What can we possibly learn from a traveling salesman?

    In the early 1900’s and through at least the first half of the century, a traveling salesman would knock at your door and, if he were any good, immediately do two things to begin his sales pitch. He would make two gestures – one with his right hand and one with his left foot: he took off his hat and he stepped backward. Instinctively you would open the door even wider, inviting the salesman inside. With those two gestures, his sales pitch would become a sales talk.

    These days, it isn’t that easy to get invited inside someone’s home, except in porn movies or slasher films. But the thinking behind his two gestures still holds true. It sets just the right atmosphere for effective advertising.

     There’s the courtesy of the lifted hat from a well-dressed professional and the deference expressed in the backward step, disarming your instinct for self-protection. In a matter of seconds, the salesman laid the foundation for respect and credibility. The step backward left a space for you to fill.

     Now let’s talk about the majority of pop up ads, pre-roll ads and hot links. In a medium designed to fulfill instantaneous wants and needs, these ads screw with our rhythm. There is no knock at our door and there is no deference and there is no space for us to fill. These things are in our face.

     My point is this: There are principles behind the successful techniques of the past, lots of valuable lessons that we can and should learn from. All we have to do is realize that we are in the business of persuasion and suddenly we have the history of human behavior from which to draw.
     As the salesman left, you would smile as he walked down your front steps. Then, almost breathlessly, you’d head back into your home and realize that you had committed yourself to 29 monthly installments of the Encyclopedia Britannica that the nice young salesman represented. You had been sold. And you didn’t mind one bit.