This Pitchman's Playbook Is a Treasure Trove of Direct-Selling Techniques
Originally published in 1972, it offers a master class on every page
Not every Master of Marketing had the skills, resources or wherewithal to write and publish a professional book. In fact, some of the most interesting documents in my personal DR library are reproductions of what must have been loose pages or pamphlets in their original form. The Compleat1 Pitchman by Dan Boles is a prime example.
Here’s the official description:
Author Don Boles gives you, the reader, a unique look into actual pitches for a number of popular, money making items.
Originally published in 1972, this nostalgic and limited book has been expanded from a smaller format to a FULL size 8-1/2 x 11 booklet.Reading that, you just know this “book” is going to be awesome — and indeed it is! I’ve written before about how much we direct marketers owe to the pitchmen of yesteryear. As Al Eicoff, the founding father of direct-response television (DRTV), put it: “Pitchmen created the perfect sales pitch and, eventually, the perfect commercial.” Boles’ book shows how true Eicoff’s statement is — and how studying the art of the pitch can make you a better marketer.
A review of the book on Amazon nicely summarize its value:
This is the only book ever printed that presents actual pitchman scripts in their entirety. It is one of a kind. Pick any single pitch and you are reading the real deal — the invocation, invitation, and neurolinguistic genius of a pitchman’s patter. On display for all to experience, the hypnotic combination and repetition that only those who remember the old school guys can appreciate.
All right, let’s take that advice, pick a pitch and see what gems it might contain for us. In fact, let’s pick a pitch for a product that is still being sold everywhere today: knives.
Frozen Food Knife
Already with the name, we have our first lesson: Give your product a unique position “in the mind,” as Ries & Trout might say. Knives are common. They were common back in Dan Boles’ day (some 60 years ago), and they are even more common now. So what’s the hook that helps you cut through the clutter?
Calling your knife a “frozen food knife.”
I like this so much because even with modern kitchen gadgets of every kind, dealing with frozen food is still an problem. In fact, helping to solve that problem has a storied DRTV history that goes back to at least the 1990s. For instance, here’s a Top 10 DRTV commercial from 1995:
These thawing trays continue to sell (you can find them all over Amazon), but has anyone thought to position a knife as a solution to this problem? Boles did! Below is a breakdown of his pitch and the demos he used to make that pitch.
This is a patented stainless steel knife for frozen foods … the only frozen food knife that I know of that will actually cut these things we’re going to demonstrate.
It may seem obvious to start your pitch by telling people why your product is unique (the only XYZ) and what they are about to see. Yet how many times do we observe marketers skipping this step in short video formats? So much of pitching is storytelling and leading people on a journey. Well, imagine if you started reading a novel or watching a movie and it immediately jumped to the climax. You’d be completely disoriented and unable to process what you just saw. The same goes for selling.
Here is a piece of frozen pork steak which we will cut in two. Right through the bone. You can also disjoint chicken or turkey. Cut them completely in two. Use what you wish and place the rest back in the freezer. Slices through all types of frozen foods for cooking without thawing the entire package.
The obvious technique here is to prove the initial claim with right-before-your-eyes demonstrations that amaze. Notice he doesn’t just cut through frozen meat, he cuts through frozen bone. But also note the less-obvious technique of ending with a benefit. Remember: Benefits have significantly more selling power than features. This knife can cut up a chicken while it’s still frozen. That’s great. But why does it matter? Because then you don’t have to thaw more chicken than you need for that particular meal. Everyone knows you can’t refreeze poultry once it has thawed. That was a common, everyday problem in the 1960s — and it’s still a problem in 2024.
Here is a package of frozen squash. You can use this on any type of frozen vegetable … Wonderful for citrus fruits: oranges, lemons, limes. Slice them thin or thick … Why, it will even slice the ripest, juiciest tomatoes. Look, a perfectly sliced tomato every time.
Forget mere secondary benefits, great pitchmen gave their audiences every possible benefit they could credibly cram into a pitch. The lines above come after the obvious benefit of being able to slice up hams, turkeys, roasts and bread. Boles then returns to frozen — vegetables this time — and ends with fruit. It all happens in seconds, giving the overall impression of a huge amount of usefulness and tons of value.
Now we are going to do something with this knife which is virtually impossible with any other knife. I am actually GOING TO CUT A BLOCK OF ICE IN HALF. This definitely proves it will cut any type of frozen food.
The third item on my checklist of 10 Tried & True Techniques for Commercials is to “demo the product repeatedly” (see above) and then end with “a magic demo.” You can see where I got that particular flow. The above is a prime example of culminating magic that puts the cherry on top and removes all doubts that the product can deliver on its promise. In the DRTV world, I took to calling this the “not that you would but you could” demo. Not that you would cut a block of ice in half with a kitchen knife … but you could!
Guaranteed to never have to be sharpened …
This patented edge, as we mentioned before, never needs to be sharpened …
And remember, this knife never has to be sharpened. It will slice tomatoes like this indefinitely.
In the course of this short pitch, Boles hits “patented” twice and the ‘doesn’t need sharpening’ message no less than three times. These secondary selling messages are artfully sprinkled throughout, cleverly reinforcing the knife’s uniqueness and emphasizing yet another key benefit of owning the product. The word “indefinitely” at the end is an especially nice touch.
Isn’t this terrific? …
Isn’t that amazing? …
Isn’t that wonderful?
I end with these coloring phrases to alert you to a technique that is so subtle, you rarely ever hear it used these days. That’s a mistake. Boles uses one of these quick lines after every ‘wow’ demo. In doing so, he says out loud what the audience is thinking — or what he wants them to be thinking. He’s in their heads, perhaps even speaking to them in their own voice. People have often ascribed Svengali-like mental powers to pitchmen and their infomercial descendants, accusing them of a kind of ‘mind control.’ Well, here’s one of the techniques that explains why they believe that. Others include “hey, that’s me!” openings and the ability to anticipate objections. Use all three, and you’ll become a master of mind control yourself!
Paying subscribers can head over to The Library of DRTV and check out the three best DRTV knife pitches I’ve seen in recent years. These are a master class of their own:
Don’t have access? No problem. Just hit the button below to upgrade, and I’ll grant you instant access.
Once you’re in, be sure to check out the latest products from today’s pitch masters. There’s a new version of a ceiling fan that’s already a top 10 DRTV item, an attempt to bring back one of the biggest bestsellers of all time (Pillow Pets), a vacuum cleaner named for an aquatic bird — and more!
As an added bonus, I’ll even send you a free copy of my “Hits Database.” This document that contains every nationally ranked DRTV campaign since 1995. It has more than 2,900 entries and counting, making it the ultimate research tool!
Not a typo. “Compleat” is an archaic spelling of “complete.”
Great stuff... I thought the same thing about compleat at first... But then I thought would Jordan let that get by.... I dout it ... :).