Elmer Wheeler’s first guiding principle in advertising was: Don’t Sell the Steak, Sell the Sizzle

By “sizzle”, we mean the biggest selling point in your proposition – the main reasons why your prospects will want to buy. The sizzling of the steak starts the sale more than the cow ever did.

Hidden in everything you sell, whether a tangible or an intangible, are “sizzles.” Find them and use them to start the sale. Then, after desire has been established in the prospect’s mind, you can bring logic into the decision-making process.

The good waiter realizes he must sell the bubbles – not the champagne. Grocers sell the whiff – not the coffee. It is the tang in the cheese that sells it! The insurance man sells protection and safety, not cost per week. Only the butcher sells the cow, but even he knows that the promise of the sizzle brings him more sales of his better cuts.

Let’s take a vacuum cleaner and see how many “sizzles” we can find.

Less backache!

Labor-saving!

Comfort!

Ease of operation!

Don’t sell suction – sell cleaner rugs!

Health, comfort, labor-saving, leisure, and cleaner homes are the sizzles of the vacuum cleaner; construction and mechanism the “cow”.

Summary of Lesson One — Create and Cultivate Customer Desire