The poses of your body, too, are suggestive of ideas about your mental make-up. The quiet pose aids in making impressions of the qualities of solidity of purpose, of calmness, of confidence, etc. The active pose is suggestive of enthusiasm, force, hustling, and the like. Your pose should be suited to the vocation you have chosen. In a bank, for instance, the quiet pose of assured efficiency perfectly suits the atmosphere of safety and security. In a factory, on the other hand, you are likely to make a better impression with a much more active pose that matches the energy and speed of manufacturing operations.
You should not, however, take any pose as a pretense. Whatever poses you employ to augment the things you say should be used as means for the better communication of truth, not to falsify in any degree. And you will need to be extremely careful lest you over-do a particular pose and suggest affectation. Doubtless you have characteristic poses. Analyze yourself. Determine what your habits of pose mean to other people. Then make such changes in your characteristic poses as will signify only the best traits you have.
Next we will make a brief study of actions from four viewpoints.
First, the lines of action;
Second, the directions of action;
Third, the planes of action;
Fourth, the tension or the laxity of action.
All movements are in straight, single curved, or multiple curved lines of action. Each of these classes of movements creates a particular impression when it is perceived—an impression very different from that produced by movements of either of the other classes. It will help you greatly in your ambition to succeed if you understand the exact significance of your every action along the various lines, and if you employ intelligently the right movements to suggest the particular ideas you wish to convey.
The straight gesture always indicates an appeal to mentality. Use it to aim ideas at the other man's mind.
The single curve, or wave movement, invariably denotes feeling. Employ it to reach into the breast of the other man and influence his heart.
The gesture of double curves signifies power. It should be employed to dominate both the mind and actions of the prospect—to make him think and do the things you will.
The different directions of actions also suggest various ideas. Your selling purpose is to get ideas over from your mind to the mind of the other man. It is especially important that the direction of your gestures should conform to your sales intention. Every movement you make to aid your purpose should suggest your mental action toward the prospect, or away from yourself. It should signify that you are taking something out of your mind and offering it to his. Of course you don't break into his head with your idea and force him to receive it. You just bring it to the front porch of his mind. Then, if you have been skillful in your salesmanship, he will open the door of interest after you ring the bell of attention, and will permit your idea to enter his thoughts. But he is unlikely to admit it unless by some indication from you to him he knows what is expected of him.
If you gesture toward yourself when expressing your thoughts, you do not suggest to the other man that he take in your ideas. Instead you concentrate his attention on your selfishness and your individual opinion. The characteristic gestures of the typical old peddler are displeasing because they are made in the wrong direction. He holds his arms close to his body and gesticulates toward himself. He makes the impression that he does not have your interest at heart in the least, but only his own.
An up-and-down movement suggests something standing. It has the associated significance of vitality or life. Conversely, a side-to-side gesture suggests similarity to things lying down, lack of vitality, or the death of ideas. By holding yourself erect you make a very different impression of your energy than would be made were you to lean to one side. You can affirm a statement by an up-and-down movement of your hand or by a nod of your head. You deny suggestively with a horizontal gesture or by shaking your head from side to side.
The significance of action on different planes or levels is seldom appreciated. The level of eye action is of especial importance in suggesting particular ideas.
When you look another person in the eye, you convey to him the idea of direct mental energy. You suggest the straight action of your mind in team-work with his. Your eye action on the same level indicates to him that you are thinking on the practical plane.
But if your eyes repeatedly focus above the level of the other man's eyes, you make the impression that you are an idealist rather than a practical person. What you say will not seem to him to apply directly to his case. He will not feel the personal, or man-to-man contact of your thoughts. Sometimes, however, it is important to lift your eyes when talking to a prospect, in order to suggest that he lift his thoughts from the level of mere selfishness. By your suggestive eye action on the upper plane you may stimulate in him a higher vision of possibilities or an insight into the future, if he seems inclined to take a strictly practical view of his present needs only.
When you look below the eye level of the other man, you indicate (1) modesty, if the movement is directly down; (2) shame, if the movement is a little to one side and downward; (3) disgust, if your eyes look far down and far to the side.
The tensity or laxness of your muscles when you are in the presence of a prospect will suggest to him very diverse ideas. Both tensity and laxity of muscles can be used to good effect in selling. Your muscles should appear somewhat tense when you are presenting ideas, in order to make the impression that your mind is fully active. Conversely, by normal relaxation of your muscles when you are listening, you suggest the receptivity of your mind and your entire readiness to take in ideas from outside. When you show your muscles are relaxed, you also indicate that you are perfectly at ease and unafraid of objections or criticism. If you were to sit tense under criticism, you would suggest that you felt the necessity of fighting back. But you disarm disparagement of your capabilities when you appear entirely at ease while you listen.
The brief outline in this chapter of fundamental principles of selling skill, and of the methods by which ideas may be conveyed through artistic suggestion, is just an introduction to your study and comprehension of the successive steps of salesmanship practice which are to be analyzed in the remaining chapters of this book. The limitations of our present space have made it impossible to do more than summarize here the chief factors of art in selling ideas. You will need to master the remainder of the book in order to amplify and to apply most effectively in practice the general principles and methods that have been outlined.
Surely you now are convinced that skill in selling is not a vague mystery, not a natural gift, not something impossible for you to attain. Every element of sales art can be analyzed in detail. You are learning exactly how to sell the true ideas of your best capability. Practice of what you learn will perfect your salesmanship.
There is absolutely no doubt that you can master the right principles and methods. By continual practice you surely can become skillful in their daily use. When you make yourself adept in the art, you certainly will be able to sell your particular qualifications successfully.
CHAPTER IV
Preparing to Make Your Success Certain
Thousands of men have failed in life because they were not ready when their best chances for success came. Some of these golden opportunities slipped away unrecognized. Others, though perceived, could not be grasped. The men to whom they were presented had not prepared to hold and use such chances whenever they might arrive.
If you would make your success a certainty, you must get all ready for it in advance. Then you will not be taken unawares when you find your big chance. If you are thoroughly prepared, you will sight it quickly, realize its full value, and seize it with complete confidence in your ability to make the most of it.
Before you seek it, be sure of your entire readiness for the opportunity you especially want. You can much better afford to wait a little while for certain success than to rush, unready, into the field of your choice, risking the likelihood of failure that could be guarded against by intelligent preparation to succeed.
A young man was offered a position of fine opportunity with a great banking house. His ambition was to build his career in that particular organization. But when the duties of the proffered situation were explained to him, he declined to undertake them at once; though he risked the chance that he might not get another such opportunity for employment by the financial institution of his choice.
"I am sorry," he said to the cashier, "but I do not know enough about accounting to fill that job now. It will take six months of hard work evenings to train myself to fit your needs. Please give me other employment in the bank meanwhile, so I'll be able to study the job at close range while getting ready for it."
This was excellent salesmanship. The candidate suggested in his words, tones, and actions that he recognized a real opportunity, that he comprehended all it involved, that he was willing to prepare himself adequately, and that he felt certain of his ability to fill the place after completing the necessary preparation.
The bank, however, was in immediate need of his services in the position offered to him. So the cashier, who had been very well impressed by the young man's attitude, told him to take the place, and offered to supply him with an accountant aide for six months.
"I would rather not," the applicant persisted in declining. "I mean to keep on climbing toward the top in this bank, once I get started; and I don't want to begin as a cripple. I couldn't give thorough satisfaction now, even with an assistant on the accounting. It is not good business for me to start by making a poor impression. I'd prefer that you do not think of me as a man for whom excuses need to be made. I wish to commence my work in that job, when I am ready, with your complete confidence that I can handle it—not as a weak sister." He smiled winningly.
The failure of so skillful a salesman of ideas was simply impossible. There is no getting away from such a high quality of salesmanship. The cashier bought the present and prospective services of the young man who had demonstrated at the outset his comprehension of the first importance of preparation. The opportunity was kept open six months for the applicant in training, while he fitted himself for his future job. This successful salesman of true ideas of his best capabilities is now a vice-president of the great financial institution.
"But," you say, "suppose the cashier had been unable to wait, would not the young man's over-emphasis of his attitude on preparation have prevented him from succeeding in his ambition?"
No! A single turn-down cannot cause the failure of a successful salesman. If that cashier had not appreciated the worth of the candidate, an officer of some other bank certainly would have had a clearer vision of his value. The applicant might have been balked temporarily in his ambition. The best salesman occasionally has to try and try again. But a successful career for that young man was assured in advance. From the very start he was "certain to get there."
On the other hand, if he had risked making a disappointing impression in his new job, he might have taken the first step toward failure. Suppose he had begun the work for which he was unprepared, and then had made serious mistakes due to his unfitness. His record would have been blemished. His ability might have been questioned. He prevented such possibilities by making sure his preparation was adequate before he accepted his big chance.
Your preparation for certain success must be two-fold. You need to prepare yourself in ability first to perceive; then to appreciate the full value of what you see. Golden opportunities are all about you. If you do not recognize them, or if you perceive but slight value in the signs of rich chances to succeed, you will fail because of your unreadiness.
Many a farmer in Oklahoma cursed his "bad luck" after he sold a farm on which a gusher was later discovered. But the oil had been there all the time. The "luckless" farmer simply did not perceive the indications of wealth under his plodding feet; or, if he saw signs of oil, he did not realize that they denoted the possibility of millions.
Perception can be broadened almost immeasurably. The physical eye, if normal and thoroughly trained, is fitted to be "all seeing." So can your mind be made capable of widest vision over all the fields of possible opportunity. Some are within your present mental view, others you can see only after going farther or climbing higher in knowledge. The biggest possibilities of success cannot be comprehended in their entirety by narrowed mental sight.
The first essential of preparation to succeed is that you open your eyes fully, and look all around you for the opportunities within range of your vision. There are so many close at hand that your search would better begin right where you are. Even if eventually you seek far for the best chance to succeed, do so with thorough knowledge of what is near by. Before you leave your present environment, have an intelligent conviction that you are capable of a bigger or different success than is to be found within your immediate reach.
Also see and comprehend the especial difficulties you will find close at hand. It does not always pay to remain in "the old home town." Often a young man needs to go to a community of strangers to gain appreciation of his ability. It is likely to be hard for him to win success among people who knew him as a boy and who still regard him as immature. He may find it much easier to succeed in a neighboring town.
It is possible to make the greatest success turn aside from beaten paths, leave the accustomed haunts of the successful, and go to a place where no such success ever before has been established. The Mayo brothers compelled their success as world renowned surgeons to come to them at the little city of Rochester, Minnesota. Elbert Hubbard brought fame to East Aurora, New York, by founding there his school of philosophy and the Roycrofters.
Almost as common as the mistake of first looking far afield for success opportunities, is the error of over-particularizing one's original preparation. If you think now that you want to be a lawyer, you should prepare yourself especially by studying law, of course. But you should not exclude preparation for other vocations. Judge Gary was thoroughly prepared for legal practice. Doubtless when he began his studies of law he expected to continue in his chosen profession. But he did not neglect to prepare himself in general business capability. So when his biggest chance came, he was ready to step out of his law practice and into a manufacturing industry. There he fitted himself for the position of chief executive in the immense United States Steel Corporation.
The ability of a master salesman is not limited to getting orders for just one line of goods, or to selling only to certain buyers. He has all-around sales knowledge and skill. Though he naturally sells to better advantage in some fields than in others, he can attain a high degree of efficiency in selling anything meritorious, because of his broad and diversified preparation.
Your preparation for all the possibilities of success you may be able to reach hereafter should be similarly varied and adaptable; though you will be wise to specialize, in addition, by making more detailed preparation for the vocation of your choice. At twenty the average man cannot know for what he is best fitted. He may not be sure even at thirty. The start toward eventual success has often been delayed until middle life. To cite my own case, I prepared myself especially for the career of a certified public accountant, but found my greatest success in the profession of selling. I was able to grasp my biggest opportunity in the sales field because, though I had been devoting my time and energies chiefly to accountancy, I had studied and practiced salesmanship for years in order to market my own services most effectively.
While preparing yourself for success, keep your mental eyes wide open. Perceive any and all chances about you, however much you specialize in your preparation for a selected career.
Comprehend that preparation in salesmanship is necessary, whatever vocation you choose. Mastery of the selling process is absolutely essential if you would assure your success in any field of ambition. Not only must you perceive opportunities to succeed, but you also must know how to sell yourself into the chances you see. No matter how much particularized knowledge you may acquire in preparation for a selected career, your success will not be assured until you are able to sell your capabilities to the best advantage. You can neither perceive all your possible selling opportunities, nor make the most of them when seen, unless you learn the selling process and develop skill in the actual sale of the best that is in you.
Broad, varied knowledge is required as the foundation for certain success. It cannot be built on a narrow or limited base. Evidently, however, exactly the same amount of knowledge possessed by two men would not make them equally successful. As already has been emphasized, success is not assured by the mere possession of knowledge, but by the effective ways in which elements of knowledge are fitted to opportunities.
Your abstract knowledge may be valueless. In order to succeed certainly you must connect the things you have learned with particular people in particular fields of activity. When you have developed the power of relating your individual ability to every imaginable use, your mental eyes will be opened to many opportunities for success that you otherwise might never perceive. Such an association of what you know and can do with the various ways your capabilities might be utilized will tremendously augment your self-confidence. When you realize in how many ways it is possible to use your especial talents, you will not be likely to doubt your own worth. You will offer your qualifications for sale with complete faith in their value to prospective buyers.
Thorough preparation in comprehension of values is the salesman's best protection against a personal inclination, or an outside temptation, to cut prices. If your preparation for your chosen career has been limited to gaining knowledge, and you have not studied its true worth to every imaginable prospective buyer, you will be apt often to offer your services for far less than their full value. Conversely sometimes you will be likely to think your services are worth more than they really are. You may fail to close sales because your price is too high. A pre-requisite of good salesmanship is the right price. If your preparation for selling your services has been thorough, you will realize the exact worth of your knowledge and skill. You will neither suggest inferior value by quoting a cut price on your capabilities, nor demand so much as to indicate the characteristics of displeasing egotism or greed. If you know what you are truly worth, you will make the right price on your real value. Then your self-confidence in your worth will lend you power to convince the other man that your services would be a good "buy" for him.
If you can imagine all the various uses to which your ability might be put, you will appreciate the full value of every opportunity you perceive. Not only will you see the chances for success that are all about you, but you will see into them. When your mind catches sight of success chances, they will look familiar to you because of their similarity to opportunities you previously had thought about and connected with your own qualifications. If you are prepared to perceive and to appreciate fully each indication of a success opportunity that comes within the range of your mental vision, you will promptly begin working a chance "for all it is worth," as if it were a newly discovered gold mine.
Possibly what you have read has unduly impressed you with the idea that the salesman's motive in his preparation is selfish. So perhaps it is well to pause here for the reminder that your primary salesmanship purpose should be true service. You are preparing yourself thoroughly in knowledge of your full sales value, as a measure of success insurance and self-protection. It is not true sales service to give a buyer value greatly in excess of the price quoted. It is right for you to make sure in advance about your full worth. However, the obligation to render service is the principal element of right salesmanship, and should come before the objective of a good price. Prepare then primarily to serve your prospect. Demonstrate your true service purpose, and he will give secondary consideration to the cost of engaging your qualifications for his business.
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.
"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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.