Success
At the bottom of the page was the salesman's name and address;
also his telephone number. Before I had finished reading the first two
pages of the book I called the salesman on the telephone and made
inquiry about rates. He came right over to see me, and you know the
remainder of the story.
Go back, now, to the two letters and let us analyze the second one, which brought the desired replies from all to whom it was sent. Study, carefully, the first paragraph and you will observe that it asks a question, which can be answered in but one way.
Compare this opening paragraph with that of the first letter, by asking yourself which of the two would have impressed you most favorably. This paragraph is worded as it is for a two-fold purpose; first, it is intended to serve the purpose of neutralizing the mind of the reader so he will read the remainder of the letter in an open-minded attitude; and, second, it asks a question which can be answered in but one way, for the purpose of committing the reader to a viewpoint which harmonizes with the nature of the service that he is to be requested to render in subsequent paragraphs of the letter.
In the second lesson of this course you observed that Andrew Carnegie refused to answer my question, when I asked him to what he attributed his success, until he had asked me to define the word success. He did this to avoid misunderstanding. The first paragraph of the letter we are analyzing is so worded that it states the object of the letter and at the same time practically forces the reader to accept that object as being sound and reasonable.
Any person who would answer the question asked in this paragraph
of the letter under discussion, in the negative, would, by the same
answer, convict himself on the charge of selfishness, and no man
wants to face himself with a guilty conscience on such a charge.
Just as the farmer first plows his ground, then fertilizes it, and perhaps harrows it and prepares it to receive the seed, in order that he may be sure of a crop, so does this paragraph fertilize the mind of the reader and prepare it for the seed which is to be placed there through the subtle suggestion that the paragraph contains.