#1 – WHY IS IT CALLED A ‘BOILERPLATE’?

‘Boiler plate’ originally referred to the small metal plate that

identified the builder of a steam boiler. The term was borrowed

by the printing industry, where plates of text for widespread

reproduction, such as advertisements or syndicated columns, were

cast or stamped in steel (instead of the much softer and less

durable lead alloys used otherwise) ready for the printing press and

distributed to newspapers around the United States. They came to

be known as ‘boilerplates.’

#2 – HOW TO MARKET VODKA IN RUSSIA

Pyotr Smirnov, father of the now-worldwide Smirnoff vodka

brand, used word of mouth marketing to popularize his nascent

product. In 1872, he hired a small group of men to fan out in

Moscow, enter every pub they could find, and ask for Smirnov

vodka. If it was not available – which was most of the time –

Smirnov’s agent would cause a scene, demanding to know why

such a fine pub did not serve the Smirnov brand. Orders started

coming in from pubs the very first week. When the men had

saturated Moscow, they took to the trains, repeating the ruse at

every stop.

#3 – HOW PR FLACKS CAME TO BE

After the “energetic” movie publicist

George Flack, and nothing to do

with shrapnel or criticism.

#4 – IS IT LEAD OR LEDE?

The first sentence of a press release, it can

be spelled lead or lede. The spelling ‘lede’

was supposedly created to distinguish it

from the heavy metal lead type used by

typesetters.

#5 – HOW TO YOU DEFINE ‘BRAND’?

#6 – THE CURVE BEFORE THE CHASM

Geoffrey Moore and his chasm are well known.

Everett Rogers? Not so much. Yet he’s the man

who created the technology innovation lifecycle curve.

For microchips or mainframes? Nope. Corn seed.

#7 – WHERE DID THE FUNNEL COME FROM?From Arthur Peterson’s Pharmaceutical Selling,

Detailing , and Sales Training: “The progression

through the four primary steps in a sale, i.e.,

attention, interest, desire and action, may be

compared to that of a substance moving through

a funnel.” To ‘detail’ a doctor is to give that

doctor information about a company’s new drugs,

with the aim of persuading the doctor to

prescribe them.

#8 – WHAT IS NET PROMOTER SCORE?

#9 – THE FIRST PRESS RELEASE WAS A TRAIN WRECK. LITERALLY.

The New York Times reprinted Ivy

Lee’s 1906 Pennsylvania train

wreck press release verbatim. Ah,

those were the days…

#10 – HOW DO YOU PAY THE CHANNEL?

• As discretionary grants, known as market

development funds (MDF)

• As a percentage of product sold, known

as contra-revenue funds

• As cost sharing, called co-op funds

#11*– HOW TO BUILD A SALES PLAY

* Did we say ten? This book goes to eleven! Get one http://amzn.com/0692232850