The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1915-03-17
TELLS CLUB Of
SALES LETTERS
Costello Was Principal Speaker
at Advertising Club
Luncheon Today.
HAS HAD WIDE EXPERIENCE

The Sales Letter rs ii Factor IN
Modern Merchandising" was the sub
jrct Of very interesting address 10y
/ Tom D.Costello Of Kansas city be
fore the Oklahoma city Ad club at the
/ Lee. luckins hotel during the noon
/ hour.
/ In opening his address Mir Costello
/ stated that one Of the hardest ana
most Important tasks assigned 10 an
/ advertising writer Is the preparation
/ uf II series NJ sales letters. lie then
| gave as the reasons for this condition
| the fact that II was necessary 10 re-
fleet the business character Of the
| firm and that coming uS II does, un-
| invited. II must be- interesting To Insure
reading aud rcreadIug together with
sufficient strength to direct the pur
rhusc NJ the recipient To the store.
Nh. Costello stated that In his bus
inrss. doing uu annual volume Of
aunrtpr uf "a million dollars Il year
he met every kind uf advertiser and
thnt II was from these he has secured
the knowledge and evidence that many
failures of advertisers can be traced
to the hastily written poorly con
Strurtrd sales letter.
lie gave two reasons for this condl'
tiOn. one that very few advertisers are
capable of writing good letter ana
the other that the advertiser fails to
realize the Importance Of the proper
construction Of Il follow-up system.
First Loss Was Gain.
He explained that the very heart
and soul of campaign was In writ
ign these letters and that no matter
whit the condition Of the display or
how cheap II may produce inquiries {;
II the follow up Is weak the proposi.
| tiuu is doumrd
/ Costello then gave an illustration "
La large gasoline engine firm which
made failure In this manner, IA fail.
urc which cost It $4,000 but which
the members stated was profitable
$4O.OOO from the fact that they Sc
cured nm education along this line they
could have not secured, or did not Sc
cure. In amy other way; all because
they had nothing tO back up their first
series or letters
Last year this same company did an
annual business Of more than million
dollars at un advertising expenditure
Of SSOOOO The records showing that
un engine was sold on every seventh
inquiry.
The question what is II good sales
letter. was then answered by Mr..
Costello who stated that 1t was nee
cssary to inauglrute the right kind
and hook" them up with news
paper campaign He stated that the
filling In must be- accurate, that the
letter should be- signed personally by
some one In authority and that the
average cost Of such letter should
not be over five cents.
Personality Also Counts.
Brevlty he stated, applied only to
retail sales letters He defined the
difference between letters Of retail
store and mail order business, eX-
planning that II was necessary for
the mail order house to anticipate
every argument and meet It with log
ica argument.
He also Illustrated the success "
some retailers by reading the letters
they had sent ont and gave as eyl
dence Of their success the records ~
their business as In the case u the
gasoline factory which at first Called
because OF poorly prepared copy and
lack " follow up material
The element of human nature aud
personality should not he underestl
mated" MIR Costello stated, and rs an
evidence NJ this he rpnd letter
which had been used successfully 10y
western bank
Mr. Costello has been guest " the
members " the Adj club while In this
city aud will leave this evening for
his home in Kansas city, where he ~
connected with the Capper puhllca
I / tinna