The Salesman of the Century: Inventing, Marketing, and Selling on TV : How I Did It and How You Can Too!

328 Pages·1995·42.592 MB·English

by  Ron Popeil, Jefferson Graham

JEFFERSON GRAHAM
WITH
31378 $23.95 U.S./$32.95 G
RON
POPEIL
WITH JEFFERSON GRAHAM
IK
OF
From the Veg-O-MatJc to the Pocket Fisherman,
from the upmarket Pasta Machine to the down-
and-dirty Ronco Power Scrubber, the often imi-
tated but never duplicated Ron Popeil has
supplied Americans with one-of-a-kind
products that nobody can live without. What
drives him to make sure the Popeil Automatic
Pasta Maker is a staple in every kitchen? And
how did he turn thirty-one great ideas-like the
great ideas many of us have every day-into a
booming telemarketing empire grossing over
$1 billion in sales?
In The Salesman ofthe Century, the Einstein of
the infomercial and the Hemingway of home
shopping, Ron Popeil, reveals the true Horatio
Alger story of his life, and the stunning cir-
cumstances that transformed him from an
impoverished inner-city boy to the quintes-
sential salesman with thegolden touch. And with
a street-smart wisdom not available in stores
(or even in Harvard Business School!), he dis-
closes the secrets of his unparalleled success:
how demonstrating his products at state and
county fairs prepared him for the home shop-
ping revolution, which Popeil-proven tech-
niques-like "upselling" and those amazing
"free" offers-made his wares a fixture in every
household with a television, and how he single-
handedly developed his incredibly wide range
ofconsumer products and the ideal medium for
selling them: telemarketing.
(continuedonbackflap)
Delacorte Press

Th
SALESMAN
of the

Th
SALESMAN
of the
O
d
Inventing, Marketing,
and Selling on TV:
How
Did and
I It
How
You Can Too!
RON
POPEIL
with Jefferson Graham
Delacorte Press
Published by
Delacorte Press
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
Popeil Automatic Pasta Maker™ and Popeil Pocket Fisherman™ are trade-
marks ofPopeil Pasta Products Inc., and are used with permission. GLH™
Great Looking Hair Formula Number 9™ is a trademark ofRonco Hair
Products Inc., and is used with permission. Incredible Inventions™, Ronco
Electric Food Dehydrator™, Ronco CleanAire Machine™, Popeil™, Popeil
Bagel Cutter™, Inside the Shell Egg Scrambler™, Drain Buster™, Door
Saver™, and The Popeil Gripper™ are trademarks ofRonco Inc., and are
used with permission.
Copyright © 1995 by Ron Popeil
All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-
copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without the written permission ofthe Publisher, except where permitted by
law.
The trademark Delacorte Press® is registered in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Popeil, Ron.
The salesman ofthe century Inventing, Marketing, and Selling on TV:
:
How I Did It and How You Can Too! / Ron Popeil, withJefferson Graham,
p. cm.
ISBN 0-385-31378-0
— —
1. Popeil, Ron. —2. Businessmen United States—Biography.
3. Success in business United States. 4. Inventions United
— — —
States Marketing. 5. New products United States Marketing.
— —
6. Television advertising United States. 7. Teleshopping United
States. I. Graham, Jefferson. II. Title.
HC102.5.P66A3 1995
658.8'4—dc20 95-3043
CIP
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
Published simultaneously in Canada
November 1995
987654321
10
BVG
6
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
PARTI Bio
Chapter One/The Early Years 9
ChapterTwo/Woolworth's 1
ChapterThree/The Fair Circuit 25
Chapter Four/The General 32
Chapter Five/Marriage and Family 38
Chapter Six/My FirstTV Commercial 42
Chapter Seven/ Chop-O-Matic 48
Chapter Eight/ High Finances 57
Chapter Nine/ Bankruptcy 65
Chapter Ten /Las Vegas 72
Chapter Eleven /The Comeback 77
Chapter Twelve/ GLH 84
.
CONTENTS
vi
PART II Inventing and Marketing
Chapter Thirteen/ Problems and Solutions 95
Chapter Fourteen/Great Ideas 116
Chapter Fifteen/ Protecting Your Product 121
Chapter Sixteen/ Design, Packaging, and Pricing 145
Chapter Seventeen/ From Idea to Reality 156
Chapter Eighteen/ Ready for the Fair? 170
Chapter Nineteen /Television, at Last 177
ChapterTwenty/Good Advertising 203
ChapterTwenty-one/When to Advertise and Infomercial Techniques
That Really Work 208
ChapterTwenty-two/The Home Shopping Revolution 222
ChapterTwenty-three/A Day in the Life at QVC 253
Chapter Twenty-four/ Retail 262
Chapter Twenty-five / Publicity 278
Chapter Twenty-six/And Finally . . 284
Resource Guide 294
Index 299