Henry Ford? Philip C. Gunion? Norval Hawkins? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: Salespeople must directly and unambiguously request appropriate actions. This lesson is taught in an anecdote about a wealthy business magnate who purchased an expensive item. A friend of the magnate asked, “Why didn’t you buy that item from me?” The magnate replied “You never asked me.”
This tale has been told about industrialist Henry Ford. Different expensive items are mentioned in these stories including: a luxury automobile, a multi-million dollar insurance policy, and a large order of bolts. Would you please explore the provenance and authenticity of this story?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in March 1920 in “Printers’ Ink: A Journal for Advertisers” within an article by Philip C. Gunion who was the advertising manager at Hyatt Roller Bearing Company. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
You have all had salesmen talk to you fifteen minutes, present a smooth-sounding story, but one that meant nothing to you, so that when they finished you didn’t know whether they wanted you to say “yes” or “no,” spend one dollar or a thousand.
An interesting story on this subject was recently told me by the vice-president of the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company. Henry Ford was in Indianapolis one day visiting the Marmon plant. Mr. Marmon in the course of the conversation asked him why he didn’t buy a Marmon Sedan. Ford replied, “You never asked me before—sure, send me one.”
Several weeks later the car was delivered in Detroit and caused a sensation among the Detroit automobile men. One of them, a representative of the Pierce-Arrow, went to Ford and said,
“Look here, Henry, you and I have been mighty good friends in the Detroit Automobile Club for a long time, why did you go down to Indianapolis and buy a car? You’re a fine patriotic Detroit citizen, why didn’t you buy a Pierce-Arrow from me?”
“Because you didn’t ask me to,” replied Ford.
Henry Ford was asked to buy two expensive items: a Marmon automobile and a Pierce-Arrow automobile. Gunion stated that Ford replied with slightly different versions of the payoff line to two separate people.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Continue reading “Anecdote Origin: “Why Didn’t You Buy That From Me?” “You Never Asked Me.””