insulation, the kilowatts consumed--"talking points" that
would be lost on the average business man. The letter that
would sell him would give specific, but not technical information,
about how the speed of the fan is easily regulated, that it needs
to be oiled but once a year, and costs so much a month to operate.
These are the things in which the prospective customer is
interested.

Then there is the correspondent whose descriptions are too vague;
too general--little more than bald assertions. A letter from a
vacuum cleaner manufacturing company trying to interest agents is
filled with such statements as: "This is the best hand power machine
ever manufactured," "It is the greatest seller ever produced," "It
sells instantly upon demonstration." No one believes such
exaggerations as these. Near the end of the letter--where the writer
should be putting in his clincher, there is a little specific
information stating that the device weighs only five pounds, is made
of good material and can be operated by a child. If this paragraph
had followed quickly after the introduction and had gone into
further details, the prospect might have been interested, but it is
probable that the majority of those who received the letter never
read as far as the bottom of the second page.

If a man is sufficiently interested in a product to write for
catalogue and information, or if you have succeeded in getting his
attention in the opening paragraph of a sales letter, he is certain
to read a description that is specific and definite.

The average man thinks of a work bench as a work bench and would be
at a loss to describe one, but he has a different conception after