[Sidenote: Pleasing Character]

You can serve best if you please in rendering service. Therefore prepare your self, your knowledge, and all your methods so that from the moment you make your first impression on a prospective employer, you will please him. Do not prepare for the interview with the purpose of pleasing yourself. What you like may be distasteful to the man you want to impress.

Since you cannot tell in advance when or where you may encounter a prospective buyer of your services, you will not be safeguarding every possible chance to succeed unless you wear your "company manners" all the time. You always should dress carefully, act with painstaking courtesy, and conduct yourself as if you might meet a rich relation at any moment. You certainly can expect more wealth from "making yourself solid" with Opportunity than you ever are likely to be willed by a millionaire uncle. It will pay you much better to please Opportunity in general than to ingratiate yourself with any person in particular.

[Sidenote: Please Everybody Everywhere Always]

"Company manners" that are just "put on" temporarily may be left off on the very occasion when you would want to appear at your best if you only knew that "The Golden Chance" was to be met. Therefore prepare to be characteristically pleasing to everybody, everywhere, and all the time. Then, no matter where or when or in what guise you come upon Opportunity, you will be sure to please with your genuineness.

Innumerable great successes have begun with the making of a pleasing impression on some one whose presence and notice were unknown. You realize that your success is practically impossible if you displease. Preparation to please is of first importance in getting ready to succeed. Your success in the field of your especial ambition will be assured if you win your first chance there by making an initial pleasing impression and then keep right on pleasing.

Cultivate grace in your movements—for grace is pleasing to everyone. Carry your body naturally, especially your head; with such a bearing that total strangers will feel pleasure when they look at you. Be a person who pleases at sight. It is not difficult. No matter what sort of face you have, if it expresses habitually your pleasure in living, it will look pleasant. A look of pleasure is pleasing to others. You like to see some one else enjoying himself thoroughly. Everybody feels the same way. Our own faces brighten when we come upon radiant happiness anywhere.

[Sidenote: Details That Please]

Please others with your smile. It should not be just an affected smirk, but a smile of genuine friendliness for all the world. Please by wearing inconspicuous clothes that are faultless in taste, fit, and cleanliness; and of a quality suited to your vocation. Show also that you take good care of what you wear, for that makes a pleasing impression. You can please in your dress without arraying yourself in expensive clothes. Indeed, an over-dressed man is more displeasing to Opportunity than is one poorly dressed. There can be no excuse for foppishness, but a shabby neat appearance may be due to a good reason. Please with the suggestion in your manner that you are getting along well. Do not pretend false prosperity, of course; but indicate that you feel successful. Any one finds it unpleasant to be in the company of a failure. If you would succeed hereafter, avoid making the impression that you have not already succeeded. "Success breeds success."

[Sidenote: Courtesy And Politeness]

Be courteous invariably. Learn and observe the rules of politeness. Please by acting the gentleman always. Practice courtesy and politeness in your own home to perfect yourself in these pleasing characteristics. Then you will show them everywhere. Remember that the rest of the world is made up of "somebody else's folks." Courtesy and politeness are not natural attributes. In order to make yourself a master salesman you need to develop them to an unusually high degree. You may intend to be courteous and polite always, but only the development of the fixed habit will fully support your intention.

You cannot be polite, however courteous you mean to be, unless you take pains to prepare yourself with knowledge of the usages of polite people. In order to be polite, it is necessary that you do not only the courteous thing, but the correct thing. Your courtesy might displease if it were unsuited to the circumstances. It would not be polite, for example, to invite an orthodox Jew to dinner and then to serve him with a pork tenderloin. Your intention to be a courteous host would not lessen your offense against good manners. Your guest would be incensed by your impoliteness, not pleased by your courteous intention.

[Sidenote: Virility Pleases]

No quality you have is more generally pleasing than virility—your man stuff. Therefore on all occasions show yourself "every inch a man." Moreover, act like a he-man. Never appear "sissyfied" in even the slightest degree. Swing your legs from the hips when you walk; don't mince along. The stride of a he-man is strong and free. If yours lacks the qualities of virility, change your habit of walking.

When you make gestures, move your whole arm. A wrist movement suggests effeminacy. It is important, too, that you train your voice to ring with manliness. Even a squeaky, weak tone can be made to suggest man stuff if the words are spoken crisply, and the sentences are cleanly cut. Do things with the ease that indicates a man's strength, not with evident effort. Perhaps you have not realized that by cultivating grace in your movements you can make impressions of your man power. Grace means the least possible expenditure of energy in efficient action. A man can accomplish things with ease and grace that a child or a woman would make hard work of and do awkwardly.

[Sidenote: Pleasing Tones]

A pleasing tone helps to assure one's success. You may think your voice is a heavy handicap. Perhaps it is high pitched and squeaky; or, on the other hand, a "growly" bass suggestive of ill-nature. Again it may be faltering or hoarse. Such faults are not serious to a master salesman. If your vocal equipment is physically normal, your voice can be made pleasing. In order to make your tones agreeable, learn to vibrate them naturally through your nose. A mouth tone is displeasing. The so-called "nasal twang" that sounds so unpleasant is a mouth tone prevented from free vibration through the nose. Humming, as you know, both indicates pleasure and is a pleasant sound. It is produced with the mouth closed, by a vibration of the bone structure of the face and of the nasal cavities. Certainly, even if you have a disagreeable voice, you can make your tones hum, and thereby render them more pleasing. Adenoids that could be removed—even failure to keep the nose clean—may prevent a man from succeeding. Whatever hinders the free vibration of tones makes displeasing impressions of the speaker. When a man has a bad cold in his head that blocks the nasal passages, his voice rasps the ears of a hearer.

[Sidenote: Avoid Giving Displeasure]

Not only please by doing things that give pleasure; also avoid doing displeasing things. For example, when you say or suggest anything to another person you want to influence, remember to be a salesman of your ideas. Do not make the impression that you are teaching. No adult human being really enjoys being taught. Any grown person likes to be treated as an equal, and to have new thoughts conveyed to him without that suggestion of superior intelligence which is characteristic of many teachers when dealing with pupils. Perhaps you have heard Burton Holmes lecture. His enunciation is a delight in its perfection, but he talks "according to the dictionary" so naturally that his correctness does not sound a bit affected. You feel at home with him. His diction is attractive to you. Another speaker practicing the same exactness of pronunciation, but less artistic in selling his ideas with words, might displease you by his scholarly accents.

[Sidenote: Tact]

Sometimes it is tactful to speak incorrectly, as a courtesy to the other man. If in the course of your interview with a prospective employer he should mispronounce a word, you would be undiplomatic to emphasize the correct pronunciation in speaking that word yourself. It is not dishonest, but truly polite to reply "My ad'dress is"—instead of pronouncing the word correctly. Do not suggest by over-emphasis of right speech that you wish to pose as one who is conscious of his superiority, however well you may realize that you are on a higher plane of intellectuality. We all like a genuinely great man who does not hold himself aloof.

[Sidenote: Prepare For All Kinds Of Men]

Prepare to meet not only strong men, but weak men; cautious men; very proud men; greedy men. Be ready for reckless men, humble men, men who live to serve others. Be aware in advance of the differences in their buying motives. They will not all have the same reasons for giving or for refusing you a chance. Hence be prepared to adapt your salesmanship to the characteristics of the various kinds of men you are likely to meet. Though you never should pander to an unworthy motive, study different types of character and learn how to fit your ability to the peculiar or distinctive traits of possible buyers of such services as you have for sale. Perhaps an easy-going employer will appreciate your "pep" as much as would a hustler, but he won't like it if you seem to prod him with your energy. On the other hand, the employer who is a hustler himself might be keenly pleased should you keep him on the jump to stay even with you.

[Sidenote: Success Insurance]

Be thorough in preparing to sell your capabilities; so that your success may be insured. You ride on a first-class railroad with confidence, feeling that every precaution for your safety has been taken. You are at ease when you begin your trip; for you know that track, train, and men in charge all are dependable. Because of the complete readiness of the railroad for your journey, you count on arriving safely at your destination. You have no fears that you may be wrecked en route.

Similarly you should make the most thorough preparation before starting out as a salesman of the best that is in you. You have to grade your own roadbed, and must yourself lay the rails over which your ideas in trains of thought will be carried to the minds of other men. You are fireman, engineer, brakeman, and conductor of this Twentieth Century Limited. Your destiny as a salesman of yourself is in the hands of no one else. Before you travel any farther, take all practicable measures to assure your safe arrival, without delay, at the station of Success.

[Sidenote: Start Confidently]

When you are thoroughly prepared to sell true ideas of your best capabilities, you should start with confidence that you will reach the end of the line safely and on time. Don't attempt to "get there" before making adequate preparation for success. Remember that a railroad does not commence operating through trains until the track is finished.

If you are prepared now for the actual start in salesmanship—if you are packed up and ready to leave for your field of opportunity—ALL ABOARD!



CHAPTER V

Your Prospects

[Sidenote: Meaning of "Prospects"]

If you were to be asked, "What are your prospects for success?" you probably would answer by stating the things you expect or hope may happen. We commonly say that a certain man isn't rich, but he has "prospects;" because he has a wealthy aunt who is very fond of him, or he is employed by a business that is growing fast, or he owns property which seems sure to increase in value, or some other good fortune is likely to befall him. The literal meaning of "prospect" is "looking forward." So most of us have come to think of our prospects as just possible occurrences in the future, to the happening of which we may look ahead with considerable hopefulness.

"Prospects," in salesmanship has a very different meaning. The master salesman does not regard himself as merely a "prospectee," but as a prospector. He thinks of "prospecting" as the gold miner uses the word to describe his activities when he searches for valuable mineral deposits. "Prospects" do not just "happen" in the selling process of achieving success. They do not result from circumstances merely, but must be accumulated by the activity of the salesman.

[Sidenote: Making Good Luck]

"Your Prospects," as the subject of this chapter, does not mean your fondest hopes, or confident expectations. We are studying the ways to assure your success. If your prospects depended on mere happenings, they would be highly uncertain; because what you hope and expect may occur, may never take place in fact. The master salesman does not depend on such prospects. He makes his own luck to a very large extent by skillful prospecting; as the trained prospector for gold tremendously increases his chances of discovering a rich lode by thoroughly and intelligently investigating a mining region. We are to consider now the prospects you are capable of controlling, the opportunities you can bring within reach by your own exploration of possible fields of success.

We will study particular things you can do, and exactly how to do them, to increase the number and quality of your chances to succeed. A trained prospector for gold has more chances to strike it rich than a greenhorn because he knows the indications of valuable minerals, and is skilled in the use of that knowledge. So your opportunities for success will certainly be increased if you know how to search for, to discern, and to make the right use of your prospects.

[Sidenote: Prospecting Not Gambling]

Do not think, because we have compared prospecting in mining and in selling, that the success of the salesman prospector, your success, must be largely a "gamble" anyway, as is the case with the explorer for gold. However experienced and skillful in prospecting the miner may be, he is very uncertain of discovering a bonanza. He cannot be absolutely sure there is gold in the region he explores, in paying quantities and practicable for mining. Though he has every reason to feel confident of the richness of a particular field, he may nevertheless be so unfortunate as not to discover the gold lode or profitable placer deposit. He is helpless to control the existence of the indications of success. They are predetermined by nature. By no effort of his own is he able to increase or decrease the fixed quantity and quality of the golden chances about him. He can only increase his likelihood of discovering gold. Even the most intelligent, skillful prospecting will not make a miner's success certain.

You, the salesman prospector for opportunities to succeed, are not so limited. There are particular things you can do, and particular ways of doing them, that will assure your finding chances to make sales of the best that is in you. If you learn the scientific principles of prospecting for opportunities, if you make yourself highly skillful in looking for and digging into the success chances that surround you always, there will be nothing uncertain about your prospects to succeed. You will know surely that you have prospects, just what and where they are, and their full worth to you.

Of course, prospecting is only part of the selling process; so your knowledge and skill as a prospector will not suffice to guarantee your complete success. However, at this preliminary stage you can be certain that your search for rich chances to succeed will not be a barren quest.

The present chapter will help you to make sure of gaining for yourself such opportunities as lead to complete success in the field of your choice. We will observe and understand how the skillful salesman prospects for the purpose of increasing his sales efficiency. We will study the principles and methods of prospecting he uses successfully; for his practices, applied to your job of selling yourself, will certainly improve your chances to succeed. We will see also how your very best prospects can be created by masterly salesmanship.

[Sidenote: Hard Work Necessary]

At the outset comprehend that no other step in the selling process involves so much hard work as you will need to do in order to find all your possible chances of success and to make the most of them. It is necessary that you look intelligently, most earnestly, and constantly. You must expect to spend a great deal of time and energy in your quest for prospects. So it is essential to your success as a prospector that the investigation of your field of opportunity be carefully planned in order to make the most effective use of the time you spend prospecting. It is vitally important, too, that you develop sufficient physical stamina to do a tremendous amount of hard work. The gold miner has little chance to discover the bonanza he seeks if he searches only a few days or weeks, or if he lacks the strength and endurance required for making a thorough exploration of the mineral region. Similarly it may take a master salesman months of unremitting toil to prospect a sale that he then is able to close in an hour or two.

[Sidenote: The Food of Salesmanship]

Prospecting supplies the food of salesmanship. The salesman thrives if his prospecting is sufficient and good. He grows thin and weak to the point of failure if it is bad, or inadequate in quantity. Every salesman should realize that prospecting furnishes the nourishment for salesmanship, but some so-called salesmen do practically nothing to ensure themselves an abundant food supply. They merely absorb the tips that come their way. Like sponges they sop up the limited quantity of selling chances they happen to get. That is not the way to feed one's ambition with opportunities.

Comprehend that you must seek actively for your best prospects. You should not stop searching until you find what you are looking for. Myriads of men have failed because they did not make an earnest, hard effort to discover chances to succeed, or because they did not persist in the exploration of their fields of opportunity. You know that other men no more capable than you are succeeding all about you. Certainly, then, your chance exists. Seek it in your own thoughts and in the circumstances of your every-day living. Put a great deal of time and toil into your search. You cannot afford to loaf on this preliminary job.

[Sidenote: Prospect Continually Act Quickly]

Every moment you are awake should be used in prospecting; unless it is required for some other part of the process of assuring your success. There is no keener pleasure than the eager, continual search of a miner for gold and of a master salesman for possible big buyers. It is necessary that you feel their thrilling zest for discovery; that you develop their unflagging energy; that you be fired by their ardor for the quest. In order to be a highly successful prospector you will need especially a quality they have in common—"pep."

How eagerly the miner prospector drinks in every bit of news he hears about a new strike! How alertly the master salesman listens to casual gossip that holds a clue which may lead to a sale! But the miner and the salesman prospectors would not benefit in any degree by what they learn through their perception of prospects if they did not then act intelligently upon the clues secured. Not only should you keep your eyes and ears open for indications of opportunities to succeed, but you should be ready in advance to take instant advantage of any you may discover. What a fool a miner would be if, after finding rich prospects of gold, he were to lose his chance to someone else because he did not know how to file a mining claim! Could there be a greater failure in salesmanship than learning about a big contract to be let, and being unprepared to bid on it? Before doing any outside prospecting, be sure you know what you have in you. Make certain of your ability to take full advantage of your chances to succeed when you come upon them.

[Sidenote: Little Doors To Big Success]

Prospects that seem at first glance to be hardly worth following may lead to other prospects. Merely because your ambitions are big, do not neglect a chance to make a little success. Investigate completely every minor prospect you find. Until you look into it thoroughly, you cannot be sure of all that a clue holds. The indication of an opportunity that seems of slight importance may possibly lead straight to the bonanza lode.

An elevator boy in an office building made up his mind to rise permanently in the world; to get out of the vocation in which he was just going up and down all the time without arriving anywhere in particular. He prospected the tenants of the building, learned all he could about them, and determined who were the biggest men. He studied the directory, asked questions, and finally selected the one big business man to whom he was resolved to sell his capabilities.

[Sidenote: Persistent Effort After Prospecting]

This man was known to be unapproachable. So, instead of attempting to interview him, the elevator boy prospected to discover his characteristics. He found out exactly what qualities were most likely to please his intended employer. Then he cultivated the tone, manner, and habits of action that he felt certain would impress the difficult prospect most favorably. It took the resolute elevator boy nearly a year of continual, skillful work to make the big business man notice him and distinguish him from the other elevator boys. Six months more were required to develop the big man's attention into thorough interest. But at the end of a year and a half of faithful prospecting, the ambitious youth gained his selected, self-created opportunity to succeed. There was no stopping him after he got his start. In less than a decade he had sold his qualifications so successfully to a group of powerful financiers that he, too, had become a multi-millionaire.

This illustration of persistent effort to gain a desired chance should help to keep you from becoming discouraged about your prospects for success. Bear in mind the old, familiar motto, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Stick to your prospecting when you know you are on the right lead. It has been estimated that the busy bee inserts its proboscis into flowers 3,600,000 times to obtain a single pound of honey. But the bee is the only insect, remember, that lives on honey.

[Sidenote: No Poor Territory For Success]

The poor salesman is apt to complain that his territory is poor. The good salesman makes any territory good. So in prospecting your field of immediate opportunities, make the best, not the worst, of your present circumstances. The star base-ball player does not refuse to play on the small-town team because it isn't good enough for him. The great Ty Cobb first made them "sit up and take notice" in a bush league. Undoubtedly he felt then that he was fit for better company, but he put in his best licks and played big-city ball on the small-town team. That was excellent prospecting for the chance he wanted with the best clubs. From the very beginning of his career, Ty Cobb has used masterly salesmanship to get across to the world true ideas of his best capabilities in his chosen field.

To-day there is no poor territory for success. Telegraph and telephone and wireless methods of communication, electric light and power, railroads and inter-urban car service, farm tractors, passenger automobiles, motor trucks, and the airplane have so revolutionized the inter-relations of men that all the former great distances of different locations and view-points have been shortened almost to nothingness. The whole world lives now in a single community of interest. The great war has taught us that each individual is close to everyone else. In your prospecting for success you are not limited by any narrow boundary of opportunities. Wherever you are, newspapers and magazines bring to your door chances for big success. If you search for prospects in everything you read you should be able to reach out all over the earth with your capability. An ambitious man I never had heard of before wrote to me at one time from South Africa to secure a selected territory for the sale of automobiles in a western city of the United States. From a distance of nearly half the circumference of the earth he got his chance to succeed.

[Sidenote: The Fields of Opportunity Are Broad]

A clerk in a Los Angeles real estate office received a letter from an acquaintance in Chicago who had spent his summer vacation in Michigan. The Chicago man wrote that the farmers of the Traverse Bay region were made rich by a bumper crop of potatoes just harvested. The Californian saw a chance for success in this bit of information. He worked out his idea and talked it over with his employers. He sold them on it. They sent him East loaded with facts about "the glorious West" and brim-full of Los Angeles peptimism. Aided by cold weather in Michigan that winter, the western real estate man eventually sold California irrigated ranches to a score of Michigan farmers who suddenly had made sufficient money to retire from potato raising, and who were old enough to be strongly attracted by the idea of owning and cultivating land in a more genial climate. Thus a sentence in a letter led straight to the success of the clerk who perceived his prospects and knew how to make the most of them.

[Sidenote: Know Local Conditions]

While distances have been bridged by modern swift means of communication and transportation, every locality has opportunities for success that are peculiar to it alone. Conversely every locality is handicapped in certain ways. Therefore in your prospecting for success study the conditions in your especial field. As a salesman of yourself, you should know your "territory," its advantages and disadvantages in particular respects. Men are doing business in your town. There is no better way to gain a prospect to succeed with a house in your home community than to demonstrate to the head of the concern that you comprehend just what he is "up against" on the one hand, and on the other what "edge" he has on businesses in the same line located elsewhere. You could make no worse mistake, you could injure your own prospects no more, than by showing ignorance of local conditions, or inappreciation of the circumstances in which your prospect's business is being conducted.

[Sidenote: Turn to Account What You Learn]

Not only should you know as many facts as possible regarding opportunities in your chosen field; it is even more important that, by the use of your imagination you relate these facts to practical ways of turning them to account for your benefit. In order to derive the maximum of benefit from your prospecting, you must make the best use of every item of knowledge you gain. Sometimes the mere possession of particular knowledge will increase your chances to succeed. But almost invariably you can multiply the value of what you learn if you prospect in your own mind for ideas about putting the facts to the most profitable use.

Do not forget that the primary object of true salesmanship is service to the other fellow. Therefore prospect your own thoughts with the purpose of making what you know especially valuable to some one else, your intended employer for instance. In every step of the selling process you should think first of how you can serve your prospect with something that he lacks and needs.

[Sidenote: Prospect Needs]

Surprisingly few young men who go into business prospect their fields of opportunity to learn what is most wanted there. The great majority take up special professions or enter selected industries just because they wish to do chosen things. The master salesman, however, adapts himself to the circumstances and requirements of his customers, even at the sacrifice of his personal inclinations. He could not succeed if he sold only what he wanted to sell, or if he confined his salesmanship efforts to a limited number of buyers because he liked them and disliked others. In order to assure your success, you must learn to like to do what is most needed to be done, and learn to like to serve whoever lacks what you can supply. Therefore prospect your fields of opportunity to learn what capabilities are principally needed. If you would make your success as easy as possible, look about you first to determine the demand for such services as you are able to render.

[Sidenote: Sometimes Go The Round-About Way]

Perhaps your prospecting will indicate that it is advisable for you to go a round-about way to your goal of ambition; because the direct route is beset with great difficulties. A young doctor wished to specialize in bacteriology. He realized that it would take the savings of a great many years of general medical practice to equip a complete laboratory of his own. Accordingly he discontinued the practice of his profession; though he went on with his studies. He engaged in business for five years. Thus in a comparatively short time he earned the money he needed to enable him to devote the rest of his life to bacteriological research.

[Sidenote: Racial Characteristics]

Different territories or fields of opportunity have various characters, like different people. It is important to study especially the racial types you are likely to encounter. Many a man has attained success by accumulating discriminative knowledge regarding the national peculiarities of the Latin peoples, Slavs, Teutons, Anglo-Saxons, Magyars, etc.

The Italian has strong likes and dislikes in colors and patterns of goods. To be a good salesman in dealing with him, you should know his preferences and prejudices. If you learn what colors and patterns are most favored in the "Little Italy" of your city, you may be able to employ this bit of knowledge to help you very much in influencing your fellow-residents of Italian descent.

You are aware of the effect produced on the majority of Irishmen by the color green. But take care to learn whether the Irishmen whose political help you would like to win are from the South or the North of the Emerald Isle. They may be Orangemen, and you might "queer" your prospects by going among them wearing a green necktie.

Learn your facts with discrimination; then use them restrictively in the circumstances where they will be most effective in promoting your success.

[Sidenote: Temporary Conditions]

Prospect to learn not only permanent conditions in your field of opportunity, but also any temporary conditions that might affect your chances to succeed. Mental and emotional "waves" sweep over the country and over local communities at times. Billy Sunday's revivals in various great cities brought success opportunities to particular businesses, but had injurious effects on others. You should take such factors into account when studying your prospects.

The manufacturers of that successful innovation, the "Service Flag," took advantage of the sudden demand for such an emblem. When war came, they saw into the future and perceived a new lack. But the need for Service Flags was temporary. Before the war ended they were displayed everywhere. To-day none are seen.

Now there has come into existence The American Legion, which seems certain to be a great political and social power in the United States for generations, as was the G.A.R. after the civil war. Any man who hopes for political success in the course of the next thirty or forty years must prospect the thoughts and feelings of the veterans of 1917-18.

[Sidenote: Analyze Individuals]

You will have specific as well as general prospects. Hence it is essential that you supplement your study of conditions with the analysis of individuals. Study men with the greatest care, especially the one man or group of men upon whom you want to impress ideas of your capabilities. Learn all you can regarding the personal characteristics of the individual to whom you hope to sell your services or "goods." Your knowledge of his traits and peculiarities, your familiarity with his life purposes and hobbies, may assure you a chance to succeed with him that otherwise you could not get. A friend of mine is the president of a big ice company, but he is not so much interested in cooling people's food as in warming their hearts with his genuine brotherhood for all men. There isn't much prospect for anybody to sell him "a cold business proposition," even though he is a dealer in ice.

[Sidenote: Hobbies]

Do not, however, make a "hobby of hobbies." Only the big hobbies of your man are worth especial study. Never harp on any of his little idiosyncracies. He may be sensitive about being eccentric. It is bad salesmanship to pretend an interest in another person's whims. You cannot use his hobbies to help your prospects unless you share his feelings to a considerable degree. My friend who believes and practices the doctrine that all men are brothers would be sure to detect quickly a false humanitarian bent on a selfish purpose to exploit his hobby.

As already has been emphasized, the object of the good salesman when prospecting is to discover the lacks of men who might benefit from the things he has to sell. If you are looking for your prospects with that service purpose, you have taken a long preparatory step in the process of selling your qualifications. Find the employer who needs your best ability, and your success will be assured the moment you get into his mind the true idea that you are the man he has been looking for.

[Sidenote: Prospect Lacks]

Undoubtedly you know men to whom success has come because they made other men realize they fitted into particular needs. A young acquaintance of mine foresaw that a manufacturer would want an assistant within a year or two; though the executive himself was unaware that he was developing such a need. My acquaintance got a minor job under him in order to make a good impression in advance. Long before the head of the business realized that he was breaking in a confidential assistant, the young man had qualified for the position he had perceived in prospect.

Your chosen employer may not know of the lack that you have prospected in his business. He may not have the least idea that he wants you. Prospecting his needs is part of your job as a salesman of yourself.

An expert accountant sold himself into a fine position as the auditor of a great corporation by anticipating that the Company would need to have its system of book-keeping revolutionized in order to prepare for the Federal income tax. He prospected what was coming to that business; then sold the president comprehension that he lacked an expert accountant he was going to need badly before long.

One of my own experiences as an accountant illustrates the value of specific prospecting. When I was studying accountancy, I bought every authoritative publication on the subject. For one set of forty books I had to send to London. Each volume related to the peculiar accounts, terms, etc. of one business. There was a book on brewery accounting, another on commission house accounting, and so on through the list of forty businesses. To each volume I afterward owed at least one client. For instance, I got a commission to make a cost survey for a tobacco company, largely because I was able to convince the president that I knew a good deal about the tobacco business. I talked intelligently to him regarding the processes of his industry.

[Sidenote: Reasons Behind Habits]

When you prospect an individual's personal qualities, traits, or hobbies, do not stop after learning the facts. Study out the reasons behind habits and opinions. It may help you only a little to know that your intended employer is a Republican or a Democrat; that he is conservative or radical in his social opinions. But your chances of success in dealing with him will be greatly increased if you know exactly why he belongs to one or the other political party, and the reason he is a "stand-patter" or a "progressive." Use knowledge of why's and wherefore's with the skill of a salesman bent on securing an order from a prospective buyer. But be sure you get the fundamental facts, for often "appearances are deceiving."

[Sidenote: Your Personal Responsibility]

When you look for prospects in your selected field of service-opportunities recognize your personal responsibility for the successful development of the chances you find. Before you begin prospecting, realize that what you make of your opportunities is solely up to you. Assume all the responsibility for your own success; then you will have no excuse to blame any one else if you fail. Should things not go as you wish, say "It's my own fault," and feel that way. The true salesman never apologizes to himself. So if you have not found your prospects, or if you have not made the best use of the chances you have discovered, kick at the man who is responsible. Don't get sore on the world at large.

[Sidenote: Follow-ups]

Perhaps what has been said thus far has over-emphasized the process of prospecting for the first chance to succeed. Maybe it suggests to you that if one can get an opening, the hardest part of the effort to assure success will have been accomplished. But a successful career in salesmanship is not built on single orders closed. The master salesman keeps on selling the same buyer and develops him into a steady customer. He continues all the while to prospect the needs of that buyer, just as thoroughly as if he were planning his first approach.

Your initial success should be completed by after-service. In order to continue progressing toward your goal, you must "deliver the goods" right along. You cannot keep your success growing unless you prospect unremittingly for more and better opportunities to render service. Give satisfaction in larger amount and improved quality from month to month, and year after year. If you would continue to succeed, look ahead always for more prospects and seek in each of them new chances to broaden your usefulness.

[Sidenote: The Art of Prospecting]

If you prospect skillfully (with art), your chances to find what you seek will be remarkably increased. So look for your prospects cheerily. Be frank and expressive in your quest. Show your sympathetic side, and thus appeal to the kinder tendencies of other people. The best way to avoid the world's coldness is by warming everybody you meet with your own cordiality. Be courteous. Especially cultivate the art of talking with people instead of at them. Use tact and judgment in dealing with your prospects.

Thousands of men are shut away from the open minds and hearts of others by doors of concealment and reserve. You need to open such doors. You can do it only by frankness on your own part, which will induce people to feel like telling you their secrets. Frank expression of your opinion, provided it has a sound foundation, will often draw out the hidden opinions of others and reveal to you prospects that you might never discover unaided. Do not, however, be dogmatic or arbitrary in saying what you think. Speak your beliefs casually. Then you will not discourage those honest differences of opinion that enlighten one's own ideas.

Rid your face of sharpness if you would be a good prospector for your best chances to succeed. Avoid "the cutting edge" in your voice and manner when you make inquiries about opportunities you seek. You are likely to be most effective in prospecting if you cultivate an easy attitude of friendliness. The master salesman does not set his jaw when prospecting. He uses curved, instead of straight line gestures to supplement his words. He suggests a "ball-bearing" disposition, not "corners."

[Sidenote: Sympathetic Attitude]

Be a good mixer when looking for your prospects. Learn the art of companionship. The first essential is fellow feeling. Therefore do not go about with a chip on your shoulder, but with your face a-smile and your palms open to offer and to receive hand-clasps. Sympathize with the ambitions of other men, with their hopes and dreams. Remember that each part of every work of man, however substantial and enduring it now may be, was once no more than a figment of the imagination of some one's mind. So do not be altogether "practical" when prospecting. It is a mistake to neglect to prospect visions.

[Sidenote: Have a Leader]

When the master salesman prospects, he uses very effectively a "leader" idea. You know how aggressive stores advertise leaders that draw trade in other things. Your prospecting of your various capabilities should enable you to decide which of your qualifications will make the most effective leader in the case of a certain employer. Do not expect him to perceive all your merits immediately. Concentrate his attention and interest on one or two elements of your fitness to fill his especial needs. Prospect to make sure which of your possible leaders would be most likely to influence him in your favor. Then use these selected elements of your character very prominently to open the door of your initial chance. Countless successes have been founded on well chosen leaders.

A little bake shop in Chicago competes successfully to-day with a great chain-store company that has an immense establishment directly across the street. The shop sells as its leaders home-made English tarts that no chain-store could supply. These draw buyers for groceries and other goods the chain-store sells much cheaper, but which the purchasers of tarts order with their pastry rather than cross the street and divide their marketing.

[Sidenote: Summary]

Now let us summarize "Your Prospects." They are not far away nor far ahead in time. They are in your own hands right now. You cannot fail in life if you recognize and use most effectively all the opportunities available to you at present. You suffer from no lack of chances to succeed. You only need to open your physical eyes and the eyes of your mind to see fine prospects every day. Then if you imaginatively relate your abilities to what you perceive, and plan how you can fit yourself into a chosen place of real service, you will have begun the selling process successfully. At the outset of your career it is possible for you to reduce difficult obstacles to temporary set-backs that you can get around or overcome.

[Sidenote: Success A Matter Of Fractions]

There is only a narrow margin of difference between success and failure. Success is a matter of fractions and decimals, not of big units. A few thousand American soldiers and marines turned the tide of German victory at Chateau Thierry. "It is the last straw that breaks the camel's back."

If you begin the selling process by the finest prospecting, and keep on with equal effectiveness throughout all the following steps of salesmanship, you will gain so many more chances than you otherwise could get that your success in the end will be assured. The master salesman works with certainty that he will secure his quota of orders. He knows in advance that he will succeed; because he knows sure ways to sell.

Good prospecting is just a natural process, intelligently comprehended. It is neither mysterious nor hard. It is one of the preliminary, understandable ways to make success not only sure, but easy to attain.



CHAPTER VI

Gaining Your Chance

[Sidenote: Getting Inside The Door]

We will assume that you have qualified yourself to succeed; that you have developed your best capabilities in knowledge, in manhood, and in sales skill; that you have completed the general preparation necessary to assure your success in marketing your particular qualifications; and that you also have learned how to find and to make the most of your prospects. After these preliminaries you are ready to take the next step in the selling process, and to begin putting your capabilities, and what you have learned from preparation and prospecting, to specific use in actual selling.

In order to succeed, you must not only be qualified for some particular service work, but you also need chances to demonstrate your capabilities and preparedness for effective service. If you stand all your life in complete readiness for success but outside the door of opportunity, you will be a failure despite your exceptional qualifications and preparations for handling chances to succeed. It is necessary that you get inside the door. We will study now the sure ways and means of entrance.

[Sidenote: The Salesman's Advantage Over the Buyer]

One great advantage the skillful salesman has over even the best buyer is that he can plan completely what he will do and how he will do it to accomplish his selling purpose. The prospect is unable to anticipate who will call upon him next; so it is impossible for him to avoid being taken unawares by each salesman. He can make only general and hasty preparations at the moment to deal with the particular individual who comes intent on securing his order.

The good salesman, however, works out in advance the most effective ways and means to present his proposition. Each move in the process of selling his ideas to a prospect is carefully studied and practiced beforehand. The effects of different words and tones and acts are exactly weighed. When the thoroughly prepared salesman calls on a possible buyer, he has in mind a flexible program of procedure with which he is perfectly familiar and which he can adapt skillfully to various conditions that his imagination has enabled him to anticipate. Hence the master salesman usually is able to control the situation, no matter how shrewd the prospect may be; because the salesman's chance to plan assures him a great advantage over the unprepared or incompletely prepared other party to the sale.

[Sidenote: Dominate The Interview with Confidence]

If you would likewise "dominate" the man to whom you want to sell your capabilities, prepare "plans of approach" to his interest before calling on him; in order to make sure of presenting your qualifications most strongly. He can oppose your salesmanship with but comparatively weak resistance; because he has had no such opportunity as you to get all ready for this interview. The skillful salesman is confident that he can control the selling process he begins. When you seek a selected chance for the success you desire, you should feel similar assurance of ability to sell your services. You will possess this feeling if you prepare your "plan of approach" as the master salesman gets ready for his interview with a prospective buyer.

[Sidenote: The Two Entrances]

You have to make two distinct "entrances" in order to gain your desired chance to succeed. You need to get yourself into the presence of the employer you have selected. Then it is essential that you get the true idea of your capabilities and preparedness into his mind. Your "approach" to his attention and interest, therefore, involves a double process. It is important that you plan intelligently the most skillful ways and means of making the two entrances; through the physical and the mental closed doors that now shut you out from the opportunities you have prospected and desire to gain.

No master salesman would call on an important prospect before planning in his own mind how to take the successive steps of the interview expected. Nor would a master salesman neglect to think out in advance several specific methods of getting past any physical barriers he might encounter between the outer door of the general office and the inner sanctum of the man he must meet face to face in order to close a sale.

[Sidenote: Ordinary Way Of Getting Job]

But when the unskilled salesman of his own capabilities seeks a situation, he usually neglects to make careful, detailed plans to reach his prospect in the most effective way. He does not prepare to create the particular impressions that would be most apt to assure him the attention and interest of the employer upon whom he calls. Nearly always when a man out of a job answers an advertisement or follows up a clue to a possible opening for his services, he thinks the most important thing is to "get there first." The only advantage he hopes to gain over other applicants is a position at the head of the line.

Have you ever stopped to analyze the mental attitude of an employer toward the half dozen, dozen, or score of men who answer his advertisement for the services of one man? He thinks, "Here are a lot of fellows out of jobs. Probably most of them are no good, or they wouldn't be out of jobs. They are competing for this place. Each sees there are plenty of others who will be glad to have it. Therefore it is likely that I can get a man without paying him much to start with, and he probably won't be very independent for a while after I hire him. I'll take my pick of the lot, and keep the names and addresses of two or three others in case he doesn't make good."

[Sidenote: Shearing The Sheep]

Then the employer calls in the applicants as if they were so many sheep to be sheared by sharp cross-examination. Practically every candidate enters the private office with a considerable degree of sheepishness in his feelings, whether he tries to appear at ease or not. The employer first eyes him in keen appraisal. He then proceeds briskly to clip off facts about him. The man sitting behind the desk absolutely dominates the situation. He finishes his questioning, and disposes of the applicant as he pleases.

What chance to gain the desired opportunity for service does each candidate have in such an uncontrolled process of getting a job? He has one-sixth, or one-twelfth, or one-twentieth of a chance for success; according to whether there are six or a dozen or a score of applicants. Also, practically without exception, men who come seeking a position and find that it has been filled make no further efforts to secure the opportunity for which they have applied; though the successful candidate may not make good and the position may soon be vacant again. Your own experience and observation have made familiar to you this common way of looking for jobs. You know that in such cases the employer has all the advantage. Certainly the applicants who try to gain a chance to work by this method use no salesmanship at all.

[Sidenote: The Salesman's Method]

How would a "salesman" candidate for such a situation proceed? First, he would avoid the mistake of presenting himself as merely one of a crowd of competing applicants. He would make his particular personality stand out. Before calling, he would do some prospecting to discover just what capabilities were needed to fill the position advertised. Then he would plan different ways of tackling the prospective employer. When all ready, but not before, he would go to the address.

If he should find a crowd there, he would not merge with it. He would avoid stating his business immediately in the outer office, rather than identify himself with the other candidates waiting. He would have a plan to get an interview later, after the dispersal of the crowd. If he should be told then that the position had been filled, he would go right ahead with his selling program regardless of the rebuff. He would proceed to sell the boss the idea that he was an especially well fitted man for the job. He would assume that no one else could give such satisfaction.

Nevertheless the employer might feel that he had no place open for the latest candidate. In this event the applicant would demonstrate with salesmanship that he was the sort of person it is worth while for any business man to keep track of. Such a real "salesman" of his own capabilities, if put off for the time being, would be reasonably sure to get his desired chance the next time that employer might require such services as he could supply.

[Sidenote: A Salesman Cost Clerk]

A young acquaintance of mine wanted to secure a chance in the office of a prominent manufacturing corporation, under a certain executive whom he regarded as the most capable business man in the city. The company had advertised for a minor clerk in the cost department, which was managed by the particular executive. My acquaintance called, and found seven other applicants waiting in the general office. He did not join them, but sent in his card to the busy head of the cost department with the penciled request, "May I see you for twenty seconds in order to make a personal inquiry?" He was promptly admitted to the private office, and then stated his purpose in calling. He was careful to be extremely brief.

"My name is James A. Ward. I believe, Mr. Blank, I am the man you want for the clerkship in your cost section. In order to save your time, may I have permission to make some inquiries of the chief clerk in that department, to learn just what qualifications are required and what the work is? Then when you talk with me, it will be unnecessary for you to explain details."

[Sidenote: Securing A Stand-in]

Taken unawares, the executive was not prepared to refuse the courteous request. Moreover, he was impressed with the distinctive attitude of the young man. He instructed that the candidate be taken to the cost department. There my acquaintance made an excellent impression on the cost accountant and several clerks. Thus in advance of any other applicant he secured a "stand-in" with a number of persons who might influence the judgment of their chief in selecting a new man. When he had learned the nature of the work to be done, Ward did not make the mistake of thrusting himself again into the sanctum. Instead, he wrote a note to the executive on whom he had called first.

"Dear Mr. Blank:

I know now exactly what the job in the cost department is, and that I can fill it. But I should like to think over the best ways to give you complete satisfaction, before talking with you about it. Please telephone to me at Main 4683 when it will be convenient for you to see me.

Respectfully,

James A. Ward."

The young man sent his note into the private office and left at once. There now were nine applicants on the anxious seat in the reception room. Ward did not wish to be asked to wait his turn. He felt sure the executive would inquire of the costs manager about him, and he got away from the office quickly so that there would be an opportunity for his chosen prospective employer to receive the full effect of the good impression made in the cost department.

[Sidenote: Giving Opportunity A Chance to Catch Up]

My acquaintance was not at all worried lest some other candidate be chosen in his absence. The measures of salesmanship he had taken made it practically certain that the executive would not employ any one else before talking to him. Ward went to his room and waited for the telephone call he was sure would come. While he sat expecting it, he used the time to think out the best ways to approach the big man with whom he wanted to work.

The salesman candidate was summoned in about an hour. None of the applicants ahead of him had come prepared with any definite plans. Therefore my acquaintance, who knew in advance just what the conditions were and who had decided exactly how he would present his particular capabilities, found it easy to secure the chance he desired. He is earning a salary of four thousand dollars a year now, and is on his way up to a five-or-six-figure job. He will get there, "as sure as shooting." A salesman like that cannot be kept down.

[Sidenote: Turning Failure Into Success]

I asked Ward one day what he would have done if the telephone call he expected had not come. He replied that he would have gone to see the executive next morning anyhow, and that he had planned carefully how he would approach him.

"I'd have sent in a note that I was ready to report some ideas I had worked out regarding his cost-keeping as a result of the thinking I had done since learning his system. He wouldn't have refused to see me, even if he had hired some one else meanwhile. Then I'd have told him the very things that got me the job. They would have assured me a chance in his office, whether he had a place for me right then or not," Ward asserted positively. "If that plan of mine hadn't succeeded," he amended, "I'd have known he wasn't the kind of man I wanted to work for, after all. But it turned out exactly as I knew it would," my friend ended with a grin.

Can you imagine a man of such sales ability failing to get a chance almost anywhere? Yet Ward did only what any one, with a little forethought, might have done in the circumstances. Analyze the selling process he used, and you will perceive that there was nothing marvelous about it—it was all perfectly natural. Is there any good reason why you cannot employ similar methods to gain the chance you want?

[Sidenote: Service Purpose is Essence of Salesmanship]

Let us dig into what Ward did, and find the "essence" of his salesmanship in the ways and means he employed to assure his two "entrances," to the presence and into the mind of the executive. He was successful principally because he made the impression that he had come with a purpose of rendering real service to the other man. His plan of approach assured him the opportunity he wanted because it was designed to serve the head of the department in his need for particular capabilities. Very rarely will any one refuse a needed service. So, coming with a purpose of service, Ward made certain in advance that he would be welcomed to his opportunity. The essence of a successful plan of approach to the mind of any prospect is a carefully thought-out idea of how to supply him with exactly what he lacks.

Just as the service purpose well planned is the key to the door of a man's mind; so is it the "Open Sesame" to his presence. Plan how to bring to the attention of a prospect your real service motive in coming to him, and how at the same time you can indicate to him your capabilities; then you will be as sure as was my ingenious acquaintance that no office door will long remain closed to you. You only need to use the processes of the master salesman to gain any chance you want. You will succeed almost always in your immediate object; and if you are unsuccessful in your first or second sales attempt you will be absolutely certain to get some other good opportunity very soon.

[Sidenote: Make a "Vacancy" For Yourself]

It is not necessary to wait until the employer for whom you have chosen to work advertises a job. You should plan ways and means of gaining an entrance into his business organization, regardless of any "vacancy" he may have in mind. Plan exactly how you can serve him. Prospect for a need that he may not realize himself. Afterward work out a particular method of showing him clearly what he lacks, and that you are the man to fill the vacancy you yourself have discovered and revealed to him.

An elderly man who was down on his luck and who, on account of his grey hair, had been unable to get various kinds of work he had sought, devised a novel plan of approach that gained him a coveted chance in a big department store. He came to the main office and reached the sales manager without difficulty by appearing to be just a customer of the store. Then he whisked from under his coat a pasteboard sign on which he had printed, PORTER WANTED—TO KEEP SIDEWALK CLEAN.

"I'm after that job, sir," he explained his presence.

The sales manager waved the old man away.

"You're in the wrong place," he said curtly. "Employment office is on the top floor."

"I made the sign myself," the applicant declared, standing his ground. "The employment manager—you—no one in this store has realized, I think, how filthy your sidewalk is. If you will come down with me and look at it, I'm sure you will want to have it cleaned and will instruct that I be given the chance. It is hurting your sales, as it is now. Kept clean, as I would keep it, it would be a fine advertisement of the store's policies, and would help sales."

The old man's plan of entrance gained him his initial opportunity. He swept the sidewalk only two weeks. Then the sales manager made a place for him behind a counter, where he is serving customers with satisfaction to-day.

[Sidenote: Distinguishing Characteristic Of Masterly Salesmanship]

You will recall that in a previous chapter the ability to discriminate was stated as the distinguishing characteristic of masterly salesmanship. The ability to perceive differences, and skill in emphasizing them, will assure success in selling either ideas or goods.

The discriminative-restrictive study of anything is certain to give one a much clearer and more definite understanding of it than could be secured by a study of its likeness to something else. If, when describing two people, you compare their points of resemblance, you do not paint a clear picture of either. But if you restrict your comments to the differences in their features, you will portray a pretty definite mental image of each.

[Sidenote: "Different" Ways Win]

You have been given several examples of ways and means to gain an entrance into the presence and into the mind of an employer. You will note that each applicant restricted his plans of approach to methods that were entirely different from those ordinarily used in getting a job. The purpose of the salesman in every case was to bring out the difference between him and competing candidates for the situation. The selling processes described were successful because discriminative-restrictive principles of skill were employed to bring to the attention and interest of the prospect the service capabilities of the one applicant, in distinction from all others.

When you plan to gain the chance you most want, you can assure yourself of success if you will work out in your own mind how to do something effective that is different from the methods commonly used in attempts to gain opportunities, and that will impress your real service purpose in applying for your chance.

First think out clearly what the other man needs. Distinguish exactly in your thoughts between what is lacking in his organization, and what he already has. Then when planning to gain an entrance to the presence and the mind of your prospect, restrict your thoughts to ways and means of indicating and suggesting that you know precisely what service is wanted. Prepare to show him that you don't have merely a vague, indefinite idea of a job like other jobs. Plan to indicate that you are not just about the same as ordinary men who apply for positions. Be ready to make the first impression that you are a particular man with individual ideas and distinctive capability. If you can prove that, you will be certain to gain your chance through good salesmanship of the true idea of your qualifications.

[Sidenote: Plan Approach To Fit the Particular Man]

When planning his approach, the master salesman combines his earlier work of preparation and his prospecting. He re-organizes in his mind all the information he previously has gained for his own benefit. Now he reviews his knowledge from the standpoint of the prospect. He plans to use what he has learned in the ways that seem to him most likely to fit the mentality, impulses, feelings, conditions, and real needs of the man he wants to influence to accept his proposition.

Having thus planned to fit his knowledge to an individual prospect, the skillful salesman arranges constructively in his own mind particular, definite points of contact with the mind of this one other man. He plans restrictively. That is, he works out only the approach ideas that are likely to fit the characteristics of the certain man on whom he intends to call. He also discards ways and means that are not especially adapted to this prospect.

[Sidenote: Different Effects on Different People]

Of course the master salesman purposes to make the best possible impression always; but he recognizes that words, tones, and actions which would create a favorable impression on one prospect might make an opposite impression on another. For instance, a jolly manner and expression help in gaining an entrance to the friendly consideration of a good-natured man, but would be likely to affect a cynical dyspeptic disagreeably.

The intelligence and skill used by the master professional salesman of goods in planning ways and means to gain his sales chances, can be used in the same way just as effectively by you when planning your approach to the presence and mind of any one related to your opportunities for success. Before you apply for the job you want, or before you present your qualifications for promotion or an increased salary, make in advance a discriminative selection of ideas that will be likely to prove most effective in accomplishing your purpose with your employer prospect. Then, when you interview him, restrict your presentation of your case to these discriminatively selected strong points of your particular capability.

[Sidenote: Contrast Selfish and Service Purposes]

You should suggest contrasts between yourself and ordinary job seekers or employees. When you present your qualifications for a promotion or for a raise, you will be sure of succeeding if you are able to get across to your employer's mind the true idea that your services in the future may be different and deserving of more reward than the services for which you have previously been paid.

When an employee asks for more money because other men are being paid higher wages in the same office, or because he has prospects of better pay elsewhere, or even because of increased costs of living, he makes an unfavorable impression on the man from whom he requests a raise. His purpose in presenting his claims is evidently selfish. He appears to be looking out only for Number One, and the employer naturally looks out for his Number One when responding. By using methods that suggest a wholly selfish purpose, the applicant decreases his chances of gaining what he desires. Yet most employees ask for raises in just this way.

[Sidenote: The Quid Pro Quo]

Contrast the impression made when an employee approaches the boss with a carefully planned demonstration of his capability for increased service, as the basis of a proposal that he be promoted or given a higher salary. He comes into "the old man's" office with an attitude that produces a favorable impression. When he explains exactly what he is doing, or can do if permitted, that is deserving of more reward than he has been receiving, he presents the idea of a "quid pro quo" to his "prospect," just as the salesman of goods presents the idea of value in fair exchange for price.

If the service now being rendered by the employee, or the new service he wishes permission to render, is really worth more money to the employer, the applicant for a raise is practically certain to get it, provided he has chosen a fair boss. And, of course, a good salesman of himself does not go to work in the first place until he has prospected the squareness and fair-mindedness of the employer.

[Sidenote: The Saleswoman Secretary]

A young woman was employed in a secretarial capacity shortly before the world war began. In the course of the next two years her salary was voluntarily doubled by her employer. But her necessary expenses increased in proportion; so she was able to save no more money (in purchasing power) than it would have been possible for her to put in the bank if there had been no increase either in her earnings or in the cost of living. That is, if the war had not happened, and she had continued at work for two years without any raise at all, she would have been practically as well off at the end of that time as she actually found herself with her doubled pay.

As the months of her employment passed, she had made herself progressively much more valuable to her employer. She was rendering him now a very large amount of high-grade service. But in effect she was being paid no more money than when she was engaged. The young woman knew her employer intended to be fair with her. Undoubtedly he felt he had treated her well by voluntarily doubling her salary in two years. If she had gone to him and had asked for more pay in the manner of the ordinary applicant for a raise; if she had stated her request without skillfully showing the difference between actual conditions and his misconception of the facts; she likely would have made an unfavorable impression. But she was a good saleswoman of her ideas. She made a discriminative-restrictive plan of approach to gain her object, and used first-class selling skill to get into her employer's mind a true conception of her worth to him.

[Sidenote: Opening the Boss's Eyes]

She compiled from her budget the exact amount of increased living costs. The comparative figures of two years showed that her necessary expenses were approximately double what they had been before the war. Then she used the percentage ratio to demonstrate in neat typewriting that approximately all of her salary increases had gone to some one else, and had not remained in her hands. On another sheet she typed a summary of the most important business responsibilities she carried for her employer at present, but which she had not been qualified nor trusted to bear when she was first engaged. The secretary brought the two exhibits to the desk of the business man, laid them before him with brief explanations of what they represented, and concluded with a simple personal statement which she worded most carefully.

[Sidenote: The Approach That Commands Respect]

"Mr. Blank, I know you mean to be perfectly square with me. So I want you to realize what has been the actual purchasing power of the salary I have received, and what I have done with it. This percentage slip shows that my additional pay was all used for additional expenses. I have been unable to increase my savings. I really have been paid only for the same kind of services I was able to render when you employed me. Now I know how to do all these additional things." She pointed to the list typed on the second sheet of paper. "In effect, I haven't been paid anything for them, you see. I am sure you have not appreciated the difference between the increased service I have rendered, and the buying power of the raises you have meant to give me but which have all gone to some one else. Please study these lists. I believe you will feel that I am earning a larger salary and really am worth more to you than two years ago."

Her "different" approach gained the secretary not only an immediate increase of fifty per cent in her salary; but five hundred dollars back pay that her fair-minded employer was convinced she should have received.

Such an approach commands the respect of the prospect. It is the approach of an equal, not of an inferior. So greatly does it reduce the chances of failure that the salesman is practically certain to succeed in his purpose.

[Sidenote: Initiative Is Yours]

Recognize that the initiative in gaining your chance should be in your own hands. Do not wait for any opportunity to come to you. "Go to it." Go prepared to control the situation you have planned to create, but be ready also to meet unexpected possibilities. The object of the master salesman in his preparation is not only to make the selling process easy, but also to meet any difficulties he can foresee that may arise to block him. He is ready to take full advantage of favorable conditions he has planned to meet, and is equally ready for turn-downs. If you use the discriminative-restrictive method to gain admission to the presence and into the mind of your prospect, it is altogether unlikely that you will be denied the chance you seek. Nevertheless go loaded for refusals. Be ready with the quick come-back to every turn-down you can imagine.

A clerk in a real estate office wanted an opportunity to prove that he was capable of selling. Times were very hard, and the firm had flatly announced that it would not promote anybody or grant any raises. But this clerk, who had made up his mind to secure a salesman's job, carefully prepared a plan of approach before he went to the president's office. His ostensible purpose was to get a raise; so he had worked out an ingenious reply to every objection he could imagine his employer might make to paying him more money. But he really wanted a different job, not just a larger salary.

[Sidenote: Come-backs To Turn Downs]

He tackled the "old man" at a selected time when he knew the president would not be busy. One after another, in quick succession, he came back at every reason given for turning him down on his application for additional pay. Finally the cornered employer stated frankly that the clerk was entitled to a raise, but as frankly said it could not be granted because of general business conditions. The applicant, having gained his immediate object by proving his worth, then switched to the second part of his plan of approach.

"I didn't expect more money for my clerical work, but haven't I proved to you by the way I handle turn-downs that I possess the qualifications of a salesman? It would be just as hard for a prospect to say 'No' to me as it has been for you. I don't want a raise. I want a chance at selling real estate. Give me a drawing account equal to my present salary, and I'll earn it in commissions. I'm going to make it hard for anybody to get away from me after I tackle him to buy a lot or a house."

Of course the clerk got his chance.

[Sidenote: Touch Tender Spots]

Another important detail of good salesmanship in planning to approach opportunities to succeed, is touching the tender spots of the subordinates in the office of the big man you want to reach. Also plan to touch tender spots in him. You can do it with a courteous bow, or with the tone of respect. Employ the personal appeal—that is, make contact between your personality and the personality of the other party you desire to influence. There is no better way than by manifesting your real friendliness. One who comes as a friend is able to feel and to appear at ease. The bearing of perfect ease makes the excellent impression of true equality in manhood, and helps very greatly in gaining for one a chance to succeed.

[Sidenote: Strength and Resourcefulness]

Sometimes self-respect will require you to use very forceful methods to secure the opportunity you desire. A snippy clerk may refuse you admittance to the private office. The big man himself may send out word that he will not receive you, or perhaps he will attempt to dismiss you brusquely after you are granted an audience. So be prepared to manifest your strength, as well as your resourcefulness, should such force of personality be needed in any imaginable situation. If you have planned exactly how you will show your strength, you will make the impression when you manifest it actually that you are strong in fact, and not just a bluffer. Often you can prove your strength by looking another person fearlessly in the eye.

[Sidenote: Four Essentials of Good Approach]

It is evident from what has already been outlined that to make a successful approach one needs particular qualifications. There are four essentials: First, mental alertness in perceiving; Second, good memory for retaining the impressions received; Third, constructive imagination in planning the approach; Fourth, friendly courage in securing an audience and in making the actual approach to the mind of the other man.

All your senses must be wide awake if you are to perceive every point of difference that can be used effectively to sell your particular ideas in contrast with ordinary ideas.

It is necessary not only that you see distinctions clearly, but that you be able to remember them instantly, when you need to use them in selling your ideas.

You cannot make any certainly successful plan to deal with a future possible chance unless you cultivate your power of imagination by working out in advance every conceivable situation that may be anticipated.

And all your other capabilities in gaining your chance will be of no avail if your purpose meets resistance; unless you are equipped beforehand with friendly courage, the kind of real bravery that is likable.

[Sidenote: Genius]

It is highly important to your success that you be able to make the impression that you are a person of genius. Genius, analyzed, is no more than the exceptional application of natural ability to doing work. Application demands complete attention. Attention leads to discrimination. Discrimination concentrates, of course, upon the recognition of differences. And differentiation depends principally upon sense training in alertness. Unless a sense is very keen, it cannot make distinctions sharply. So we get back to the primary necessity of developing all your senses and of keeping them wide awake to perceive and act upon chances for success.

[Sidenote: Memory]

Your discriminative power of perception will be well-nigh valueless to you, however, if you are unable to recall whenever needed, all the points of difference possible to utilize in your salesmanship. Therefore you should train your memory. We will not enlarge just now upon this factor of the process of making success certain; because in previous chapters and also in the companion book, "The Selling Process," the right methods of developing a good memory are indicated.

[Sidenote: Constructive Imagination]

The value of constructive imagination, not only in planning your entrance to the physical presence and into the mind of the prospect, but all through your salesmanship, cannot be over emphasized. If you are to gain your chance with another man, you must be able to see imaginary future situations, through his eyes. In advance of your interview it is necessary that you imagine yourself in his place when a caller like yourself is received.

Some so-called "realists" condemn imagination. They say it is apt to make men visionary and unable to recognize and meet successfully the every-day problems of life. But the big men of finance, industry, and politics have become pre-eminent because of the fertility and productiveness of their imaginations. What the "hard-headed" man condemns is not imagination, but inability to use it constructively. He deprecates imagination not carried into action. Constructive imagination, however, has always been man's greatest aid in making progress.

[Sidenote: Four Ways to Re-construct Ideas]

In order to develop your constructive imagination most effectively you must follow certain laws with regard to the re-adjustment of parts, qualities, or attributes of things you know. You can re-construct an idea; (1) by merely enlarging an old mental image; or (2) by diminishing the size of the previous image; or (3) by separating a composite image into its parts; or (4) by imaging each part as a whole.

Let us illustrate how these laws of constructive imagination might be applied effectively in planning the approach to a prospective employer.

[Sidenote: Using Constructive Imagination]

He perhaps has an idea that the possibilities of the job you want are limited. You should plan to enlarge the picture of your possible service and to show that you could do more things than he is likely to expect of you.

So you can diminish his idea of the salary you want, by planning to show him that in proportion to the enlarged service you purpose to render, the pay you ask is not really big.

In order to make him appreciate better just what your contemplated job means, you can separate it into the different functions you will perform. The mere fact that the job has a great many parts will be effective in impressing him with the idea that it is worth more pay.

Then you can take each part or function of your job and show it as a whole opportunity. For instance, if you are a correspondent, you might demonstrate just how letters of different length could be spaced on the stationery to develop a uniformly artistic impression that would help to get more business by mail.

All your imaginative powers can be made to work together to accomplish the one certain result you desire. "Constructive imagination is always characterized by a definite purpose, which never is lost sight of until the image is complete."

[Sidenote: Friendly Courage]

Thousands of men have failed, after getting right up to the door of opportunity, because they had to turn away in order to screw up their courage. No one can hope to succeed if he lacks the quality of bravery necessary to gain chances.

True bravery is not cockiness or swaggering. It is simply a kindly self-confidence that makes no impression of a threat to others, and gives no suggestion that the man who has it feels there is the slightest reason for being afraid of anybody else.

[Sidenote: No One To Fear]

Really, if you have planned just how to approach each prospect with a true service purpose, there is no one in the world you need to fear. Lack of courage is usually due to lack of preparation for what might be anticipated. Sometimes a man is fearful of another because of his own consciousness that he has come to that other man principally for the purpose of taking something away from him. This consciousness causes a guilty feeling, which undermines courage. If through imaginative planning you know in advance about what to expect, and if you feel your intentions toward your prospect are absolutely square, you will not be afraid to seek your chance anywhere. Your courage will not ooze.

[Sidenote: "Right is Might"]

True courage is based on a permanent consciousness of right feeling and thinking, coupled with the sense of power that is expressed in the maxim, "Right is might." Such courage can be developed by the discriminative-restrictive process with absolute certainty, as is explained in the companion book, "The Selling Process."

[Sidenote: Big Mental Outlook]

Our study of plans of approach would be incomplete without emphasizing the prime necessity for a big mental outlook. To assure your success in gaining the chances you want it is necessary that you vision imaginary situations of the future and fit into them the facts you know now or may be able to learn.

However, you cannot develop maximum skill in gaining your chances if you are unable to learn anything except through personal experience. Personal experience is valuable, no doubt. But you must develop the ability to think out the significance of other men's experiences, and must be capable of applying what you learn to your own imaginary use.

The big view-point, the ability to learn from observation as well as from experience, will develop in you broad and varied conceptions of other men. It will make you tolerant of characteristics that differ widely from your own. You will respect the view-point of the other fellow, and will recognize that he may be perfectly fair in his attitude and opinions, however widely he may differ from your ideas. Your big mental outlook should make you feel friendly toward him as your prospect, and you can make the approach of courage that is friendly.

[Sidenote: The Sentry And the Password]

Perhaps you will meet opposition to your entrance when you come to gain your chance. It is likely that some sentry in the outer office of your prospect, or the sentry of his own mind when you reach his presence, may halt you at the portal of opportunity with the challenge, "Who goes there?"

Your answer should be spoken confidently, "A friend."

The test will then be made by the sentry, "Advance, friend, and give the countersign."

The secret pass-word to Opportunity is, "Service."

Prove you know the countersign, speak it with courage, and you will find yourself no longer an object of suspicion, no longer regarded as a possible enemy.

You have nothing to fear if you plan to approach your prospect as a true friend who has come with a carefully thought out, intelligent offer of service that he lacks.



CHAPTER VII

Knowledge of Other Men

[Sidenote: Unlocking The Other Man's Heart And Mind]

We have seen how you can make certain of gaining your introductory chance. Now we are to consider the first step in the most effective use of this opportunity to begin building your own success.

Let us say that you have chosen a particular man as the sort of employer with whom you want to work. Your prospecting has convinced you that in his business you have found the right market for your present services and a promising field for the future big success you are ambitious to achieve. Therefore you wish to sell him a true idea of your best capabilities. We will assume that you have passed the threshold of his private office, but your object in calling upon him has not yet entered his thoughts and feelings.

Before you state the ideas and service intention you have brought, make certain of the best possible reception from him. You need to take every practicable precaution against being rebuffed. You want to assure yourself of a welcome. Having gained this chance to start the sale of your capabilities, it is of vital importance not to take the next step in the selling process blindly, lest you stumble. Hence you should size up the other man before you announce your purpose in calling. What you may learn from reading his character correctly will help you to gain admittance into his mind for your ideas. It should assure a welcome from his heart for your sincere desire to serve him.

[Sidenote: Skeleton Key Unavailing]

Golden opportunities to succeed in a particular business cannot be unlocked with a skeleton key of knowledge about human nature. Knowledge of all men supplies merely the shaft and general shape of the key blank, which must then be notched and filed to fit the characteristics of the individual whose mind and heart you wish to open for the admission of your ideas and feelings. Unless you can get into that one mind and that one heart with your service purpose, you will be shut out from the opportunity you want. It is important that you know the traits of men in general, of course. Such knowledge, however, should be supplemented by a specific and true conception of the particular man through whom you hope to reach your chance to succeed.

Do not confuse in your present thoughts the process of prospecting the characteristics of a man before meeting him, with the later process of sizing him up at the time of the interview. It is highly important to accumulate in advance as much knowledge as possible of your prospect's individual traits. But what you learned about your chosen future employer before you gained the chance to present your ideas to him in his office should be used merely as a guide in sizing him up on the spot.

[Sidenote: Stop, Look, Listen]

Take nothing for granted now. Through your personal, specific observation either confirm or disprove every item of information that has come to you from other people previous to meeting this man face to face. Your informants may or may not have had correct conceptions of his characteristics. It would be unwise, even unsafe, for you to rely implicitly on their judgment of him. You need to be certain you know him as he really is; so that you can present your purpose with the confidence a skilled salesman feels when he is sure he understands the principal traits of the prospect he is addressing. In reaching this man you have gained your first chance. You cannot afford to risk losing it by haste. Do not advance farther in the selling process until you have made certain of the ground you are to tread. It is very bad salesmanship to begin introducing ideas and feelings to a mind and heart that are unknown to you except from hearsay.

"But," you say, "I'm not a mind reader. And I can't look into another man's heart."

True. Yet you should be able to read the signs of his thoughts; which he manifests in his words, tones, and acts. And you need not see into his heart to know what it contains; since fundamentally all men are much alike at heart. Just look clearly into your own heart at its best. You will find there the basic emotions and feelings that civilized men have in common everywhere.

[Sidenote: Character Analysis by Types Not Reliable]

Character analysis by "types" is unreliable. I believe as little in phrenology as in palm-reading. I have directed thousands of men in business. Personal experience has proved to me that the permanent structure of a particular human body is not an invariably true index to the characteristics of the inner, or ego man who owns that body.

He has had no control over the color of his hair or eyes. He cannot reshape the bones of his face, nor alter the bumps on his head. To believe that such permanent structural details of the "natural" outer man determine or denote the peculiar aptitudes of the inner man is to credit the exploded doctrine of fore-ordination.

Therefore, when you have gained the chance to present your capabilities for sale to a chosen prospect with whom you believe you will have the best opportunities to succeed, and when you are swiftly shaping your presentation plans to fit his personality, don't size up merely the factors of his make-up with which he was born. You will be apt to mistake his true character if you have come to his office with the delusion that the blonde type of man is fundamentally different in nature from the brunette type. Get out of your head any misconception that a man is foredoomed to practically certain failure in a particular career because he has a big nose, sloping brow, and receding chin; and that another man with a snub nose, bulging forehead, and protruding jaw is destined almost surely to succeed if he selects a certain vocation. No "mind man" with a normal, healthy body is limited in his possibilities of success by being born with red, or black, or tow hair; or because the bones of his head happen to be shaped in a particular way. The ego is the master, not the slave, of the body.