Est. Yesterday · Delivered Free
Trade, mind and machine, taught the old way. Free lessons in marketing, sales, pricing and psychology, each told as a story and sealed with a verse.
Trying is Free, Ignoring is Costly
Every letter, newest first. One lesson at a time, told as a story, hidden in a riddle, sealed with a verse.
Mindset
Two ladder makers, the same ash and the same oak, and the twenty ladders wanted before the picking that one of them agreed to at a quarter past eight at night. Letter No. 244 from Ben B. Tilley, on keeping the decisions that bind you out of the end of the day.
Pricing
Two carriers, the same waggons and the same rate a ton, and the wet summer that sent the price of hay up by half. Letter No. 243 from Ben B. Tilley, on writing the rise into the agreement before you need it.
Sales
Two saddlers, the same hides and the same bench, and the name one of them wrote on a slip of paper. Letter No. 242 from Ben B. Tilley, on the enquiry you cannot serve and what it is still worth.
Marketing
Two brickmakers, the same clay and the same kilns, and the name one of them had cut into his stock board out of a book. Letter No. 241 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a name's only duty is to survive being carried by somebody who is not paying attention.
Technology
Two carpet fitters, the same eight hundred and forty old customers in the same program, and the note one of them sent to himself before anybody else had it. Letter No. 240 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a machine does the wrong thing at the same speed as the right one, and must be made to show you a proof first.
Psychology
Two tanners, the same pits and the same nine shillings a load, and the short spring when the bark merchant had nine loads and five men asking. Letter No. 239 from Ben B. Tilley, on why your standing with your own suppliers decides who gets served in the week a thing runs short.
Mindset
Two cutlers, the same steel and the same wheel, and the half-page in the county paper that one of them spent two afternoons looking behind before he spent a penny. Letter No. 238 from Ben B. Tilley, on why you can only copy what you can see the whole of.
Pricing
Two plumbers, the same lead and the same ladle, and the one gutter in twenty that wept at the first hard frost. Letter No. 237 from Ben B. Tilley, on putting the cost of going back into the price of going out.
Sales
Two watchmakers, the same bench and the same eyeglass, and the worn hole one of them let the owner look at for herself. Letter No. 236 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a fault the customer has seen is worth more than a fault he has been told about.
Marketing
Two photographers, the same camera and the same glass case beside the door, and the fourteen pictures one of them took down one wet Tuesday in October. Letter No. 235 from Ben B. Tilley, on why the work you put where strangers can see it decides the work you are asked for.
Technology
Two monumental masons, the same granite and the same young man who built both their pages, and the evening one of them spent writing down where each password would be sent. Letter No. 234 from Ben B. Tilley, on why the accounts your trade is found by belong to whoever opens the mailbox rather than whoever pays the invoice.
Psychology
Two seedsmen, the same seed and the same forty gardens, and the January list that one of them filled with his own customers' names. Letter No. 233 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a customer who has met your other customers is far harder to lose.
Mindset
Two maltsters, the same barley and the same offer of a malthouse on the quay, and the twelve men one of them asked before he signed. Letter No. 232 from Ben B. Tilley, on why advice is worth what the person giving it has done and what it costs them to be wrong.
Pricing
Two thatchers, the same legget and the same nine shillings a square, and the two hundred and forty bundles of reed one of them let the householder buy for herself. Letter No. 231 from Ben B. Tilley, on charging for the goods that pass through your hands.
Sales
Two plasterers, the same lime and the same price, and the one who asked what had already been done to that wall. Letter No. 230 from Ben B. Tilley, on finding out what has been tried before you say what you would do.
Marketing
Two tinsmiths, the same tin plate and the same solder, and the wet week one of them spent sorting last year's day book into piles on a kitchen table. Letter No. 229 from Ben B. Tilley, on why the description of your next good customer is already written in your own handwriting.
Technology
Two upholsterers, the same horsehair and the same page of photographs, and the twenty minutes one of them spent filling in his own enquiry form out in the yard. Letter No. 228 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a question asked before a stranger has replied costs you far more than the same question asked after.
Psychology
Two milliners, the same straw and the same box of ribbons, and the second chair one of them set beside the long glass. Letter No. 227 from Ben B. Tilley, on why the person who came in with your customer takes a part in the sale whether you give them one or not.
Mindset
Two copper-plate engravers, the same gravers and the same billheads, and the hour one of them spent each Saturday ruining copper on purpose. Letter No. 226 from Ben B. Tilley, on why the skill your trade turns on is the one paid work will never teach you.
Pricing
Two glaziers, the same crates of glass and the same shilling and threepence the foot, and the draper who stood behind boards until Thursday. Letter No. 225 from Ben B. Tilley, on pricing by what stands still while the work waits.
Sales
Two millwrights, the same gear patterns and the same iron, and the three lines one of them sent to the mill the evening before he drove out. Letter No. 224 from Ben B. Tilley, on naming the decision before the meeting instead of hoping for one afterwards.
Marketing
Two boat builders, the same oak and the same river, and the twenty-three half models one of them hung above his bench. Letter No. 223 from Ben B. Tilley, on keeping a record of work that leaves your hands for good.
Technology
Two mobile tyre fitters, the same vans and the same prices, and the morning one of them spent in a lay-by timing his own website by the second hand of his watch. Letter No. 222 from Ben B. Tilley, on why the wait your page imposes is the one part of it you have never sat through.
Psychology
Two nurserymen, the same loam and the same nine estimates, and the four lines one of them wrote at the foot of the page. Letter No. 221 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a customer who cannot refuse you cheaply will go quiet instead.
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