machine with a worm- gear will be worn out in a very short time. We have never had any trouble with our drive-gear, and every part of our machine is made in the very best way for hard use, so that an inferior machine even at half the price would be dear to you. The price of the Palls machine is $500, and we gladly send on 30 days' trial at our own risk for carriage both ways. All we ask is a chance to prove our claims in your own shop. May we 1 Yours very truly. Letter to General List to Get Inquiries for $500 Machine HOW TO BARN $500 A YEAB MORE Dear Sir : There are about 200 wood-workers in this country who could profit very decidedly by throwing out their old- style plane glue-jointers as scrap-iron, and substituting the PaUs Continuous-feed Glue- Jointer. Already 100, it seems, have been put out, including WORDS TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS 191 NEARLY EVERY LARGE CONCERN IN THE COUNTRY. You are one of the 100 others who are LOSING MONEY when you THINK you are ECONOMIZING. I should like to SHOW YOU just how MUCH YOU ARE LOSING in labor, power, and space — chiefly labor. I am willing to wager you are losing enough to pay for the machine in a year. THAT'S WHY YOU CAN'T MEET COMPETI- TION IN DULL TIMES. But fill out the enclosed card and I will show you in exact figures just what you are throwing away. Yours truly, FALLS MACHINE COMPANY. Form of Return-Card Enclosed with Above Mr. W. J. Koehn, Falls Machine Co., Birmingham. Dear Sir: I should like to have you figure out just what would be saved in my case by throwing out my plane-jointer and putting in a Falls machine. Also give me cost of your machine. We run plane jointers, with crew composed of with total wages of a week. Power costs us a week. Space is worth to us (Signed) Address Assignment XIX. Preparing for a Sales-Campaign We are now ready to take up the study of a single sales eflEort on one line. First, shall it be to sell one single article, or to get CTistomers for the business as a whole t 192 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS When that question has been decided, let ns carefully consider the different kinds of people to whom appeal may be made and settle on the type most likely to be profitable to work. Then let lis collect our sales arguments and present the whole in a well-worked-out booklet, carefully bearing in mind the type of person we wish to reach. The strongest arguments we will condense into a single sales letter of about a page. Finally we will prepare a small advertisement which will be likely to get inquiries. VII SALESMANSHIP IN LETTERS AND IN ADVERTISING ONE FIVE STEPS IN WRITTEN SALESMANSHIP There are two kinds of letters, those which are mere memoranda and those in which salesmanship is involved. Memorandum letters are not very important. If they are dear, simple, and common-sense, they are usually all right. They convey information to other members of a firm, give orders, correct errors, and in other ways facili- tate the transaction of business. Every stenographer and derk ought to be able to write as good memorandum letters as the head of the house. To write letters that will make people do what you want them to do— letters that will make people buy — ^is a very different affair. Any office-boy who learns to write salesmanship letters may hope to become manager of the firm, and some day the sole owner. The future of such a person is limited only by the limitations of the business itself. At the bottom of all success in writing advertisements is the ability to write salesmanship on paper — to use words so as to make people do things. But this is the thing that every business manager, and every clerk, as- sistant, and office-boy ought to try to master, for it is the key to all business success. 1. Creating desire. It is a great error to suppose that many people want what you have to offer. Most 193 194 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS business men assume that the desire exists and they have only to satisfy it. The really successful advertisers have perceiyed that desire must be created, or fanned up. 2. Showing how your plan works. Most i>eople de- pend on their own common sense. If the plan seems rea- sonable, they will trust their own judgment of it. You must therefore give them a chance to judge. 3. Proving your statements. The first question a possible buyer asks is, Is this your theory of what your scheme ought to do, or has somebody actually found your theory to be sound, your scheme successful t 4. Making a man feel like ordering. 5. Making ordering easy, safe, and quick. This Letter Was Not Successful Dear Sir: We enclose a page advertisement that has been jEippear- ing in System and other magazines. System began to advertise Mr. Smart's books at its own expense August 1, and took in five times the usual value of its space the first month. We thought the limit was reached, but now we get more orders day by day than ever before. Marshall Field & Co. and most of the big advertising agencies and mail-order houses use our criticism-of- English service and recommend our books, and they tell us we give them *'big value for the money." Certainly you will make no mistake in ordering the books when you can get them at wholesale price. Very truly yours, School of English. This Letter, With Indorsements, Brought Orders Dear Sir : M. W. Savage, President International Stock Food Co., employing fifty stenographers, has said: ''If all my LETTEES AND ADVERTISING 195 salesmen, clerks, stenographers, etc., could learn to write a correct and effective business letter, they would be worth 25 per cent, more to me, and I should be willing to pay the full value for their services." Five hundred other business men in this city and elsewhere have said the same thing. Sidney Smart's books will teach you ** correct and effective business English.*' They are the only books ever written which actually do this effectively for grown- up home students. In six months you can visibly in- crease your earning power merely by giving a little thought to improving your daily letters according to the directions given. If you order at once you get the advantage of the special introductory wholesale price of $2 for the set of four cloth-bound volumes in a box. IT WILL PAY YOU. Don't put it off. Very truly yours. School of English. Notes The first of these letters is defective especially in that it does not in any way lead the reader to feel that he needs something of this sort, and that this particular thing is precisely adapted to helping him. He will say, *'0h, it may be a good thing for some people ; but I don't want to go back to school at my age." Or he may say, "There are a great many books on English; but I never saw one that would help me." Or, again, "I know good English is a good thing; but I haven't time for anything that does not bear directly on my business." But the worst feature of the first letter is that it is a boast of what had been done. It looks like an attempt to "rush" the customer, and he doesn't want to be rushed. It is really no testimony to the value of the books, only 196 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS to one's akill in getting people to buy them. I believe that it is always a mistake to talk about what you have done, or about yourself in any way except to show just what you can do for your customer. A plain statement of what you can do for him, and why you can do more for him than any one else, does not seem boasting. The customer's own interest blinds him. He feels that he would not have confidence in you if you did not speak confidently of yourself. Therefore, in talking to him of his affairs the utmost confidence is required. To one who is not interested, this confidence seems terrible ex- aggeration ; therefore, to boast before the reader is ready for it by reason of his interest is always fatal. The second letter is strong because it begins by point- ing out in the most effective possible way that study of English 'Will pay. The first paragraph is an almost convincing argument on this point. The second paragraph follows with a clear, confident, firm statement of just what can be done to meet the de- sire that has been aroused. The third paragraph contains an inducement for im- mediate action, and presses the matter right home to a sale. Two circulars should accompany such a letter as this — a sheet of strong indorsements, and a circular describ- ing the books in detail, giving exact contents, size, etc. The first letter failed because it made no appeal to the need or want of the customer; the second letter suc- ceeded because it referred to nothing else. Poor Salesmanship Here is a man who has a good carriage to sell. He writes a letter saying he has the cheapest and best thing on the market. Then he follows with a letter which be- gins, ** Pardon us for writing you again, but we have not LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 197 received an answer to our first letter." In a third letter he begins by saying, "We hope you will not think we are unreasonably persistent/' Here is his fourth letter, on the whole the best of the lot : Dear Sir: We are sorry that you did not respond to our letter of ^. We shall never give up the hope of securing your order^ for one of our carriages until we hear that you have bought. Our proposition is too good for you to throw aside without giving it careful consider- ation. You want to buy a carriage — ^we want to sell — ^now why can't we two get together? We know that if you will only take the trouble to call we can show and prove to you that we can save you money on your purchase. We say this because we have faith in our ability to do the same for you that we have done for many others. We base this statement on our many past successes, and on our methods — and on our carriages, that have stood every test to which they have been subjected.* We are persistent* in our efforts to secure your patronage, but we can not tell you in a letter how earnest we are in this matter, and we want to urge you strongly to give this and the other letters that we have written you thoughtful consideration. Hoping to have a visit from you soon, we are Respectfully, 1. This phrase is the biggest kind of business-killer. It puts the man who gets the letter into an antagonistic position at once. 2. The preceding language is stupidly boring. 3. This paragraph is earnest and convincing. 4. Here we get ** persistent" for the third time. The 198 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS words fhat follow would be good if this first clause had been omitted. A Good Letter The following is a real business letter that is excellent in nearly every particular, and we are not surprized to hear that it brings a great deal of business. It is the third letter in the series. I should, however, omit the words **we are writing you a third time" as a relic of the ''persistent" habit. I should omit the first sentence altogether. At the end, the words, '*We are going to keep on writing to you until you realize it," is ** persis- tence" of the right sort. It sounds as if the writer were persistent for the man's own good, not for the sole purpose of making a sale. Here is the letter : Gentlemen : In response to the request of our Mr. Wiltse we wrote you on September 24 with reference to our dustless brushes, and we are writing you a third time. You know what a nuisance it is to have dust flying about and settling on your desks, papers, and furnishings. It is a filthy, disagreeable, germ-laden nuisance. You think you can't get rid of it, but you can. Per- haps you think there is some magic about our brush if it will do all we claim for it, but there isn't. Just look at the construction of the brush; a specially prepared row of oil-bearing fibers comes in contact with the dust as you sweep and absolutely prevents it from rising. Doesn't that sound reasonable? Now, listen! We don't ask you to take our state- ments as gospel truth. You can have a brush for thirty days for free trial. If you don't like it, send it back, and it won't cost you a penny. We have something here that you need, and we know it. We are going to keep on writing to you until you realize it; but, hadn't you LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 199 better just drop us a line and request us to send you a brush on approval by next parcel-post t Yours truly, DUSTLESS BRUSH COMPANY. Notice that in this letter we have the five essentials; fanning up desire, showing how, offer of proof (free trial), the style that stimulates, and eaefy way to order. TWO CREATING DESIRB The average business man assumes that desire for a certain thing already exists in the customer. If there is no desire, there is no possibility of doing business, he says. If he may safely assume that the desire does exist, all that is necessary is to persuade the customer that you have a good thing. The fact is, all large success in advertising and letter- writing depends on fanning up desire. Some desire does exist, but in the average man it is feeble. The man does not know how much he needs a $15 felt mattress, a bottle of rheumatism-cure, a pair of hand-embroidered slippers, a book on business letter-writing. You must first of all make him understand why he needs such a thing as this, and needs it badly. ^ The first step in creating desire is to put yourself in the other man's shoes. Look at life from his point of view. Begin by saying *'you," not **I." **I'' who write am of no earthly account to ''you," the man who reads; but if I can show you what your troubles are, how somebody clever enough may remedy them, and then step in and say I will be the friend to help you out of your trouble, then *'I'' become very important to *'you." But it is essential to start witii **you" if I am to end with '*I.'' 200 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS Therefore, in letters to sell goods aU formal phrases, all apologies of whatever kind, all remote statements, jokes, or catch-phrases are wrong. They kill business. They are a fence between the buyer and the seller. There is but one sane, salesmanlike way to begin a selling letter, and that is with the customer and his needs, his troubles, his fight for life and success. Show him that you understand him, that you have been in his shoes, that you know all about what he has to contend with, that you are thinking more of his problems than of your own, and immediately his heart will open toward you, he will melt and look expectantly to this friend who understands him so much better than he understands himself. Poor Ways to Begin a Sales Letter When we recognize that the first thing in a soliciting letter is to create desire, we can easily see how much business may be killed by the following conventional openings, all of which are in wide use, and all of which are bad: Gentlemen : We notice your name mentioned in some of the recent trade-papers, and from the information thus obtained we infer that you are in the market for a steam road-roller. If this is the case, we shall be very glad, indeed, to hear from you, in order that we may submit a proposal on our goods, etc. Gentlemen : If you are in the market for a road-roUer, will you not write us for prices and descriptive printing t West- em Steel Boad-BoUers are so favorably known to the trade that you can hardly afford to overlook them when you purchase. Etc. LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 201 Gentlemen : When we recently wrote you we said, "Western Steel Road-Rollers are the best rollers made, and that we give onr customers the best and promptest service. Etc. Gentlemen : We are a little disappointed over the fact that we have not heard from you about road-rollers. We tried to show you why you ought to use Western Steel Road- Rollers, and hoped you would be interested. Gtentlemen : We know that we can not sell all the hardware that is sold, but we have been hoping that our Mr. Smith would succeed in getting your name on our books. We know that if once you start with us you will like our ways. Observe that all these letters begin with ''we," not with *'you." It is worth thousands to any man to es- tablish the ''you*' habit. The Right Way to Begin Sales Letters Dear Sir : How many circular letters did you throw into the waste-paper basket this morning? Have you ever considered that perhaps some of your own letters are cast aside in the same way, that they sometimes fail to win the attention and interest of the men to whom you send them? (This is called the ''question method'* of opening a soliciting letter. It is one of the best.) Dear Sir : All day long, from the morning's whistle to the eve- Mig*s shutdown, you are figuring on ways to sell more goods. You willingly spend hundreds of dollars to per- fect a single idea that will get more business. 202 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS And now we offer you a most remarkable opportunity to increase sales; an opportunity to secure, in worked- out, charted form, over 100 complete selling-campaigns — ^business-getting schemes and ideas that have built up some of the largest concerns in America. And yet we do not even ask you to risk a single penny to secure them. Etc. Dear Sir : The grocer has a hard life of it — grinding, digging away for pennies day by day. If you could add $500 to your profits this year, how very pleasant it would be ! You could take a larger shop ; you could build an exten- sion on your house; you could buy some much-needed furniture ; you could present your wife with some furs, or books, or the hair mattress and brass bed she has been wanting so long! My dear Mr. Blank, I am willing to guarantee to add 3 per cent, to your profit-margin this year — ^that is, I will save you a clear 3 per cent, if you will order your groceries by mail from me instead of giving the order to the salesman who calls upon you. If your business amounts to $10,000 this saving will be $300 ; if it is only $5,000, it will be $150, and surely $150 is well worth having. Etc. THREE SHOW HOW YOUR PLAN WORKS Every man values his own judgment. The easiest way to flatter him is to appeal to that judgment. You first create desire. You make a man fed his needs. When he feels them intensely enough, the rea- sonable thing to do is to show how he may get out of his trouble. Point put just the steps one after the other. A man buys rivets of which the heads come off. His machinery falls apart. He doesn't realize how much he LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 203 is losing by usiQg these poor rivets, but when you have made him feel he is going bankrupt unless he gets some better rivets, you begin to tell him why rivets lose their heads. They are not made of iron or steel properly car- bonized. If he could get rivets made in this and this way, they wouldn't lose their heads, and your customer wouldn't be losing so many dollars by reason of repairs, so many dollars by reason of not satisfying his cus- tomers, so many dollars by reason of extra handling of goods. All this great loss comes from the simple fact that the iron was not properly carbonized. It costs a few shillings a ton more to carbonize the iron properly, but what is that compared with the fortune the man is throwing away every day ! You think this all out for this man, but you put it in such a simple way that he thinks he has thought it all out for himself. He has made up his mind to get prop- erly carbonized rivets henceforth or die in the attempt. How easy then for you to say, **I have them right here at your disposal." But some business man will say, ''My business is too intricate. I can't explain it to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.*' My dear sir, the essence of success in salesmanship on paper is the ability to simplify your complicated busi- ness into a sentence. Perhaps you know too much about your business to do it. Then get some clever writing, analyzing man, who doesn't know too much, to do it for you. This is the point at which the outsider is of real value. "Showing How" Useful in Selling Mining-Stock There is one class of letters in which ''showing how" is the main thing and that is the letter for the sale of iicnning-stock, etc. Every man feels that his judgment 204 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS is as good as the next one's in a matter of this kind. Such investments are always speculative. There can he, no such thing as '* proof," because after the ''proof" there is no stock to sell. But the broker can set forth the facts in the case in detail so that any man may form his own judgment. If the ''indications" look good to the man who receives the letter, and he is an investor, he will send his money. There is no promise, for there can be none. Every man acts on his own judgment for better or worse. The great thing, therefore, is to give him the best possible chance to judge. If the following letter were to be sent out promiscuous- ly, it should begin by painting in glowing colors the for- tunes that have been made and can be made in mining- stock speculation. When the desire of the customer is fanned up to the proper point, the letter should state the facts in the case. This is a follow-up for the first an- nouncement, but the first presentation should be much the same except that in an accompanying circular full details should be given. In the next to the last paragraph, the words "We do not wish to rush you into an investment" seem to me iU-advised, and calculated to rouse suspicion just when, probably, the reader is all ready to send his money. The moment he begins to ask, "Have I almost been rushed into an investment?" he is in a bad way. A more tact- ful way of putting it would be to say simply, "In any case we give you 30 days to investigate, so that you have full opportunity to verify all our statements without losing a good chance by delay." Dear Sir: A few days ago, through the medium of our Market Review, we called your attention to the stock offering of the Laguna-Qoldfield Mining Company, recommending it as an extra high-class investment. The opinion that we LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 205 then exprest concerning it has been amply substantiated by the strike made last week on the Red Top, adjoining the Laguna on the west, followed two days later by a sensational strike on the Silver Pick. It has been definitely known that the main vein-system of the Jumbo, Velvet, and St. Ives, and the cross-vein system of the Silver Pick and Mohawk centered in the property of the Laguna Company, and it was the opinion of our Mr. Patrick and several other prominent engineers that the Red Top vein also entered this property. The correctness of this theory has been demonstrated by the new strike on the Red Top of a large body of ore, four feet of which averaged $5,000 per ton — ^the ledge dipping almost due east, straight toward the ''Miss Jessie" claim of the Laguna Company. The uncovering of this splendid ore-body places the Red Top head and shoul- ders in front of the biggest mines in the district, and the stock is to-day worth intrinsically $1 per share or more. Eight months ago it was difficult to place at 15 cents. Thus one more prospect has become a mine — and one of the greatest mines in the country. With such excellent neighbors, and considering the general direction of the vein-system as above outlined, do you wonder that we are enthusiastic over the pros- pects of the Laguna Company? To our mind, it has the making of one of the most sensational properties in this rich district, and we are confident that a reasonable amount of development work will disclose a mine of the first magnitude. Altho recent developments warrant it, the price will not be raised and our clients will secure the benefit. The stock is 15 cents a share. We do not wish to rush you into an investment in this company. But we do say to you — ^investigate it thoroughly. We are confident you will then join us. If you will send us your reser- 206 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS vation accompanied by a remittance of 33 1-3 per cent.^ you may have thirty days in which to investigate^ If you find we have made a single misstatement of fact con- cerning this property, we will promptly refund your money, together with 1 per cent, interest thereon per month. If desired, you may pay for the stock in regular monthly instalments of 5c. a share. Our guaranty goes with this ofifer. "We advise you to act quickly, if at all. An immediate investment of a good sum is warranted by the most conservative. Yours very truly, POUB PROVING YOUR STATEMENTS First create desire, then show how your plan worb so that you will get the indorsement of a man's judg- ment, and then? He will say. Yes, that is all very well. That is ex- cellent theory. But how does it work? Has any one else found it to work out in his case as you say it should? We all know that many things ought to work that way which don't. Now what is proof? It is not laudatory testimonials. Praise is a question apart. The thing is, Has any one else, situated as I am, found it to work? The proof is in a statement from some one known to the reader that he has tried this thing you offer and has found that it works. If he tells just how it has helped him, so much the better. There is no praise about it. I wanted so and so. I tried this. It did so and so for me. These are facts, simple, natural, spontaneous facts. They are proof. There is no better proof than a collection of copies LETTEES AND ADVERTISING 207 of checks. Real money has been paid for my goods again and again. How can you get around that ? Next in value to checks are facsimiles of orders. Facsimile reproductions of hearty letters are next best. But don't have too many. Often more impression is made with only one or two or three, which give an im- pression that thousands might be shown if you only would. One attracts attention, the second confirms the first, while the third begins to be tiresome, suggesting thou- sands more like it. Get the Customer's Point of View The MOST IMPORTANT THING in letter-writmg and advertising is probably ''getting the customer's point of view." First, this consists in having something to which the customer will respond. If people don't want Persian rugs, it will be extremely difficult to build up any busi- ness in the sale of them. If some people want them and some don't, you must get a list of names to write to which contains a large enough percentage of those who do want them to make circularizing pay. Any other list is of no account. Likewise in advertising, a periodical must be found that has a large enough proportion of readers who want the article. These things can be found out only by experiment. But after it is proved that people do want a certain arfdde that is offered, success depends on talking to them from their own point of view. Exactly why do they want the thing? Success depends on finding out iust why they want the article, so that that reason may be enlarged upon. If you don't find out just WHY they want it, your advertising may fail altogether. 208 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS In one case, I had a set of practical books on English to sell. I tried to advertise them from the point of view of literary and social culture, but my letters and adver- tising were wholly unsuccessful. No one wanted the books, however good they might be, for the sake of social and literary culture. I then advertised them as useful because they would help a business man to produce more effective letters. The very people to whom the first appeal meant nothing, responded instantly to this appeal. The point of view made all the difference in the world. Many people have a superior article to advertise for which they charge more than some one else charges for an inferior article — ^harness, let us say. The advertiser says, ^'I have the best harness that can be made," and he wonders why people don't believe him and don't buy his harness. The fact is, those who buy harness see before them two kinds. Both look about the same, but one costs less. Of course, the natural tendency is to buy the cheaper harness. Now the only argument that will have any weight with that man is some sort of proof that the extra cost is even more than well spent — ^that the higher-priced har- ness Is really the cheaper in the long run. The adver- tiser must face the facts and talk it out with the man on paper, just as if he had spoken up and said he didn't see why he should pay more for a harness that didn't look any better. And mere statement that the harness was better wouldn 't convince him. There must be proof. This may first be an appeal to his reason by showing just how the harness is made, and then giving a guar- anty that it will wear so and so long, and finally testi- monials that somebody has had one of these harnesses and it has worn so and so long. LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 209 In selling a hat, a salesman may often sell a $3 hat by stating, or giving some proof, that the $3 hat will wear three years, whereas the $2 hat will look like a rag inside of a year. That makes a man's head-cover cost him $1 a year if he buys a $3 hat, and $2 a year if he buys a $2 hat. Again, a tailor may have a particularly well-made suit of clothes for which he wants a certain price. Perhaps he will say it will wear so much longer than a cheaper suit. But the buyer cares nothing for that, since he doesn't care to wear one suit more than so long, any- way. But this suit may also be specially stylish, and if the customer is told the suit is the height of fashion, he may buy it on that account, paying for fashion when he wouldn't for quality. It doesn't much matter whether the reason that actuates the purchaser is a good one or not, it is business to find what reason appeals to him most, and give him that reason as strong as you can. The customer's point of view can be ascertained only by experiment. And the best way is to get out and talk to the customer personally. Mail solicitation is blind. You never know why the man does not respond, for he will rarely tell you. That is why you must go out and discover for yourself. You must lioroughly understand the customer's point of view, and tactfully adapt your- self to it if you hope to succeed. How to Handle Testimonials It is something of an art to get the right testimonials, and quite as much of an art to know what to do with them when you have them. The first thing to consider is what constitutes a good testimonial. The answer is, Any hearty, enthusiastic appreciation of what you have or have done for some actual person. 210 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS What you have done for one man it is probable you ccui do for many more, and that actual experience is a better key than any guess you yourself may make. My method of collecting testimonials is this: I listen for the first word of appreciation that comes to me by speech, in a letter, or at second hand; or for any fact that indicates appreciation such as a special sale, a change in somebody's plans or policy on account of what I have or have not done, etc. Then I write down just what has been said, or select a few sentences from a letter or the like. I make sure that the person from whom I am taking my indorsement will not object to my use of it. If it is necessary to solicit indorsements, I take my article with me and go and see my friends or any one likely to be interested. I talk my article or plan en- thusiastically, suggest the good points, and hope some one will agree with me and say over what I have said. These ideas then become his and he will probably give them the weight of his name. An indorsement should not be mere praise. The best indorsement is one which says that such a thing is pre- cisely adapted for doing such and such a thing, or that it has done it successfuUy. Properly chosen and arranged, a series of indorse- ments may tell the story in detail of what a thing is and what it can do. The good indorsement makes all your best points, but in the words of some one not the seller. Your series is not complete till you have a sig- nature to every separate argument you make or fact you state. Take up these points one by one and look for backers for them. Most good indorsements are buried in letters relating to various subjects, and have to be extracted. They should be rearranged by the advertiser so that they wiU LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 211 seem to make a complete letter which says just what you want and no more. This selective rearrangement of the matter in a letter is legitimate, and those who are willing to let you use their names at all will consent to the use of a letter amended in this way. As I have already said, indorsements should be looked for not only in somebody's words of praise, but in inter- esting facts. The merest order for a bottle of a particu- lar wine from the Czar of Russia would be the most use- ful possible indorsement. A newspaper may strengthen an advertisement of its cable-news service by printing a facsimile of a bill for cable-tolls if the amount is large. If an especially big order comes in from some well- known house, the check may be reproduced;* it is a mute but powerful witness to your claims. Suppression of name or address from an indorsement usually operates not only to kill the value of what is said, but even to cast suspicion on other statements. And here is a most important note to make : Any ir- regularity that tends to excite suspicion may instantly overcome the entire force of the best possible array of printed indorsements. The thing a man can readily see with his own eyes is the greatest witness of all for or against you. FIVE MAKING A MAN FEEL LIKE ORDERING After all, a man acts more on feeling than on judg- ment. If you make him feel like buying he is pretty sure to buy, but if he does not feel like it he won't do it even if he knows he ought to. Hell let it go till next time and then he won't do it at all. * If photographing Is objectionable, a copy In ordinary type will lerve the purpose. It is more Impressiye than a mere statement of the amount receiyed. 212 HUMAN NATUBB IN BUSINESS The first thing to do to make a man feel like ordering is to write with extreme energy. If you are supremely energetic, the reader gradually gets into your energetic frame of mind, and as he gets more and more enei^etic he wants to do something to let off his enei^y. What more natural than that he should let off that energy in placing an order with you. He does it because he feels he must do something, and that is the easiest thing to do. Then he thinks with energy what a tremendous amount of work he will do with your machine when he gets it. He wants a machine like yours to work off his energy. Energy in a letter is a trick of style, but it consists at bottom in being exceedingly energetic and intense your- self. To write in an energetic style, get into an energetic mood. Next to energy, probably the best thing to make a man feel like buying is the confidential spirit, the spirit of friendship and trust. Another way of putting it is to say tiiat it is magnetism in speech and in writing. The secret of this magnetism is probably self-restraint. If you know a million times as much as you show on the surface, and yourself realize that you know all this, you will somehow contrive to make the other fellow feel that you know far more than you have spoken of, that you can do for him far more than you claim, because you have seemed to say very little and that just the right thing, when it is very plain that you could say so much more. You do not exaggerate in any word or phrase. You carefully refrain from exaggerating. The reader feels the restraint, and he is curious to know what good thing you have kept back. That makes him feel that he wants to know you better. And then men are made to feel like buying by the chatty, good-humored style. It is largely a matter of LETTERS AND ADVERTISING 213 the style, the way the words read, the way they sound when read aloud. A Clever Business- Winner The following letter, put out by a well-known house, has been laughed at as an absurdity. To date a printed form letter as ''Wednesday Evening, 8.30,'' and talk about sitting up late at night to get the letter off, seemed the height of the ridiculous. It was a business joke, however, which the business men who received it appreciated, and it was rewarded by a stack of four hundred remittances within a very few days. Dozens of men who had no earthly use for the book sent in $2 because the letter tickled them so they couldn't keep quiet until they had done it. This letter in a peculiar way made the men to whom it went FEEL like ordering, and they did order. There was no proof, but the letter was sent to old friends. Had it been sent to strangers it would doubtless have failed. Mr. Smith's Office, Wednesday Evening, 8:30. My dear Mr. Sprague : In order to be absolutely certain that this letter is mailed to you to-night — ^and to a few more of our warm- est and oldest friends — ^I have given up almost an entire evening to it. For the matter I am writing you about is unusually important ; and I want to hear from you about it before I leave for New York on Thursday. I will receive from the printers Thursday a few ad- vance copies of J. M. Coates's *'How to Make a Factory Pay" — a business book that I honestly believe will save you more money — ^will do more to protect your whole business system — ^than any other book in print. I intend to make arrangements in New York to adver- 214 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS tise these books throughout America, but I want to dis- tribute these advance copies among our oldest sub- scribers, that I may know their opinions. We have issued no printed matter about **How to Make a Factory Pay.** But even a volume of printed matter could not show you the value of this book as will the book itself. So I want to send you the book. I want you to see for yourself how it tells clearly — ^fnlly — explicitly—exactly how to manage and qrstematize a modem business. But I do not expect you to buy it. I merely want you to look it over AT MY BISK and let me have your frank opinion of it. If you send it back I shall be just as thankful to you as tho you had kept it — and even more satisfied than if you had never sent for it at alL For the frank criticisms from these friends of ours mean a great deal more to me than the mere profit on the sale of these advance copies. You would willingly risk a dozen times $2 for a Eongle plan that would reduce your factory costs alone. Yet this book contains twenty-two money-saving plans that will reduce expenses throughout your whole business- plans of managing and operating a factory — ^plans of hiring and handling employees — ^plans that will check every leak and eliminate every waste in your factory and office. And I do not ask you to risk one single penny to secure them. Merely send for the book ON APPROVAL. The $2 you forward will not be regarded as a remittance, but as a deposit — ^a deposit that can be withdrawn as easily as you can withdraw your bank-balance. And then, if any single chapter alone is not worth ten dollars to you, I will not only return your $2, but I will remit in all $2.10 to pay you in addition for your postage and trouble in looking over the book. J LETTEBS AND ADVERTISING 215 Think of it ! $2 — ^the mere price of a handful of cigars — ^f or the lifetime experience of the highest-salaried fac- tory specialist in the country! And when I make an offer so fair and liberal — ^when you do not even run a risk in sending for the book — can't I send it to you for criticism next week 1 Merely attach a postal order for $2 to this letter — ^post to-night if possible, and use the envelop enclosed. Yours very truly, A. W. SMITH. There is a feeling on the part of modest people and of 'old and conservative business houses that it is infra dig. to write a really personal letter to the public or to busi- ness customers. This letter has been lampooned as a ridiculously personal attempt to bamboozle. The fact remains, however, that it got the business, and the hard- headed business men who received it were glad to get it. It is true that fakers talk and write so cleverly that they sell worthless things to thousands of people, for it is only a clever man who can sell a wortidess article. Good articles sell themselves to a certain extent; but why shouldn't the legitimate manufacturer or salesman talk just as earnestly and just as cleverly about his good article as the faker does about his poor one? If you really have something good, write in the earnest, enthusiastic, personal way that brings orders. SIX MAKE ORDERING EASY, SAFE, AND QUICK Tho you may excite a man's desire, tho you may suc- cessfully appeal to his reason, and prove your case, and make him feel like ordering, you may lose all unless you clinch the order on the spot. And this can be done only bj making the way to order easy, safe, and quick. 216 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS When I send out circulars I say, ^'Pin a dollar bill to this letter and send at my risk in the enclosed en- velop." The man's name and address are on the letter I send to him. In my letter are all the terms of the contract. He does not have to write a word, or look for an envelop and address it, or go after a i>ostal order, or write a check. He puts the dollar in the envelop with the letter, seals it, stamps it, mails it. Nothing could be easier. I tell him just what to do and he can hardly resist my command. He wants to obey and he does obey. But I want to make it safe for him. I therefore tell him he may have his dollar back for the simple asking. He sends it on deposit. He takes no risk whatever. He can back out later if he changes his mind. Why should he think it over now, when he will have all the rest of his life to think it over and to back out if he thinks he ought tot It is not only easy and quick, but it is safe, and there is no need for the cautious to worry. In my opinion it is a great mistake ever to encourage delay of any kind. Make your letter such that it will work the buyer up to the buying-point, and then clinch him on the spot or never. Get something out of him that commits him. Once a man is committed, it is hard for him to back out. This is the way the canvasser does, and this is the way the letter salesman must do. Make every advertisement get orders. All inquiries ought to be orders. Make letters get orders, for what are in- quiries worth f The very name indicates a possibility, and the reader of your letter will never feel more like buying than when he finishes reading your letter. Let him pass the thing for a day, and he will probably pass it for life unless you go after him again in the same way. In my judgment a letter which does not bring quick returns is of little or no value. LETTEBS AND ADVEBTISING 217 Clinchers Canvassers know that the art of clinching an order is not an easy one. Some never learn it, and so fail com- pletely, tho proficient in every other respect. Clinching an order by mail often requires a clinching device. A very usual device is "wholesale price for a short time only.*' A fictitious price is made to be cut. This is so usual that buyers seem to expect it, and are not satisfied unless they get it. They know it is fictitious in many cases, but there is always that possibility that the price may change suddenly and so action should not be delayed. This is a good clincher. It is very usual to give a smaU and inexpensive pre- mium for an immediate order. Sometimes a discount is given for an order within ten days. Letter to Clinch Orders Good letters to clinch orders are not common. The following has been used with success by an American correspondence school (personal signature of the author of the system), when sample books on Business Corres- pondence have been ordered on approval with deposit of $1, subject to return : Dear Sir: I have received the dollar you sent, and enclose the first instalments and full outline of the Smart System. Notice — 1. There are no lessons or exercises to prepare. You apply the suggestion directly to the letters you are writ- ing every day, and if you wish you may send two bundles of carbon copies to me for criticism. 2. If you want help on special letters, I will either 218 HUMAN NATURE IN BUSINESS rewrite entirely one or two letters, or give yon twice a general criticism of your follow-up system. This service is worth twice the cost of the system. I can't teach you how to run your business. But I do know what human nature is, and how to line up words so they will make people send you business, so far as any words will do it. Let me add my general knowl- edge to your special knowledge and win. Send the remaining $9 to-day and let us get to work. If you prefer, you may send $2 now, and $3 a month till you have paid $12 in all. A prompt answer will be appreciated. Cordially yours, This letter is followed by an invoice, and a week later by the following letter: Dear Sir : Please let me know by return mail whether you will keep the books of the Smart System in Business Cor-