Search Results for: Victor Schwab

When a book title is perfect, there’s no need for a copywriter to wrack his brain over a headline…even if he’s the best.

And that’s exactly what Victor Schwab did. He used Dale Carnegie’s book title, “How To Win Friends And Influence People,” as the headline for the now legendary space ad.

Even though the copy for this ad was written 72 years ago, the most formidable writer would be challenged to top it today.

The book, of course, remains one of the most influential self-help/business books of all time. So much so, it was even widely read in the former Soviet Union.

“How To Win Friends And Influence People”

Two powerhouse direct marketers credit the same little known book by Frank Bettger for their success: Gary Bencivenga, the world’s greatest living copywriter and Marty Edelston, the founder of the $100 million per annum company, Boardroom.

After reading Victor Schwab’s spectacular (for the 1950’s) bullets, I’ve pulled “How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success Through Selling” for a needed refresher.

I am making a guess that Victor Schwab not only wrote the ad for the book but also the chapter titles. Schwab’s extensive track record at that time included the world class ad for “How To Win Friends And Influence People.” That was also the headline for the ad. One of the few instances in which the title of the book is so good, it’s impossible to come up with something better.

Bettger understood the power of great copy and smartly turned the chapter titling over to one of the world’s best ad writers rather than a book editor.

Keep in mind these bullets were written in 1950. It’d be another twenty years until the modern bullet was crafted by Ralph Ginzburg and Mel Martin.

• I was welcomed everywhere when I did this
• An idea that helped me get into the “major leagues”
• The biggest reason why salesman lose business
• A $250,000 sale in 15 minutes
• The most important word I have found in selling
• How I find hidden objection
• The secret of making appointments
• This interview taught me how to overcome my fear of approaching big men
• How I learned to outsmart secretaries and switchboard operators
• How to let the customer help you make the sale
• Seven rules I use in closing the sale

Here is Victor Schwab’s full page ad.

This ad was written 89 years ago by 21-year-old copywriter, Victor Schwab, who now firmly belongs to the Pantheon of great advertising people of the 20th Century.

This example reminds us that great advertising is timeless.

Schwab laser targets his audience and dangles a realizable promise in front of them.

It’s sobering for fledgling ad writers today to see such direct response sophistication from a 21-year -old in the year  1919.

The results-based testimonials trump most that we encounter today.

$100 in 1919 translates to about $1,200 today.

To save the PDF to your hard drive, right click on the image and choose either “Save Target As” or “Save Link As.”

Here’s Victor Schwab’s ad for Frank Bettger’s landmark book: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.

“How I raised myself from a failure at 29 to become a $250 per day success!”

…that’s the amazing personal story FRANK BETTGER tells you clearly, simply, step by step in his great book, “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.” Says DALE CARNEGIE, “When I met Frank Bettger at 29, he was nearly down-and-out. . . Then something
happened that raised him from defeat and despair. I know. I saw it happen. I saw him rise from a total failure to become one of the foremost salesmen in the nation.”

NO MATTER who you are or what you do—Frank Bettger’s remarkable book can help you tremendously. For he tells you the secrets of getting ahead that he learned in his almost unbelievable rise from total failure at 29 to high paid and highly honored business success . . . “secrets” you can begin to use as soon as you receive his book—yours FREE when you mail coupon below.

Yes, Frank Bettger tells you how any salesman can double or triple his income, turn disappointments into triumphs, close a greater percentage of sales, and make more sales calls each day. He gives precise directions on how to multiply your earning power … PRACTICAL, PROVEN techniques on the art of selling … of getting others to do what you want them to. Remember, this is the same information Mr. Bettger is paid $250 a day to teach other men. But let’s take a look at some of the success secrets you’ll find in this great book:

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Perhaps, no early 20th Century copywriter is as unheralded as Lillian Eichler Watson.

With the exception of Victor Schwab, it’s hard to think of a contemporary of hers who sold more books.

Eichler shared office space with a veritable all star team of copy talent at the ad agency, Ruthrauff & Ryan, which including on staff at various times: John Caples, Maxwell Sackheim, Victor Schwab, and founder Wilbur Ruthrauff.

When you read her copy, you have to pinch yourself to recall she employed this ingenious “problem-agitate-solution” approach in the 1920s.

Notice how she sucks the reader into the copy with the story of the woman’s dilemma in the text box.

Then she redirects this at the prospect with the line:  “Suppose she had asked you for advice? Would you have known what to tell her?”

But for the decline in manners in the States since this ad was published, the copy seems as fresh and relevant today.

The promise of this passage is a good example.

“Here are two volumes that solve every social difficulty, that protect from impulsive blun­ders; that do away with embarrassment and self-consciousness, that give poise, ease, confidence. Here are two volumes that tell you precisely what to do on every social occasion; what to say in every social contingency.”

Should She Accept It?

He had come suddenly, unexpectedly into her life. With a breath of romance and a first promise of love he had rushed into the loneliness of her little world — and captured her heart. Now it is her birthday and he has come to her with a gift. A bracelet — so delicately. wrought of golden threads that is seems a fairy cobweb. And there is a great, glowing sapphire where the slender threads are joined. Exquisite!

With a little cry of pleasure she reaches out for the gift. But a sudden thought checks her hand. She is fond of this man who has been so kind to her, who has brought beauty and sunshine into her life, but… she has known him less than a month. Will she be committing herself by accepting this expensive gift? Is it fair to her? Fair to him? What is correct? What would a worldly girl do?

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