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104 The Seven Lost Secrets of Success

people move, people die, or people are not interested in
buying the same products and services again. So, to get
a 100 percent response is pretty darn historic, legendary,
and amazing. And this letter was done in 1925, sent by
Bruce Barton.

Now let’s look at Bruce Barton for a second. Bruce
Barton was a founder of one of the largest advertising
agencies in the world, BBDO. It’s still around today.
BBDO stands for Batten, Barton, Durstine, & Osborn.
They were the four gents who started it back in 1919. It
quickly became a powerhouse of an advertising agency.

Bruce Barton was probably the most famous of the
four during that period. He was a best-selling author.
He wrote a book called The Man Nobody Knows, which
is still in print. He wrote many sales letters, many arti-
cles, and many fund-raising letters. He was considered a
business celebrity. . . .

This letter is an example of one of his techniques, a
technique that I call sincerity. It was sent to 24 people
and got a 100 percent response. Now, the first thing peo-
ple say when they hear that is, “Oh, it was sent to only
24 people. Of course he got a 100 percent response.” And
I think that’s a ridiculous view. That’s low-level think-
ing, because you can’t even send out 24 Christmas cards
and get 24 Christmas cards back these days.

He was sending out 24 letters and asking people to
give $1,000 each. Now remember, this was 1925. So, ask-
ing for $1,000 at that point might have been the equiva-
lent of asking for $50,000 or probably even much more
today. So, it’s a tough thing to ask for, any way you look
at it. He asked for it with this letter, and he got it.

Now, I’m not by myself, as I’ve already mentioned.
I’ve got help here with me to go through this letter—the