Johnson became a self-made media mogul, publisher, and entrepreneur, but the title he identified most with was that of salesman. In his best-selling autobiography, Succeeding Against the Odds, Johnson wrote a chapter entitled, “How to Sell Anybody Anything in Five Minutes or Less.” Here, he outlined his craft of salesmanship, which proved to be one of the key factors the propelled him to such great success.
Johnson’s elementary rule to making a sale was that your pitch “be based not on your self-interest but on their self-interest.” He had the precious gift of being able to make people unknowingly do what he wanted them to do. “When I go in to see people – and I sell an occasional ad now – I never say, ‘Help me because I am black’ or ‘Help me because I am a minority’,” said Johnson. “I always talk about what we can do for them.”
Johnson’s winning strategy was three-fold. First, he would grab the client’s attention in the first few seconds of a meeting with an emotional statement that “hits him where he lives or does business.” Second, Johnson would try to find his client’s vulnerable spot. “Everybody has something that will make him or her move or says yes,” he said. Johnson’s final step was to find a similarity with his client. “Successful selling is a matter of finding common ground, no matter how narrow it might be, on which you and your client can stand together,” said Johnson. “Whether I had five or thirty-five minutes, I always based my presentation on these three tried-and-tested rules.”
By using his own unique tried and true method of selling, Johnson was able to not only sell hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising for his publications, but he was also able to successfully branch out into other industries, including the fashion world and radio.
In September 1958, Johnson convinced Ernestine Dent, the wife of Dillard University President Albert Dent, to create an Ebony Fashion Fair Show. A charity event to be hosted in New Orleans, Dent found that putting together the fashion show was not as easy as she had envisioned. She turned to Johnson for help, who quickly used his sales skills to make her a deal. Johnson agreed to organize the show on one condition.
“There’ll be no expense to your organization,” he said. “I’ll furnish the models and the clothes. All I want is the three-dollar Ebony subscription, which will go to the person buying the ticket. Everything you charge above that will be yours free and clear.” It was this type of win-win situation that Johnson was so gifted at pointing out to his clients and partners. Johnson’s financing scheme proved to be so successful that the Ebony Fashion Fair Show continues to use the same fundraising formula today.
Johnson thrived on the adrenaline rush of making a sales pitch. If given five minutes to make a presentation, he would wind up taking 15-20 minutes by creative ad-libbing. “The only way I got to where I am today was by persuading thousands of blacks and whites, some of whom were very prejudiced, that the only way they could get what they wanted was by helping me get what I wanted,” said Johnson. It was this ability to connect with people and bring them around to see things from his point of view that enabled Johnson to succeed.
Lesson #4: Master the Art of the Sale
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