the secrets of selling from the original home shopping host

Farrah Fawcett, who enjoyed It Girl status during the 1970s, began selling a popular jewelry line on the Home Shopping channel in the 1980s.

Why would Farrah Fawcett, the most famous “angel” and poster girl of all time, sell jewelry on TV?

In 1987, the actress did just that.

Her fame was still soaring then, and the Home Shopping Club in St. Petersburg wasn’t exactly the zenith of sophistication. But one of her friends suggested it, and replicas of Farrah’s own jewelry promised to be popular.

“I hope no one sees me doing this. My career will be over,” she confided to Bob Circosta, home shopping’s original host, before she went on air.

And that’s when Bob taught Farrah the ultimate secret to selling, which has worked on TV’s original home-shopping network, now called HSN or the Home Shopping Network, for 44 years: 

It’s about communicating, not commerce.

It’s about helping, not hawking.

It’s about viewers, not you.

Bob Circosta was the original host of Home Shopping Club, which is now HSN (or Home Shopping Network).

Farrah went on TV, flashed her big white teeth and sold out of her jewelry — because she stopped thinking of herself and started thinking of her viewers.

Would her earrings make them look smoking hot in a red swimsuit? 

Oh, heck, no — but they might add sparkle on a rainy day. What’s wrong with that?

All of life’s a pitch, Bob might say. (In fact, “Life’s a Pitch” is the name of his 2014 book.)