Sing A Penny Serenade For Your Products

 By Bonnie Boots

One night I was flipping through the television channels and came upon a charming old black and white movie titled “Penny Serenade.” In it, Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play a married couple that, because they can’t have children of their own, decides to adopt. Deep in the folds of that story is cloaked a wonderful lesson in marketing.

When Cary and Irene visit the adoption agency, they bring a shopping list of very specific features they’re looking for. They want a brand new baby, not something with a little wear on it. And the newborn baby must be a boy, with blond hair and blue eyes.

The director of the adoption agency takes their shopping list and tells them she’ll do her best to find them the perfect child.

One day she calls the couple and tells them she has, indeed, found the perfect child for them. The young couple rush down to the adoption agency only to be told that the perfect child is a 1-year old girl with dark hair and dark eyes. She’s the exact opposite of what they were shopping for!

But the agency director soothes them, saying “I know this isn’t what you asked for, but the minute I saw this precious little girl I knew she was perfect for you. She’s a very special child. A child like no other.”

As the director introduces the couple to the little girl, she whispers to them “Didn’t I tell you? She’s a child like no other!”

Cary Grant isn’t sold. He had his heart set on a boy. But Irene Dunne falls instantly in love. They take the little girl into their home and Penny, as they name her, quickly finds the key to Cary Grant’s heart.

As the movie unfolds, and Penny grows, the little family faces the many joys and sorrows of life. But one day the unthinkable happens. Penny dies. Cary and Irene, desperate with grief, grow apart from each other and have just decided to divorce when the director of the adoption agency calls.

“I know this is a difficult time for you,” she says. “But something happened today that made me call you. A newborn baby came into the agency this morning, a beautiful little boy with blond hair and blue eyes. And it occurred to me that he fits exactly the description of the child you were looking for when you first came to me all those years ago. Will you at least come down and look at this beautiful little boy? He’s a very special child. A child like no other.”

Bereft of hope, the heartbroken couple goes to the adoption agency to explain why they can’t possibly consider adoption. But when they arrive, the director immediately puts the baby into their arms, saying “Didn’t I tell you? He’s such a special child. A child like no other.”

Cary and Irene look at the baby, look at each other, and as the music swells to a crescendo, you know their story will have a happy ending.

I’m not a big fan of tearjerkers, but this movie grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let go. I thought about it for days afterward, until I suddenly realized why I found it so evocative.

The movie presents a perfect lesson in the fine art of soft sell. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne enter the adoption agency as shoppers. They have a list of features they demand, and an idea of benefits they hope to derive from their “purchase.”

The director of the adoption agency adroitly manages the sale by acknowledging the features they think they want, then pointing out how they can actually derive the benefits from another, similar product—a product that is actually superior because it’s so special.

The director uses a very hypnotic technique to focus the couple’s attention on the little girl, telling them twice, one in a normal conversational tone, and once whispered into the ear, “She’s a very special child. A child like no other.”

Only at the end of the movie do you come to understand that the director has been doing this for years, telling every prospective parent that the child they are about to meet is very special. And of course, what she says is true. Every baby is special, is like no other.

The director is wise enough to know that she must focus her customer’s attention on the features and benefits of the product she has available. And she emphasizes that product’s USP, it’s “unique selling proposition.” When the product is a baby, the USP is very literal. Every baby is absolutely unique, with a DNA that will not be matched in a billion, trillion children. Every baby is “like no other.”

The director is, of course, the perfect salesperson. She is genuinely interested in serving her customers. She listens to them, and acknowledges what they want.

She’s also experienced enough to know that the surface features they are seeking are not the most important part of what she is selling, but she doesn’t use hard sell techniques to force the couple to accept the alternate product. Instead, she uses almost hypnotic commands to focus the couple’s attention on the alternate product’s USP. And in that way, the customers see for themselves that the alternate product will suit their needs.

Books about marketing often bark out advice to “make bullet lists of features and benefits,” or “emphasize the USP.” But lost in the lingo of sales and marketing is the fact that marketing is really all about serving people’s needs.

As the agency director in Penny Serenade so eloquently illustrates, when you really live to serve people’s needs, you can use all those marketing techniques with a soft touch, and still make the sale.

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