Pitchmen: "Bally The Tip" "Nod Them In" "Chill ‘Em Down"

Likes UP: “Bally The Tip” “Nod Them In” “Chill ‘Em Down” From Infomercial Pitchmen

“Webinars are the new infomercial for entrepreneurs.”  – Bart Christian 

In conducting research for my soon to be released book, The Webinar Way, I could not escape the comparison to the informercial at least in the Pitch portion of the webinar.  The pitch portion is where you are closing with an irresistible offer.  There really are no webinar pitch secrets.  It is just selling and if you know what you are doing, you cannot help but sell. Webinar presenters who know what they are doing make more sales in 10 minutes than most regular sales people make in a week or even a month. 

Let’s look at this 3-step process for selling on infomercials. 

  • #1: Ballying The Tip

  • #2: Nodding Them In

  • #3: The Chill Down

    Moving merchandise on an infomercial is a three-step process that harks back to the carnival barker tradition: “bally the tip,” “nod them in,” and “chill ’em down” as explained in this excerpt from a 2009 Fortune Magazine CBS article.

    The hardest part of making a sale is stopping people, whether they’re wandering by a booth at a carnival or flipping TV channels.

    #1: Ballying The Tip means drawing a crowd – and once one begins to gather, it feeds on itself. For Billy Mays (who died in 2009) his volume, energy, hand gestures, and faux authority (“Hi, Billy Mays here for …”) are all tactics to bally the tip. To keep the crowd you use humor and make the presentation interactive.

    When Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan debated whether to shill for a product, their mental checklist could easily be a decision tree for a new product launch at a major corporation.  Billy and Sully had a reality TV show called Pitchmen along with numerous infomercials.  Billy said: “First, it’s got to have mass appeal.”  “If you can connect to a broader audience, there’s just a better shot of making it work. Second, the product needs to solve a common problem. I need to be able to show that it makes one’s life easier. And also it gives instant gratification, hits you on an emotional level.” And, believing in the product is essential to being able to sell it.

    #2: Nodding Them In The next step is convincing potential customers that buying your product is totally reasonable. “Wouldn’t you like to eat more fresh vegetables?” Yes, of course you would. A good pitchman will literally nod in answer to his own question to get the crowd nodding along. “If there were a device that made it easy, was a snap to clean, and I could sell it to you for less than half what it cost in stores, wouldn’t you want to buy it?” Yes, yes, and yes!

    #3: The Chill Down But the trickiest part of any sale is being able to transform good will into cold, hard cash – the chill-down. Rather than politely ask if anyone would like to buy something, the pitchman often starts the process for potential buyers by counting it off. “Who are going to be my first ten customers? You, sir, you’re No. 1!”

    Pitchmen have been around forever, but the infomercial was created in America just after World War II. With TV viewership exploding, it was only natural for veteran peddlers like Arnold Morris with his Kitchen Gourmet knife and W.G. “Papa” Barnard with his Vita-Mix blender to start renting half-hour blocks of time on the airwaves. The fledging industry had to recalibrate in the 1960s when the FCC restricted the amount of time that networks could sell to advertisers, and the classic half-hour infomercial disappeared in favor of one- and two-minute spots exclusively.  In 1984, the FCC deregulated the booming cable industry, repealed the restriction on ad minutes per hour, and unleashed the golden age of the infomercial – everything from empowerment guru Tony Robbins to the Sally Struthers ThighMaster and Forbes Riley’s Spin Gym.

    as-seen-on The formula sounds simple:
    Product + Pitch + Pizazz = Infomercial. 

    But it’s really a combination of science and skill, and yes, the requisite amount of silliness, that goes into creating an ad that will make you get up and buy. 

    As Seen On TV

    CNBC Originals presents an exclusive look inside the $150 billion infomercial industry

    The Professional Pitchman

    The infomercial industry made stars out of professional pitchmen like the late Billy Mays best known for OxiClean.  The bearded, blue-collar everyman commanded tens-of-thousands of dollars per product pitch, and he also took a percentage of the sales.   Billy Mays: “Life’s a pitch and then you buy.”

    The Catch-Phrase

    Do you say “Wow!” every time you use the ShamWow! absorbent cloth?  Wonder why you do?  Because pitchman Vince Shlomi told you to in his popular ShamWow! infomercial.  A catchphrase may not get you to buy, but industry insiders hope it will GRAB YOUR ATTENTION.

    Picking The Perfect Product

    It all begins with a product that marketers hope will capture a consumer’s desire. The Ped-Egg – an egg-shaped foot file – hit the mark.  Since it launched in October 2007, more than 20 MILLION Ped-Eggs have been sold.

    FACT: Most of the profits for bestselling products sold in short-form ads are generated not from the TV ads themselves but once the merchandise hits shelves. A.J. Khubani says “90% of our sales are in traditional retail chains today.”The callous-removing device called the PedEgg sold 20 million units in 2008 – mostly in stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, and Walgreens.” Once an item is a bona fide hit in the direct response market, he has it in stores within two months. And he keeps running the TV spots even after they’re no longer profitable because the brand recognition drives sales on the shelves.

    Snuggie

    If you’ve ever seen a product and said, “Geez, I could have thought of that!” you must have seen the Snuggie. The Snuggie blanket-with-sleeves has sold millions and is a fixture in American popular culture.  For those keeping score, All Star Marketing Group has sold enough Snuggie blankets to outfit the entire population of Minnesota.

    Ginsu Knives

    “In Japan, the hand can be used like a knife. But this method doesn’t work with a tomato.” That was the opening line for the 1978 Ginsu Knives infomercial, one of the first and most famous, 2-minute infomercials ever made. Ed Valenti, the man behind the marketing, coined the catchphrase, “But wait, there’s more!”

    Celebrity Stands Behind the Product

    Finding the right face to promote a product is key and securing a celebrity endorsement can pack the necessary punch.  In 2008, Mr. T, from the popular TV show “The A Team,” stood behind Thane’s “Flavor Wave Oven,” which promoted a new generation of cooking.   Mr. T:   “My taste buds have gone wild…I love it when a plan comes together!” 

    The Price is Right

    Direct Response ads are targeted to get consumers to buy and buy NOW!  So, finding the right price is key to getting people off the couch and on the phone.  Pricing psychologists have proven that a $9.99 price tag outsells a $10 tag by a remarkable 2:1 ratio.  Why?  Because, according to studies, consumers see $10 and may hesitate, but when they see the $9 in the $9.99 they’ll often spend…even though there’s just a $.01 difference in price.

    The Cost of a Commercial

    According to Telebrands CEO, AJ Khubani, his ad shoot for the Zasshu Knife cost $30,000.  That, coupled with buying media time and talent fees, cost approximately $70,000.  But, there’s never a guarantee of success.  The Zasshu Knife ultimately failed. 

    Monitoring for Money

    Once an ad runs, it’s all about the return.  A key sales metric is that for every dollar spent on advertising, at least $2 has to come back from product sales.  The industry turns to Infomercial Monitoring Services to see what sales should be to ensure a profit.  (note as a bonus gift for book, The Webinar Way, you’ll get a copy of The Webinar Way Profit Calculator to measure your metrics and calculate your webinar profits)

    The Perfect Storm

    In an industry where success is measured by longevity, Ron Popeil is long considered the king.  According to Infomercial Monitoring Services, Popeil’s “Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ” has aired more than 21,000 times since its 1998 launch – making it no. 5 of the top ten infomercials of all time.

    Memorable Catch Phrase – The “Sound Bite”

    catch-phrase The Infomercial
    “Sound Bites”

    ”But Wait, There’s More”
    ”Set it and Forget it”
    ”And that’s not all”
    ”You’ll say ‘wow’ every time.”
    ”It slices, it dice.”

    But wait, there really is more!   You can listen to the audio of “Pitch Perfect” and read the transcript of the show.   The DVD Pitch People and the book, But Wait… There’s More, chronicles the stories of the pitch men and pitch women and the success of the infomercial business.

    pitch-people-dvdbut-wait

    Everyone is selling something.   As mentioned in the Fortune Magazine article, noted above, the great American business tradition that Mays and Sullivan embody – namely hucksterism – is enjoying an uptick. Whether you sold yourself in an interview for a job, or you sell cars, or you sell software for a large company, or you are part of a non-profit organization, or you are a solo-entrepreneur selling your services on webinars, you sell.   The “how to make money” business is in full swing with multi-level marketing MLM organizations selling hope to individuals.  Churches sell the good feeling that comes with donating.  If you are customer support you are on the end of the selling experience servicing the customer. 

    It’s all about RELATIONSHIP RICHES.  Video just gets people in the door.  Webinars are for teaching AND selling. 

    Webinars cross the bridge between corporate, entrepreneur, multi-level marketing and non-profit opportunities.  It combines the training experience (which you can’t get in the first 2 minutes of an infomercial) with the final close and offer.  You can do it in a classy way, provide tremendous value and shuck the label of huckster. 

    #Likes up for Billy Mays, “Bally The Tip” “Nod Them In” “Chill ‘Em Down” and of course, The Webinar Way

    sherrie-rose-likesUP-webinarway

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