My piece on copywriting in the May 9  issue prompted about a dozen questions from readers who were starting or contemplating copywriting careers. I’ll answer just one of them today. 

From PL: How did your pre-copywriting jobs shape how you approach copy now?

My Response: When I was 18 or 19 (a child really), I spent several weeks trailing a man in his thirties, a seasoned pro who was trying to teach me the basics of door-to-door sales by selling pots and pans in an apartment complex in Brooklyn. Not too long after that, I spent half a summer selling aluminum siding door-to-door on Long Island.

Those experiences, painfully embarrassing as they seemed at the time, taught me more about selling than I realized. For one thing, I discovered the miracle of persistence – seeing how my mentors could take rejection after rejection because they knew that they needed only one sale out of ten to hit their goals. I also learned how important it was to pay close attention to the eyes and body language of the prospect when giving a pitch, so you could change up the approach the moment you saw signs that you were losing them.

You might think that person-to-person selling – and these “secrets” in particular – might not apply to writing advertising copy, but they very much do. The first one allowed me to understand the power of direct marketing – first direct mail marketing and then direct marketing on the internet. And the second one taught me to read my written copy out loud to get a sense for when it might become boring or incredible.

I am not the exception in benefiting from this sort of sales experience. Most of the best and most successful copywriters I know spent some time selling door-to-door.

About my “100-Day Report Card for Donald Trump” in the May 13  issue…

From BJ: “Re your comment on Trump’s popularity and the polls, the WSJ today (May 15) came out with an editorial titled ‘Poll: Trump Has Higher Approval Rating in New Jersey Than Democrat Governor.’ You can read it here.”