The Greatest Little Book on Salesmanship Ever Published

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For forty years it sat locked in a file cabinet, forgotten and unpublished in its author’s lifetime.  Now the “greatest little book on salesmanship” is finally being released in print, thanks to Internet Marketing pioneer Ken McCarthy and the System Press.

The Secret of Selling Anything, written by Harry Browne in the late 1960s, is now available in print for the first time ever. Browne, who passed away in 2006, was a well-respected writer, speaker, politician, and media personality, gaining the national spotlight as U.S. Presidential candidate in 1996 and 2006 for the Libertarian Party.

Harry Browne was a fantastic thinker and writer. His ideas impacted my life in myriad ways, from my politics to my finances. I was honored to meet Harry in person a few years before his passing. When I met him in person, all I could do was thank him for putting his ideas in print.

Harry lived his life as a salesman. From selling educational courses door-to-door, to selling his investment newsletters, to selling libertarian ideas to the wider public as a politician, Harry was always selling. And he was always selling using a special, low-key and completely ethical selling system. A selling system like nothing else you’ve encountered.

This brings me to why you need to read The Secret of Selling Anything. Because, every human interaction is “sales” — from negotiating a car loan at your credit union, to convincing your children to make good choices. Getting a job requires selling yourself. And certainly marketing and copywriting ought to always be about selling.

And THIS is the book you need to read about sales. I’m not exaggerating when I say this book is a future classic in sales and marketing, on par with works by Dale Carnegie, Frank Bettger and Claude Hopkins.

In fact, the print version has already been endorsed by Gary Bencivenga, Bob Bly, Richard Armstrong, Drayton Bird and Denny Hatch. These guys are all A-list direct response copywriters whose controls have created millions of dollars.

“I am convinced this is one of the greatest little books ever published on effective salesmanship,” said living legend copywriter Gary Bencivenga. “If you could read only one book in your life on how to sell anything to anybody, and do so without relying on high pressure, manipulation, exaggeration, or even an extroverted personality, this would be the book.”

The e-book version has been on the market for a couple years. But this book belongs in your physical bookshelf, an heirloom to pass down to your children and grandchildren. Get the print version, you won’t regret it.

To order your print copy of The Secret of Selling Anything by Harry Browne, visit: http://www.thesecretofsellinganything.com

(* Non-affiliate link…I just love the book and believe you will thank me after reading it!)

The Clip Show

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I was watching a Seinfeld rerun the other day. The entire episode was made up of clips from previous episodes.  I found myself laughing along, even though I’ve seen most of these scenes 10 times each. Appropriately enough, the title of this Seinfeld episode was “The Clip Show.”

These “clip shows” must be easy for the show’s writers! Just take the best scenes from all the past seasons and run those. These shows often get the highest ratings too.

Lately I’ve noticed serious TV dramas such as “Lost” and “Battlestar Galactica” are using the clip show idea. It’s a way to bring in new viewers who might have missed the previous seasons and need to catch up.

Some of the storylines in these TV dramas are so complicated, even dedicated regular viewers of these shows (like me) enjoy getting a refresher!

Now, nothing I’ve written to you is part of a complicated storyline. But I think I have sent you some interesting ideas.  And it’s possible you missed a couple episodes, especially if you are new here…

So I’m going to give a quick “clip show” of my blog posts over the last 12 months:

Gary Halbert’s Favorite Ads: The 19 “must-have” ads for your swipe file…

http://theryanmcgrath.com/2010/04/gary-halberts-favorite-ads/

My Exclusive Interview with Copywriter/Novelist Richard Armstrong…

http://theryanmcgrath.com/2010/10/interview-copywriternovelist-richard-armstrong/

How To Find an Endless River of Copywriting Ideas: Using a simple but unknown feature of Google…

http://theryanmcgrath.com/2010/06/find-endless-river-copywriting-ideas/

Two Killer Opening Lines for Your Next Sales Letter or Ad: And also for your emails, blog posts, etc…

http://theryanmcgrath.com/2010/09/killer-opening-lines-sales-letter-ad/

My Interview with the Legendary Denny Hatch, The Method Marketing Man…

http://theryanmcgrath.com/2010/10/interview-denny-hatch-method-marketing-man/

That’s all for now. You can find all my past posts on my blog, if you want to check them out.

Thanks for reading and stay in touch!

Ryan McGrath

PS: I’m currently booked up with copywriting projects. But if you can wait 2-3 months, I might be able to help you with a sales letter or email copywriting…if you qualify. Since I’ve got a full plate right now, I can be selective. For example, if you are selling an information product, like a book or a newsletter, I’ll put you near the top of the list.  If you are interested in my services, your best bet is to leave me a voicemail at 616-439-0320 with details about your project.

Sell The Story

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This is a guest post from Stephen Dean. Thanks Stephen!

How do you make a normal product special?

Simple, sell the story.  And if you don’t have a story to sell, find one.

If you’ve ever read Claude Hopkins’ book, “My Life In Advertising,” then you know what I mean.

Let me share a story from the book.

Ever heard of a carpet sweeper?  The carpet sweeper was invented in the late 1870’s, and were used quiet frequently until vacuums largely replaced them.

They were popular, but boring.  Like baking soda, many homes owned one but only needed to replace it every 10 years.

Still, the Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company needed to sell more sweepers if the business was to grow.  Their plan, like many businesses today, was to simply create a better sweeper. And hopefully consumers would drop their old sweeper for a new and improved one.

Claude Hopkins was their ad man. And he had a different idea entirely.

After learning about an exotic wood from India, harvested in Government camps by convicts and hauled out by Elephants… he demanded the new sweepers be constructed from this wood.

The businessmen laughed at Claude.  Carpet Sweeper’s could be made from any wood, why import wood from India?

Because Claude understood the power of a story.  Where a better carpet sweep had failed, a tale of convicts working with elephants to cut down trees in a foreign land won.

Claude got his way and new carpet sweeps were made of vermilion wood.  The subsequent advertising campaign featured pictures of the Indian Rajah, elephants, exotic forests and told tales of the foreign wood.

It worked.  In Claude’s words:

“The response was overwhelming. The Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company made more money in the next six weeks than they had made in any year before. They had vastly increased the number of dealers handling carpet sweepers. And they had multiplied the interest of women in a device which was then in but limited use.”

The lesson again: if you have a normal product, sell the story. And if you don’t have a story, find one.

Claude Hopkins did it by changing the way the sweepers were manufactured.  You may be able to do the same.

Or you could find a customer of yours with an interesting story and borrow it.

Or you could find an interesting person and associate them with your product. (One-Legged-Golfer anyone?)

All it takes is some imagination combined with curiosity to find a story to sell.

Once you find it, writing a winning ad will come as easy breathing.

Copywriter Stephen Dean writes sales copy that demands champagne celebrations – specializing in health, wealth and product launch copy. He regularly reveals his secrets at his blog, Copywriting Dean.

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