'll Bet I know what you are thinking now. You are probably saying to yourself something like this: " 'Letters that produced miraculous results!' Absurd! Smacks of patent-medicine advertising!" t you are thinking that, I don't blame you. I would probably have thought that myself if I had picked up a book like this fifteen years ago. Sceptical? Well, I like sceptical people. I spent the first twenty years of my life in Missouri—and I like people who have to be shown. Almost all the progress ever made in human thought has been made by the Doubting Thomases, the questioners, the challengers, the show-me crowd.
et's be honest. Is the title, "Letters That Produced Miraculous Results," accurate? No, to be frank with you, it isn't. The truth is, it is a deliberate understatement of fact. Some of the letters reproduced in this chapter harvested results that were rated twice as good as miracles. Rated by whom? By Ken R. Dyke, one of the best-known sales promotion men in America, formerly sales promotion manager for Johns-Manville, and now advertising manager for Colgate-Palmolive Peet Company and Chairman of the Board of the Association of National Advertisers.
r Dykes says that letters he used to send out, asking for information from dealers, seldom brought more than a return of 5 to 8 per cent. He said he would have regarded a 15 per cent response as most extraordinary, and told me that, if his replies had ever soared to 20 per cent, he would have regarded it as nothing short of a miracle.
ut one of Mr Dyke's letters, printed in this chapter, brought 42 1/2 per cent; in other words, that letter was twice as good as a miracle. You can't laugh that off. And this letter wasn't a sport, a fluke, an accident. Similar results were obtained from scores of other letters.
ow did he do it? Here is the explanation in Ken Dyke's own words: "This astonishing increase in the effectiveness of letters occurred immediately after I attended Mr Carnegie's course in 'Effective Speaking and Human Relations.' I saw that the approach I had formerly used was all wrong. I tried to apply the principles taught in this book—and they resulted in an increase of from 500 to 800 per cent in the effectiveness of my letters asking for information."
ere is the letter. It pleases the other man by asking him to do the writer a small favour—a favour that makes him feel important. My own comments on the letter appear in parentheses. Mr John Blank, Blankville, Indiana. Dear Mr Blank:
wonder if you would mind helping me out of a little difficulty?
Let's get the picture clear. Imagine a lumber dealer in Indiana receiving a letter from an executive of the Johns-Manville Company; and in the first line of the letter, this high-priced executive in New York asks the other fellow to help him out of a difficulty. I can imagine the dealer in Indiana saying to himself something like this: "Well, if this chap in New York is in trouble, he has certainly come to the right person. I always try to be generous and help people. Let's see what's wrong with him!")
ast year, I succeeded in convincing our company that what our dealers needed most to help increase their re-roofing sales was a year 'round direct-mail campaign paid for entirely by Johns-Manville.
The dealer out in Indiana probably says, "Naturally, they ought to pay for it. They're hogging most of the profit as it is. They're making millions while I'm having hard scratchin' to pay the rent. ... Now what is this fellow in trouble about?")
ecently I mailed a questionnaire to the 1,600 dealers who had used the plan and certainly was very much pleased with the hundreds of replies which showed that they appreciated this form of co-operation and found it most helpful.
n the strength of this, we have just released our new direct-mail plan which I know you'll like still better.
ut this morning our president discussed with me my report of last year's plan and, as presidents will, asked me how much business I could trace to it. Naturally, I must come to you to help me answer him.
That's a good phrase: "I must come to you to help me answer him." The big shot in New York is telling the truth, and he is giving the Johns-Manville dealer in Indiana honest, sincere recognition. Note that Ken Dyke doesn't waste any time talking about how important his company is. Instead, he immediately shows the other fellow how much he has to lean on him. Ken Dyke admits that he can't even make a report to the president of Johns-Manville without the dealer's help. Naturally, the dealer out in Indiana, being human, likes that kind of talk.)
hat I'd like you to do is (1) to tell me, on the enclosed postcard, how many roofing and re-roofing jobs you feel last year's direct-mail plan helped you secure, and (2) give me, as nearly as you can, their total estimated value in dollars and cents (based on the total cost of the jobs applied).
f you'll do this, I'll surely appreciate it and thank you for your kindness in giving me this information.
Sincerely, KEN R. DYKE, Sales Promotion Manager