The Houdini Way to Conjure Sales

My favorite story from the book “10 Commandments of Con Men, Pickup Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians, and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters” by John Bejakovic:


St. Petersburg, Russia. 1903.


Harry Houdini takes the stage at the court of Tsar Nicholas II.


He’s already run through a few tricks for the Tsar’s inner circle. Nothing earth-shattering. Warm-up material. Setting the table.


Then Houdini stops. An idea strikes him.


He invites everyone in the room to write an impossible task on a slip of paper. The slips get folded into a hat. Grand Duke Sergei — uncle to the Tsar — pulls one out, unfolds it, and lets a slow smile cross his face.


“This will be impossible even for you, Houdini,” he says.


“Make the bells of the Kremlin ring.”


The Kremlin sits hundreds of yards away, across a vast square blanketed in snow.


Those bells have been silent for years — the ropes long rotted, the stairs long crumbled.


Houdini’s expression darkens. “I cannot promise success,” he says. “But I accept the challenge.”


He crosses to a great window facing the square. From his coat he produces a handkerchief. From his vest, a small pouch of purple powder, which he sprinkles with deliberate care onto the cloth.


Slowly at first — then with building intensity — Houdini sweeps the powder-dusted handkerchief through the air in wide, elaborate arcs, his lips moving in an incomprehensible incantation.


Every member of the Russian nobility leans forward.


Houdini’s circles grow wider — then he freezes. One final dramatic flourish, and he throws the window open.


Snow drifts across Kremlin Square.


Then, softly at first — then swelling into full chorus…


The bells of the Kremlin ring.

***

Bejakovic does not reveal the “trick.” That’s not the point of this story.


The point is the purple powder…


…and the incantation…


…and the handkerchief.


Houdini’s secret recipe, learned through ancient training, drawing on rare ingredients.


The purple powder told the Tsar’s court: this is why Houdini can do what no one else can do.


The bells ringing? That was the promise.


The purple powder ritual? That’s what marketers call the “mechanism.”


What does this have to do with you and your business?


Anyone can make a bold promise.


Here’s where it gets interesting for you.


Legendary copywriter Claude Hopkins figured out the same principle in 1903 — the same year Houdini was in Russia — when he was hired by Schlitz beer to help them climb out of fifth place in the market.


He toured the brewery. Saw the immaculate equipment. Learned about the 1,400-foot-deep water wells. Studied the painstakingly cultivated yeast cells.


“Why don’t you advertise any of this?” he asked.


The Schlitz team shrugged. “Every brewery does it this way.”


Hopkins ran the ads anyway.


Schlitz went from fifth place to market leader.


It doesn’t matter that every brewery did the same thing. Schlitz said it first. And once you say it, you own it.


So riddle me this…


What’s your purple powder?


When a prospect reads your website, watches your video, or gets on a call with you — do they understand why your approach works?


Not just that it works. But WHY.


Most sales people and marketers skip right from the promise (“I’ll help you get clients”) to the offer (“here’s the price”).


But that’s not enough to close the sale.


The reason: Because human beings have a left brain, and it asks, “Why?”


The left brain is the “interpreter” trying to determine why to believe you over the seventeen other people making the same promise.


Give them the purple powder. Name the mechanism. Tell them why your thing works.

It doesn’t have to be unique. It just has to be said.


“Honor Thy Adversary’s Interpreter” is Commandment 5 in Bejakovic’s 10 Commandments.


This is a great book — a field guide for anyone who wants to understand human psychology so they can write better copy and sell more.

Ted Prodromou and I chose this book as the March 2026 selection for the Mastermind Book Club.

Grab a copy and join us on this Thursday, March 26, 2:30 p.m. ET live on Zoom with John Bejakovic as our special guest.

Every month, Ted and I choose a great book for Club members to read and discuss. When we meet, we explore ways we can apply lessons from the book to elevate our businesses.


Get the book here.

Join us on March 26 here.