Was there a method to Gary Halbert's "madness"?

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Don Alm

My first contact with the ol' "****Weasel" was by phone in 1986. I had received one of Gary'd initial sales letters for his newsletter (I STILL have the originals and they are MASTERpieces in Marketing)....I introduced myself as a fellow "Marketing guy" and when I told him that I had sold "Grolier Encyclopedias", door-to-door, in my college days...he came UNglued....and we spent the next 2 hrs reminiscing about our "Book" experiences and other "Direct Sales Stuff".

He TOO had sold encyclopedias door-to-door.

Don, thanks for sharing that story... I loved the Gary Halbert door-to-door encyclopedia sales story! He certainly was "thinking outside the box"!!!

By the way, I've been watching part of the documentary "Salesman" - it's a documentary about door-to-door Bible salesmen in the 1960s. You can find out more about it here... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064921/ You can get it on DVD...

Anyway, if you wanna know how tough it can be selling "door to door" - just watch that documentary...!

Gary was "bigger than life" in many respects. He'd make a bunch of money
one day.....and go out and blow it on a boat the next day (The ol' Sea Hunt from Lloyd Nolan's TV Show of the same name)

Yeah, I think those spending habits sometimes got him into trouble...

He could market (no one can deny that) - but not controlling your finances ain't good business practice...

He sent me a copy of his "Boron Letters" which I scan through now an then.

I'll just point out, if anyone wants to read Gary Halbert's "Boron Letters", you can find them at his newsletter archives...

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/...r-archives.htm

Go to that page, then do a search for "Boron" and you'll find them...

Thanks Don for sharing your memories and experiences...

- Dien