http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2020/02/85-americas-two-greatest-tv-pitchmen.html
Posted
by Denny Hatch
America's Two Greatest TV Pitchmen:
They Could Sell Viagra to a Eunuch!
Billy
Mays Ron Popeil
What Is the
Secret of Success in Selling?
Piling on
Benefits Like There's No Tomorrow!
Above are two marketing experts who sold ordinary
products.
Billy
Mays glorified such plebeian products as a soap additive and a mechanical shovel
for the garden as well as two dozen other gadgets and goodies.
Ron
Popeil (and members of his family) sold a set of cheap knives for kitchen and
dinner table while a studio audience of consumers hung on their every word,
frequently cheering and applauding.
Watching
these great performances is a riveting experience.
The
techniques they developed should be studied and picked up by consumer and business marketers of
products and services and exploited by their salesmen, product managers, account
executives, copywriters and designers at every level of the marketing process.
Billy
Mays’ Assault on Your Senses
What am I talking about? Spend a jaw
dropping minute and 57 seconds while Billy Mays hawks the ultimate gardener’s gizmo—the "Awesome Auguer.
This was Mays’ breakthrough effort. He sold
6,000 of these motorized landscaping tools in the first 11 minutes on Home Shopping Network.
In
the following 12 years Mays went on to sell 25 more products with the same
hysterical high-pitched intensity and frenzied gestures he brought to AwesomeAuger.
Mays’ genius was to elevate rather mundane gadgets to life-changing
necessities as he demonstrated more and more ways they could save you time and money
and make your life easier.
I
Erred…
I have always had sensitive hearing. I find
loud noises painful.
Over a period of years, Billy Mays’ was all
over television at all times of night and day like a cheap suit.
Whenever
I heard that piercing voice shout, “Billy Mays here with the….” I
switched channels. His sound was like fingernails on a blackboard.
Looking back, I should have watched and taken notes on every one of his 26 performances. He would have made me a
far better publisher, direct marketer, consultant and copywriter. In short, I would have
made a lot more money had I paid serious attention to Billy Mays.
For example, look at the sequence of the
AwesomeAuger commercial. At the outset Mays shouts:
“Just attach it to any
size drill. Then pull the trigger…”
Whereupon he pulls out of his quiver a wondrous
collection of garden tools—digger, burrower, mixer, tiller and weed killer—all these for just
$19.95!
Dealing with the Two Potential Deal Killers
The lurking questions that made his offer highly suspect:
• “How can I be sure these attachments will fit my power drill?"
• "What if I don’t own a power drill?"
• “How can I be sure these attachments will fit my power drill?"
• "What if I don’t own a power drill?"
WHAM! The Kicker! A Free
Drill!
A $120 Value for Only $19.95!
A stunning climax! It’s truly
a great deal!
How can you say no?
Note: For the complete collection of every
product Billy Mays ever pitched, click here.
Ron
Popeil’s Stunning
Knife Set Infomercial
Knife Set Infomercial
One show
that used to stop me cold—I was hooked every time it came on—was a 30-minute
infomercial selling a giant collection of cheap knives.
This was a family affair, starring entrepreneur Ron Popeil along with his two daughters,
Lauren and Shannon.
Another
other key player—and sheer delight—was Ron’s fast talking cousin, Arnold Morris.
Wearing a high white chef’s toque and a blue apron,
cousin Arnold was a wonderful old time pitchman from the midway of 19th
century carnivals. As the two Popeil daughters keep appearing with new knives,
cousin Arnold delivers riveting patter as he effortlessly slices, dices, chops
and carves before a wildly enthusiastic studio audience.
Benefits,
Benefits and More Benefits!
“Wait, There’s More!” You Can’t Say No!
These are attractive fun people. They love their
product and believe in it deeply.
What’s
more, they are letting the viewer in on one whale of a deal that keeps getting
better and better and better.
Midway through
the infomercial Popeil himself takes over and whips the audience into a frenzy.
He finishes demonstrating a knife, throws up his hands and shouts, “Wait!
There’s more!” or “I’m not finished yet!” Whereupon he produces another knife
or three.
Screwy Arithmetic? Who Cares?
Throughout presentation are statements such as:
• These four steak knives sell at retail for $17.95
each!”
• “Isn’t it true, Ron, you sold this knife by itself
for a retail price of $100?”
Tally up the “retail prices” quoted onscreen and
the total is many hundreds of dollars-worth of cutlery. Yet this 25-piece set
of knives, knife sharpener, kitchen shears and “Flavor Injector” costs only
$39.99. (“3 easy payments of $13.33!” shouts the studio audience gleefully in
unison.)
How Did Ron and Cousin Arnold Get Away with It?
The infomercial is a fascinating powerhouse where
two master salesmen unleash spectacular theater. A viewer watching the studio
audience laughing, cheering and applauding on cue—plus the avalanche of
knives—will be immediately swept up in the drama and excitement.
• They forget the ancient caveat: “If it sounds too
good to be true, it probably is.”
• Popeil & Co. created a “willing
suspension of disbelief.”
• The infomercial was obviously a huge success,
because it ran month in, month out.
If you have never seen this masterpiece...
CLICK ON THIS LINK:
If you have never seen this masterpiece...
CLICK ON THIS LINK:
Sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Unhappy Endings
•Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa, Florida
home by his wife on June 28, 2009. The cause was hypertensive heart disease.
Billy Mays was 50. His net worth was estimated to be $10 million.
• Ron Popeil, inventor and purveyor of the
Veg-O-Matic, Pocket Fisherman, Showtime Rotisserie, Solid Flavor Injector,
Automatic Pasta Maker and “THERE’S MORE!” sold his company to Fi-Tek
VII, a Denver holding company, for a reported $55 million. The company was
renamed Ronco. On June 13, 2018,
Ronco changed its bankruptcy filing from Chapter 11 (reorganization) to Chapter 7, full liquidation and
shut down. Ron Popeil, 84, is reportedly worth $200 million.
Takeaways
to Consider
• If you are selling a product or service, work
like hell to come up with every possible feature and make a giant list.
• Turn those features into benefits.
• “People don’t want quarter-inch drills. They want
quarter-inch holes.”
—The
difference between features and benefits. MBA Magazine
• Follow the legendary David
Ogilvy’s thinking process when he created his great one-page ad for
Rolls-Royce—with a headline so unique it garnered Ogilvy's place in the Oxford
Dictionary of Quotations.
• With whatever you're promoting, don't be shy. Pile on the features and benefits.
• The two most powerful words in this infomercial:
• “The prospect doesn’t give a damn about you, your
company or your product. All that matters is, ‘What’s in it for me’?”
—Bob
Hacker, Seattle Direct Marketing wizard
• Always listen to WII-FM.
—Old
marketing maxim
###
Word count: 1191
Larry Shier said it was okay to post his email to me:
ReplyDeleteI’ve attached you a PDF of all Billy’s infomercial transcripts so you don’t necessarily have to go watch them on YouTube. I refer to these often when I have to write copy
http://billymays.s3.amazonaws.com/billymaystranscripts.pdf
These are great points. I used to tell people I learned marketing from watching infomercials (Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ back to back to back on Sunday mornings), professional wrestling and televangelism (most brilliant of all send me "seed faith" money get a piece of cloth with oil on it from the holy land). Always asking for the sale. I thoroughly enjoyed the Pitchmen documentary series about Mays and company.
ReplyDeleteGreat presenters always look in the eyes of the audience. Whether one-on-one in a desk top presentation or at a DMCNY meeting, your eyes capture the audience. Even in 2022, people still don't understand that. Too bad, i.e. Representative Maloney.
ReplyDelete