Robert Collier | Long Lost Marketing Secrets

Robert Collier (1885-1950)

Robert Collier's sales letters and marketing strategies are so powerful and so hypnotic that they are probably "plagiarized" more by the world's top copywriters than anything else.

He had the amazing writing ability to sell everyday commodities, such as books, raincoats, fertilizer machinery, stocks, neckties, and tires, all by U.S. Mail (he even sold coal by the carload).

As a result, he literally dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into clients' pockets.

Here's the story:

Collier was born April19th. 1885, in St. Louis, son of Mary Ferguson and John Collier. His mother died when he and his older brother were not yet teenagers. His father travelled widely as a foreign correspondent for Collier's Magazine (founded and published by his uncle, Peter F. Collier).

Collier was educated in a church seminar school and was expected to become a priest, but before taking his vows, he decided against the life of a clergyman and headed for West Virginia to seek his fortune.

There he worked as a mining engineer and learned first-hand to deal with life and humanity.

He was a prolific reader and the books in the mining company's office which included applied business correspondence and books on advertising, gave him the basics of the writing that became his career.

After eight years in West Virginia, he went to New York City and worked in the advertising department of the P.F. Collier Publishing Company. With the help and guidance of such experts as Bruce Barton and Fred Stone, he developed ideas in sales copy, persuading the top men to test them in new circulars he wrote.

The results were fantastic. He sold many thousands of the Harvard Classics - a five-foot shelf of books by Dr. Elliott, and his circulars on the O. Henry stories brought orders for over two million dollars. Followed by orders oof over 70,000 books on "The History of the World War."

Collier had the idea for a long time for a set of books on practical psychology. He put this idea into action, working night and day writing the books.

Within 6 months after the books were published, he received more than $1 million worth of orders for them.

The books were entitled: "The Secret of The Ages." He sold over 300,000 sets of them. The books really worked. He received thousands of letters telling of results obtained from reading these books.

Collier wrote four more courses, which he sold separately as: "The God in You," "The Secret Power," "The Magic Word," and "The Law of The Higher Potential."

He later combined this excellent material into one book and named it: "The Law of The Higher Potential." It has since been renamed: "Riches Within Your Reach."

He also condensed the seven volumes of "The Secret of The Ages" into one book, which has proven to be a best seller for many, many years.

Collier's inspirational books have changed the lives of thousands. One of America's original self-help authors, Collier was a prolific writer and progressive publisher who strongly believed that happiness and abundance were within easy reach.

But his best skow to take the guess work out of advertising, and his best skill was writing killer sales letters.

In 1934, he wrote "The Robert Collier Letter Book," detailing all the essentials of how to write the kind of sales letters you need for any situation: how to motivate buyers, how to keep customers satisfied and coming back for more.

The ideas in this book have been tested and proven to work over many years and with many different products. The information has been copied by many people, but this is the primary source.

One of Collier's most successful letters was his "will you do me a favor?" letter. It was based on a story he read about how as manager of a company asked a competing business for a favor, which started a relationship that blossomed into the two companies joining together.

Collier thought this same idea might work in print - and he found it wildly profitable.

Here's how he used this concept to sell 20,000 raincoats:

Dear Customer,

Will you do me a favor?

For twelve years now, you know, we have been selling the famous "Keepdry" Coat direct to the customer, at a savings of many dollars from the usual retail price.

This year i want to vary our line a bit, so i have changed the fabric to one that looks like a smart topcoat - but will still shed rain. And instead of the usual double-breasted raincoat model, I'm using a single-breasted topcoat model that appeals to men because it has style, and yet retains that loose, comfortable look of the well-tailored light overcoat.

I believe that anyone who ever gets out in stormy wet weather will like this "Any Weather" Coat better than any raincoat or topcoat he can buy, but you know how it is in merchandising - you can never be sure of such things until after you have sunk a lot of money in them

Which brings me to the favor:

I want to make sure of the demand - or lack of demand - before we sink too much money in this new coat. So I've come to you as customer of the house:

Will you try out one of these new "Any Weather" Topcoats for me for a wekk - WEAR IT - see how it feels, how it looks, how it compares with topcoats you would have bought at $25 or $30? Above all, how it keeps out wind and rain? And then write me?

...

Collier wrote: "No matter what product or service you're writing about, first put yourself in the place of you prospective customer.

Think of every property you could possibly desire in such a product or service. Think of everything you would like to have it do for you. Work out the ultimate detail, thenw rite a message that stresses every desirable point."

Collier died of cancer in 1950. Just before his death, he was aksed to pick the top 15 sales letters he considered to be his absolute best, from a list of 10,000. These 15 powerful, hypnotic, timeless letters were compiled into the book: "Robert Collier's Million Dollar Sales Letters."

And his books continue to endure. Robert Collier Publication Inc. still exists through the efforts of his widow, and now his children abd grandchildren.

In 2003, after many decades of being out-of-print, Robert Collier Publications re-released the classic: "Robert Collier Letter Book."

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