PITCH PLANT PROFIT

Year Published: 1955

Format: 16mm

Description: This training film from 1955 was made for sales representatives working for Sears. It follows a narrative of two sales representatives who sell vacuum cleaners, taking lunch at a diner. They are discussing a training seminar which promoted the idea of ‘pitch, plant, profit’ in order to sell their Kenmore vacuums. The film was presented by Sears Roebuck and Company (:18) and opens with two men ordering coffee and a donut (1:17). One of the pair is disgruntled with the training seminar and doesn’t believe the process could work while the other begins to share a story with him showing that it does in fact work (2:14). His story begins while he had only been working for Sears for a short time in the Nebraska location (2:15). On a slow day, the representative is seen struggling to get his pitches out when the crew manager from the zoning office stops by, whom is also the same man who gave the pair their training from the beginning of the film (2:42). The trainer asks the representative how many names and addresses he collected that morning which stuns the representative and he replies with none and that names and addresses will not get him commission (2:51). The trainer leaves him with the challenge of acquiring 20 names and addresses only by lunchtime and if he does so he will receive a free lunch (3:47). By noon, he had spoken with 190 people and was able to get 27 names and addresses (4:28). In order to do this, he used the survey pitch and was able to talk to someone every 45 seconds (4:44). Back in the diner he tells his peer that he closed five of the prospects and expected to close more (5:45). He then breaks down how he was able to close them as after the free lunch he was instructed by the trainer to visit twelve of the addresses and leave them with a vacuum overnight without pitching the home owners (7:46). Upon arriving at the houses, he left the machines in his vehicle which kept the prospects from being on guard once they opened the door (8:06) and instead of waiting for them to approve or reject the notion of leaving a vacuum overnight, he promptly grabs it from his car (8:45). He presents home owners with a brief breakdown of how to use the machine and without trying to sell anything, leaves it with them over night (9:42). The idea was to allow the machine to sell itself and to leave the top model as whatever was left for them to use would most likely be the model they would purchase (9:59). If the first attempt did not work, he was to return and leave the machine for another night and try again (10:12). As he tells his peer that the system clearly works and he was able to make sales, the trainer over hears them and joins their lunch (10:42). In his hands he has a deck of index cards with statistics from Sears sales representatives from all over the country who were using the system successfully (10:50). The film wraps up as the trainer turns to the camera and addresses viewers; who would have presumably been sales representatives from Sears, and insists they allow the machines to sell themselves and use the ‘Pitch, Plant, Profit’ system (12:51). This film was a Dallas Jones Production (13:03).

Transcription

ok coffee black make it to her in the doughnut okay what do you make of this pitch plant and profit business but do you really believe all that stuff those guys were handing out you mean those guys who said it worked for them yeah like the guys that he made 42 pitches and got nine prospects in one morning yeah sure I do ah can't be done maybe on a thursday thursday night or a Saturday but I don't know weekday and in bad weather like the guy said oh I don't know well I do what's eating you look I got a story to tell it beats anything we heard this morning I can't talk because guys like you wouldn't believe me yeah well give no no you think those guys were lying you'd really flip at this one you I can believe and after all that routine I heard this morning I need something believable well all right I on to your seat I work in a beast or out nebraska I'd only been with sears for a couple of weeks but I'd been through all the pitches and I was ready to use them to get prospects what a stinker that they started out to be till the morning was almost gone you could have shot a cannon past my stand it was like working in a cemetery there was working at least I was trying but when people aren't in the store you can't get prospects that's all there is to it by ten-thirty I hadn't got a single lead and along came the crew manager with a guy from the zone office I never met him he's also our chief trainer the man we've been listening to today right away he starts asking me how many names I've got well Smith how many names do you get this morning are you kidding no I'm not kidding prospects on a day like this no not prospects names that's all you want more dudes a name if if they don't want to buy how do you know they don't people won't tell you what they want to buy right here I don't get it look all you're looking for during your floor time is names people to call on don't waste your time trying to sell here unless of course you get a real hot one just get their name and address and let him go you mean all you want his names names that's all just names and addresses heck if that's all you want i can get you a million of them but it won't sell any vacuum cleaners I gotta sell I can't eat names if I'm going to sell I gotta have live ones prospects look it's slow today so I'll make a deal with you how many names do you think you can get me by twelve o'clock now and a half from now just names nothing else just names and addresses oh I guess 50 or so just names though all right I'll make a deal you take any pitch you like work at the rest of the morning and i'll buy the lunch if you can give me 20 names that's a sucker deal you're on ok we'll see at noon Lana and it was a sucker deal I got off my clipboard ruled off for the survey pitch and I started talking to everyone who went by a lot of them didn't want to talk to me but plenty of them did and by noon i talked to a total of a hundred and ninety people when got twenty-seven names and addresses how many 190 people twenty-seven names and addresses that's what I thought you said I knew you wouldn't believe it you talked to 190 people in an hour and a half that's right oh wait a minute 90 it's about one every 45 seconds that's faster pitching than I've ever seen can't be done sure it can look how long does it take to make a survey pitch I don't know I never timed it all right look at your watch ready shoot good morning wonder if you'd help me with a survey we're making which of those vacuum cleaners do you prefer the tank or the upright the upright and they have your name and address thank you by the way which type do you have now thank you mrs. summers how long did it take 24 seconds all right so you did talk to 190 people and he did get 27 names and you did get a free lunch but brother that didn't get you any commissions just a bunch of names and addresses that's what you think Nami of those names I closed I can guess okay guess one if you were lucky probably none five and all top-of-the-line I probably closed three more before the month is out yeah I don't believe it I knew you wouldn't so forget I ever mentioned it five from just names and addresses megabats be it's what they were talking about this morning pitcher plant and profit two weeks with sears and you sell five machines beats me the system i tell you it can't miss look maybe I'm stupid you tell me how what's with this plant business simplest thing you ever saw when you know how when we got back from my free lunch that day the zone man was ready to follow through it's a nice list of names you got this morning Smith now what are you going to do with them well there are only names but I guess I might as well go out and see them and try to demonstrate to them good and how are you going to do it I'll go up to the door and try to get in with the machine but how tell me what you'll say well I'll ring the bell and greet her and ask her if I can bring in the cleaner she saw in the store this morning want to try another experiment I think this will pay off for you sure what can I lose all right let's take 12 names and see how many of them you can leave a cleaner with today just leave it with them to try overnight okay let me see that list i'll pick out the artisans well pick them if you like but don't be too certain about who's the hottest remember all you got was names you didn't qualify them some of the coldest ones may be the closest to buying so take the hottest first if you want to but work them all don't miss any well we're off again on what looked like a crazy scheme this guy from the zone officina know what he was doing so I went along he taught me to talk to the woman when she opened the door all I was supposed to do was plant a machine there so she could use it overnight wasn't supposed to sell unless the prospect was really ready to buy that's the plant part of the pitch plant and profit you plant the machine and let the sale grow yeah would you make it sound so easy they're not gonna take a machine in just cuz you're standing there offering it to them that's just it you don't stand there with the machine it's in your car now here's the system you go up to the door with nothing in your hands at all that way they're not on guard but you're ready to plant the machine without giving them a chance to object good afternoon mrs. Wilbur you remember me don't you I mr. Smith from sears the man a talk with you this morning now I know you told me you weren't ready to buy a cleaner but you also told me you didn't have one and from the tidy appearance of your home I know you must work awfully hard using a broom or a carpet sweeper since you're a regular Sears customer we'd like to have you use one of our new cleaners in your home to do your cleaning this week and when I come back to pick it up you can let me know what you think because Sears likes to get our customers opinions on our merchandise there's no obligation and it's on sears courtesy basis I'll just run to my car and get you one I always carry several with me and since I was in the neighborhood I thought you might like to clean your home the easy kenmore way this week I'll be right there when you've finished you don't wait for it to say yes or no she's usually a little bewildered if you don't give them much time they won't say anything before they've really had a chance to decide you're back with the machine I'm sure you're going to like this cleaner mrs. world where most of the women prefer it it's our top model now now I know how busy you must be so it'll only take a moment to show you how the cleaner really works and then I'll leave it with you pretty slick and once you're in the house you start pitching close them quick get out no not according to this plan of planning you really leave the cleaner as you promised you leave it to sell itself and believe me it does you get the pass back to quick demonstration without trying to sell only sure enough that she's able to run it properly let her discover the rest for herself and I'm not kidding that cleaner sells itself you always leave the top model and it's usually the top model they buy well are they tough to sell when you go back tough they're all easy the sellings all done for you if you can't close the deal on the first call back just leave the machine and come back again it's as easy as that huh don't gun it i'm gonna try it it'll make money for you i planted 5 cleaners on my first five calls and within two days four of them bought an offense one came in the store the next day and signed the order man that's hard to believe I knew you wouldn't believe it but just try it it will work I don't know how many others are using it but believe me everyone should I can tell you how many others are using it this 3 p's plan is caught fire all over the country here let's take a look at these reports they're from all sections of the country here let's take a few off the time Madison Wisconsin the vac salesman's pitches gave him 28 names in two hours the next day he planted 7 and his profits were five sales Richmond Virginia 18 names in 45 minutes nine plants and profits six sold in Sacramento for salesman made profits like this 28 units sold in one week 28 more the second week Burlington Vermont pitches 25 names in two hours plants too with two prophets the same night and more to come in Marshall Texas a combination salesman's pitching gave him fifty three names in one week planted 18 profited with 14 a new salesman in Cleveland reports another way to profit he delivered 14 guarantee Barnes and got 48 more names he planted 11 and profited 11 and he's averaged nine a week for the last five weeks that's real profit and there must be 50 more like that here Temple Texas Philadelphia Chicago you know what all this means just this we've been telling ourselves all along that Sears cleaners sell themselves but what have we been doing about it until now not enough we've been out selling hard and furiously beating our brains out when all we really needed to do was let the Machine sell itself in a woman's home that's why they three P's plan is working you pitch on the floor to get a name you plant a machine to sell itself then you go back and pick up your profit you fellas don't have to work alone anymore you've all got an assistant as many assistants as you want the cleaners you sell just plant one in a prospect's hole let it go to work for you plant it well let it grow into a sale try it once and I'll bet that you'll have a story that's hard to believe too

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