The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22
NAIL ORDER MANS SCIENCE.
ggE ART OF SELLING GOODS BY
PRINTERS XNK.
sdoals OF Advertisins-How Results Are
checked OT--Bsttle Only HAN Fought
When Letters Of Inquiry Come
business Value OF Good Mailing List.

and the system Of recording results In
tho mail order business.
broadly speaking he said, 'our adj
v.rtsing Is divided into three GLASSES:
C~ensral publicity, merely playing up the
psnno OF the company or articles; general
Advertising, creating O sale for q product
through retailers and jobbers by pub
udty; mail order. seeking a. direct salo
by mail through advertising.
soun belongs to the last class for the
most part, and the results are no longer
conjecture, they arc q specific certainty.
We carry space In more than sixty different
magazines and newspapers, and know the
INCOME from every n Of them in dollars
and cents,
sWe undertake to mako our advertise
uents salssmanlike by printers ink
that Ia, visual rather than audible sales
manship. We do on paper just what the
store clerk or traveller does: Bring o.
tbe good points OF our goods, and cover
M tho bad ones, II there are any.
sThe high rates charged by magazines
and newspapers for space neoessitate the
employment of men who can AL this space
With concise logic and a certain convincing
quslity. A personal salesman, you know.
nav have logic and facility OF expression,
vt lack the magnetism necessary to carry
oonyiction. 1t is easier TO find the money
No Day men who a write this kind Of adj
~yertlsing than 1t Ii to find the man.
Here Ia an example OF my meaning.
n Is not ours, it Is general advertising,
but the principle is the same and conoisely
Illustrates the point"
The publicity mar took q magazine from
bis desk and clipped the following:
II you could take out the metal filling of q
silver spoon. the pure silver plate re-
naming would stM be almost heavy enough
10 eat with.
Il ia this especially heavy plate of pure
silver on every piece Of - silver which
makes IL wear SO we'll and look 30 well-it Is
this that gives 1t the delicate lines and beauti-
ful appearance OF sterling.
- silver Ia made only In o plate heavier
than triple. In buying II you are getting
more than triple value-at the price Of ordi-
nary plate.
United States Assayers' report shows that
- silver teaspoons have an ounce more
pure silver than any other make Of plate ware,
AZ all dealers.
sOf course the character OF matter Of
general policy in an advertisement Is gov
armed by the character Of the goods and
trade conditions, but the principle I have
Just Illustrated is a growing tendency in all
classes Of publicity.
1T u Q Lesson that We mai order people
learned first from the department and dry
goods stores In their daily newspaper adj
yertisements. They do not merely play
III the name Of the store; they advertise
something specific each day, tell facts and
.SsS tS S3t5 Pr ss much AZ Z in fs 3 .eT sse n rs%s
columns.
SIN turn the general advertiser has
learned the lesson from the mail order peo-
pie, for they say II our advertising will sell
goods by mail it will sell, goods over the
counters. Az q result there are fewer
catch phrases, curious trademarks, verses
and pictures q to Illustrate the point;
there arc fewer pictures for the pictures
aThey are telling the merits Of the goods
and making the goods better in order to tell
the truth. Ihave no doubt there is as much
time, energy, thought and money being
spent On the advertising sections Of maya
zines and newspapers In preparing the
matter as in the literary and news depart
ments.
sAs I said, we know the results Of all our
various mediums Of publicity. This Is done
BY what Is known as keying advertise
tents. There are several ways of doing
this.
zone is by requesting the reader to ad-
dress a certain department-Department
A or B or @, etc, each Representing a GER
tain medium. For instance, A might mean
Smtkhs Mdpdsine, and II a letter Is received
addressed to Department A, you would
at onoe know that the writer saw the adj
yertisement In that magazine.
b'Another way Is by street addresses. Large
concerns frequently have many street num-
bers and il they haven't they can appropri-
ate some. For example: 1928 Main street
might be given as the address In Smith's
Magazine, l2e in Jones's Magazine, l2s In
BH0tBnA NannSiup tn n lattar liz ranaiVad
addressed TO l26 you know that 1t Is a result
Of the ad. in Jones's Magazine.
Still another way is by requesting the
writer to send for Booklet 23-A or 23-B or
particular medium, on the principle I
just. explt ned. This is rather the better
method; for frequently writer's neglect to
give the street number or department on
their letters. One interested in a partic-
ular thing is naturally careful to request
tho particular literature pertaining to II.
An inquiries received as the result OF
advertising are recorded in a special book.
To each medium are given one or more
pages divided into columns with the fol-
loving hesdr Date of Issue Amount
q Space to Date, Number Of Inquiries.
Cost OF Each Inquiry per Issue Cost OF
Each Inquiry to Date and Number and
Amount Of Orders
This system enables US to Judge to q
ANoty INC ulGOluIlS tuut GIG utbJ rbltCN
TO our particular needs and the character
OF mater 70 use in each. For the last We
try several different kinds and note the
result from each.
This record develops some curious
taots. 1t Ia not always the large srace
nor the matter that pleases your fancy
nat brings the results. We get INQUIRIES
that cost us as low as 10 cents, and we have
bad them cost as high as 81, but 1t is usually
re ones between these figures that bring
the business. Then, again, we Frequently
find we have supplied the demand for ouI
Product in the circulation Of o certain maya.
ene, and in that case we withdraw the ad.
vertisement for a time.
After an advertisement has been prop.
e,fiy written and placed the battle fer or
ders is only half fought. Al that an ad'
vertisement car get Is INQUIRIES for prices
and printed matter, and the real effort mrst
DC placed on these.
We follow up all inquiries with two
cent letters at intervals Of five. ten ano
twenty DAYS. These are Just as carefully
Prepared as the original advertisement ano
put forth more argument for our goods,
They are usually written in the first
person and supposedly signed by some