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Rod Pringle
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Plus, as Don Driver has said , People are sue happy..I can just imagine a kid getting rattlesnake eggs down his windpipe....OH BOY SUE CITY SUE TIME!

ROD
Rod Pringle
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Plus, as Don Driver has said , People are sue happy..I can just imagine a kid getting rattlesnake eggs down his windpipe....OH BOY SUE CITY SUE TIME!

ROD
Matthew W
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Anything that pops, or snaps will sell. The little throw snappers, pull poppers, they all sell and are CHEAP. They cost you close to nothing but will make you a lot of $$$. They are all safe, if you follow the instructions.

I would avoid any food pranks, like fish candy, garlick, candy. That sour popcorn could have been in that package who knows how long.

Anything that shocks will sell.

Pranks will sell themselves.
-Matt
sethb
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Quote:
On 2008-12-03 07:59, DonDriver wrote: Seth, I think iugefu means these:

http://www.zymetrical.com/product.asp?3=......odNybSzw

You can't pitch them but you can sell them.(I have no idea why anyone would want to...but you can)


Yep, I was thinking of the magnetic rattlesnake eggs, which coincidentally are also listed on the same page of that website.

But we are getting pretty far afield from Svengali Decks, Magic Worms and pitching . . . . SETH
"Watch the Professor!!" -- Al Flosso (1895-1976)
"The better you are, the closer they watch" -- Darwin Ortiz, STRONG MAGIC
DonDriver
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"But we are getting pretty far afield from Svengali Decks, Magic Worms and pitching . . . . SETH"

EXACTLY !

Don
Matthew W
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I sell what people buy. If they don't buy 'em I stop carrying them.
-Matt
DonDriver
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Quote:
On 2008-12-03 13:57, Matthew W wrote:
I sell what people buy. If they don't buy 'em I stop carrying them.


This section is called "Step right up" it should be about PITCHING.We are going way off topic.

Don
Matthew W
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What do you call it when someone makes a purchase? I say sold, or bought.

I pitch Svengali decks. I demo the other items. I have a pitch that I use for the decks. I don't call myself a pitchman.
-Matt
DonDriver
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"I don't call myself a pitchman"

Than why do you post in this section for pitchman ?


Don
Matthew W
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The section is about pitching.

Lets try to get back on topic.
-Matt
DonDriver
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Quote:
On 2008-12-03 16:06, Matthew W wrote:
The section is about pitching.

Lets try to get back on topic.


That's all Seth and I have been trying to say.Thank you.

Don
iugefu
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Don, would you be willing to (gu)estimate who many full time Svengali PITCHMEN there are in the USA?........I know its a tricky question but .....
DonDriver
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Iugefu,
If your talking actual "hardcore" Svengali pitchman like Seth,Jon,Rod(magicman97) and myself,less than a dozen.Than if you break that down to guys making a living by ONLY pitching Svengali decks,less than 3 and that's if there are a few guys out there I have never heard of.I'm 99% sure of these figures.

I'm now retired but still go out from time to time,so I'm no longer making a living from pitching Svengali's.

Now guys out there on weekends at flea markets making a few hundred a weekend,I couldn't start to guess as I have sold hundreds of my Svengali pitch DVD.

Now for my question,why did you ask that? Just wondering.

Don
sethb
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Quote:
On 2008-12-03 15:47, Matthew W wrote: What do you call it when someone makes a purchase? I say sold, or bought. I pitch Svengali decks. I demo the other items.

I think it is important to realize that "selling" and "pitching" are two very different things. If you have a table full of different magic tricks that people can look at and buy, you have a little store, and you are waiting for people to come in and buy something that you are selling. That is a passive or reactive situation where the patrons make the first move. Even if you "demo" something in response to a patron's request, that is not pitching. I am not criticizing this arrangement, just pointing out that it is much different from a true pitch.

On the other hand, pitching is a proactive situation, where the vendor makes the first move by building a tip. He/she does this with the "Svengali Pitch," which is a very carefully crafted presentation that is designed to attract and hold attention, then motivate the specs to make an impulse purchase. If you study Don's Svengali Pitch DVD and S. David Walker's Svengali DVD carefully, you will see how it builds and the fine points of doing this, garnered over years of pitching experience. The Svengali Pitch is constructed like a piece of fine clockwork, and if you take away or change one piece of it, you better have a darn good reason for doing so.

Perhaps the best comparison I can make is the difference between two TV commercials. A standard TV commercial for say, Welch's Grape Jelly, will have lots of pictures showing how beautiful the grapes are, the pretty jar, and the happy mom feeding her kid a PB&J, with perky music in the background. That is a soft sell, and the next time the viewers go grocery shopping, they may decide to buy a jar of grape jelly. But nobody jumps out of their chair and immediately runs to the store to get some!

Compare that with a 15-minute TV pitch presentation by Ron Popeil for his Showtime Rotisserie ("Just set it and forget it"; "Buy today and we'll include this amazing Ginzu knife at absolutely NO extra charge"). He shows you how easy it is to use, gives you 50 reasons why you can't live without it, and then has you picking up the phone, whipping out your credit card and ordering one before they're all gone. THAT's a pitch, folks!

Once again, I am not saying that one arrangement is better than another, just pointing out that they are not the same thing. SETH
"Watch the Professor!!" -- Al Flosso (1895-1976)
"The better you are, the closer they watch" -- Darwin Ortiz, STRONG MAGIC
Jon-O the Great
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Quote:
On 2008-12-04 04:43, DonDriver wrote:
Iugefu,
If your talking actual "hardcore" Svengali pitchman like Seth, Jon, Rod(magicman97) and myself, fewer than a dozen. Then if you break that down to guys making a living by ONLY pitching Svengali decks, fewer than 3 and that's if there are a few guys out there I have never heard of. I'm 99% sure of these figures.


Yep. I have yet to run into another Svengli guy. So I feel safe in doing them ANYWHERE. And, of course, I don't do them to make a living. They are an adjunct to my stripper biz. If I see kids coming down the aisle, I say, "Hey, ya seen the Magic Cards?" So probably 10-20% of my income is from Svengalis. But I can tell ya, they are a heck of a lot more fun than strippers! (Wire strippers, that is!) And if there was a way to do them exclusively, I'D DO IT!

But even at 10 bux a set (with DVDs), to do $1000 a day gross is TWICE as easy with strippers @ $20 per set. I have had MANY people tell me, "I don't know why I'm buyin' these strippers, but I'm buyin' 'em!" NO ONE has ever told me that about the Svengalis. Oh, the kids bug their parents unmercifully until they buy 'em, but I don't have 'em MESMERIZED as with strippers.

So--making a living with them? Nope. But having FUN with them? More fun than a barrel of....you know!! And when I learn the WORMS.....I CAN HARDLY WAIT! Smile

Jon
Matthew W
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Seth, I pitch the Svengali decks, I call people over. I DO pitch them. The only time I wait for people to come over is during a quick lunch break, where I will stop to show them the cards, as that is usually a definite sale.

I have the other items as extras/upsells.

I have my magic sets. As soon as I am done with the Svengali/dvd pitch, I go right into demoing what is in the magic set. I try to push a package deal of several items. This is actually what brings in the majority of the money.

I use the cards to get them spending.

I have been doing it this way for a while and it has been working GREAT.
-Matt
sethb
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Hey, Jon, if you can mesmerize people with wire strippers, I guarantee you'll have NO problem pitching magic worms . . . .

I also agree it's tough to make a living solely from pitching, not because of any income limitations, but because it's hard work -- you've got to be on your feet all day, constantly moving and talking. And the best locations are usually at outdoor events, where there are often large crowds of people, but where it can also get quite hot and uncomfortable.

I do have a full-time day job, and only pitch on the weekends. But I will not work two back-to-back shows on the same weekend, because it's just too tough. For the usual street festival or municipal fair, I am up and out the door at 6:30 am, on the site by 7 so I can unload, pitch my tent, set up my banner and table, and be ready to go by 8:30 or so. Then I pitch, usually nonstop, until around 4 pm, break everything back down, pack up and leave around 5 pm. By the time I unload, shower and sit down for dinner, it's easily 6 pm or later. It's fun and can be very rewarding financially, but that's plenty of work for one day, at least for me, and it's usually Tylenol time that evening!

So my hat is off to Don and any other full-time pitchmen, they definitely earn their pay. SETH
"Watch the Professor!!" -- Al Flosso (1895-1976)
"The better you are, the closer they watch" -- Darwin Ortiz, STRONG MAGIC
Jon-O the Great
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Yes, I have earned my living for going on 16 year with strippers. Of course, I've sold the occasional ebay thing, sometimes MANY things, (like 6000 spider-looking head massagers) but up until about a year ago, 98% of my income had been from strippers and, unless there was a WONDERFUL show in the middle of the week, I only worked (and still only work) weekends.

Before the last gas price idiocy, I drove all over the country doing shows. However, for the past year or so, I've stuck pretty close to home, doing smaller shows. I have always considered myself a salesman. But after 15 years of doing shows, I think I can finally be classified as a pitchman.

As for MESMERIZING people with strippers, I think they become numb to the sound of my voice and when I say, "2 fer 20, take 'em with ya" they just do it.

And of course, I have added and subtracted from Don's Svengali demo, so I'm not STRICTLY a Don Driver Svengali guy. Maybe I can be a Don Driver/Seth WORM guy soon. Then, again....

Jon
DonDriver
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Hi Jon,

Here is my friend Carl working the squirmle.Carl makes BIG money just from these.

http://magicalpets.com/ Just click on either photo to watch the vid. It's not even a pitch,you just keep working it.

Don
Matthew W
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Neither video plays all the way through.
-Matt
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