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.
Psychology
Two dressmakers, the same bolts of merino and the same six weeks before the assembly, and the card one of them hung by the door for anybody to read. Letter No. 197 from Ben B. Tilley, on why customers forgive an order of work they can see and resent a kindness they cannot.
Mindset
Two clogmakers, the same alder and the same irons, and the nine weeks of money one of them kept in a tin he had taught himself not to open. Letter No. 196 from Ben B. Tilley, on why money set by buys you the power to refuse.
Pricing
Two house painters, the same white lead and the same ladders, and the figure one of them published in October for work booked in January. Letter No. 195 from Ben B. Tilley, on pricing the week as well as the work.
Sales
Two well sinkers, the same rods and the same farm, and the nine pounds of wool money one of them asked about before he drew anything. Letter No. 194 from Ben B. Tilley, on designing the work to the money the customer already has.
Marketing
Two soap boilers, the same tallow and the same copper, and the one who wrote the notice before he lit the fire. Letter No. 193 from Ben B. Tilley, on writing the advertisement before you make the thing.
Technology
Two bicycle repairers, the same writing machine bought in the same February, and the notebook of customers' own words one of them gave it. Letter No. 192 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a machine that has read everything can only hand you back the middle of it.
Psychology
Two umbrella makers, the same oiled silk and the same six shops, and the two pound umbrella that sat in its paper in a back room. Letter No. 191 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a kindness your customer cannot repay is remembered as a debt rather than a favour.
Mindset
Two sailmakers, the same flax canvas and the same twenty boats, and the five months one of them spent on a question four evenings would have answered. Letter No. 190 from Ben B. Tilley, on spending your caution where the decision cannot be walked back.
Pricing
Two paviours, the same granite setts and the same inn yard, and the eleven shillings one of them would not round away. Letter No. 189 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a worked price is argued with less than a tidy one.
Sales
Two hedgers, the same billhook and the same eleven hundred yards, and the farmer who could find seven pounds of twenty-seven. Letter No. 188 from Ben B. Tilley, on offering a smaller piece of the work rather than a smaller price.
Marketing
Two sign writers, the same gold leaf and the same four hundred handbills, and the three kinds of work one of them printed his refusal of. Letter No. 187 from Ben B. Tilley, on why naming the work you will not take brings fewer enquiries and more money.
Technology
Two piano tuners, the same hundred and forty instruments and the same program bought in March, and the one who chose a Monday and never wrote in his ruled book again. Letter No. 186 from Ben B. Tilley, on why information kept in two places is worth less than the same information kept in one.
Psychology
Two corn dealers, the same loft and the same scales, and the hungry winter when one of them could name any figure he liked. Letter No. 185 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a price raised because the customer had no alternative is remembered as an injury rather than an expense.
Mindset
Two sawyers, the same pitsaw and the same oak up the valley, and the one who walked up on the first Monday in July. Letter No. 184 from Ben B. Tilley, on why work that nobody is standing in front of you asking for gets done first or not at all.
Pricing
Two caulkers, the same oakum and the same pitch kettle, and the forty-two feet of rotten planking neither of them could see from the slipway. Letter No. 183 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a price given as a range is heard at its lowest number.
Sales
Two bell-hangers, the same wire and the same cranks, and the six lines one of them wrote on the evening he lost the work. Letter No. 182 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a lost job is a dated piece of information rather than a verdict.
Marketing
Two ironmongers, the same six hundred handbills and the same four shillings, and the tin trunk of other men's advertising one of them read first. Letter No. 181 from Ben B. Tilley, on keeping a file of the advertising that has already worked on you, and borrowing its machinery rather than its words.
Technology
Two picture framers, the same software bought in the same month, and the one who kept a ruled book in pencil for a fortnight before he switched anything on. Letter No. 180 from Ben B. Tilley, on why only the steps you have done by hand often enough to be bored by them are fit to give to a machine.
Psychology
Two knife grinders, the same treadle wheel and the same fourpence a blade, and the one who told each street how many of its own kitchens already had theirs done. Letter No. 179 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a true count of what your customers already do persuades better than any argument that your work is good.
Mindset
Two brush makers, the same beech and bristle, and the market stall nine miles off that one of them gave up with the year's rent already paid. Letter No. 178 from Ben B. Tilley, on why the money you have already spent should get no vote in the decision in front of you.
Pricing
Two wheelwrights, the same elm and the same iron, and the one who was sent away one time in five and still ended the year richer. Letter No. 177 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a price nobody ever refuses has told you nothing.
Sales
Two chair makers, the same ash and elm and the same nine pounds, and the one who named his figure and then let the kitchen clock be heard. Letter No. 176 from Ben B. Tilley, on the ten seconds after you say a price.
Marketing
Two mangle makers, the same iron and the same six hundred bills, and the picture one of them had drawn of a back yard on a Monday morning. Letter No. 175 from Ben B. Tilley, on why a picture must show the result in use rather than the thing you made.
Mindset
Two brickmakers, the same clay and the same moulds, and the sheet one of them nailed inside his office door in February. Letter No. 174 from Ben B. Tilley, on answering the recurring questions of a trade once instead of every time.
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